As you may have noticed the word “OUT” is emphasized in scOUTing.
Troop 6 has a long tradition of taking Scouts into the wilderness. Our main focus in Troop 6 is to prepare the boys for life beyond high school by teaching them the needed skills camping in the back country.
At the core of Troop 6’s outdoor program is Backcountry Camping and Backpacking.
Over the past 100 years Troop 6 has spent countless nights in the backcountry throughout Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Minnesota, Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico and many more.
Our destinations include;
Big South Fork, Shining Rock, Savage Gulf, Stratton Bald, Whiggs Meadow, Slick Rock Creek, Max Patch, Frozen Head, The Outer Banks of NC, The Boundary Water Canoe Area, The Quetico Providential Park, Mt. Massive of CO, Philmont and many many more
Since 1990, the Scouts of Troop 6 have been privileged to camp at the farm of local legend, John Coykendall.
John’s farm is a rugged 200 acres, located in Cocke County, Tennessee. The landscape contains countless hills, valleys, and streams. Troop 6 heads to Coykendall’s twice a year, Spring and Fall, rain or shine. It is the ideal place to learn and demonstrate scOUTing skills. The Scouts have completed numerous pioneering and service projects including; swinging bridges, watchtowers and erosion prevention structures. Coykendall’s is a favorite trip for Scouts of all ranks and ages.
John Coykendall, an internationally renowned horticulturalist and seed saver, is master gardener at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. John’s father Martin Coykendall was a founding member of Troop 6.
Video about John – Deeply Rooted: John Coykendall’s Journey To Save Our Seeds and Stories Promo
Moose Camp
There are many well established camp sites at Coykendall’s. The most famous is the leader’s camp named after the long-running leader based Moose Patrol. Moose Camp is the center of activities and events at Coykendall’s. The longest running tradition of Moose camp is the famous chili dinner, cooked in a cast iron pot.
The Boy Scout High Adventure Program
High-Adventure Bases of the Boy Scouts of America are outdoor recreation facilities located in several locales in North America operated by the Boy Scouts of America at the organization’s national level. Each facility offers wilderness programs and training that could include sailing, wilderness canoeing, or wilderness backpacking trips. Every year Troop Six attends one of the High-Adventure Base.
McPickmont
In true Troop Six fashion, for the past several years, the boys and leaders have participated in what has been deemed McPickmont. Named for two, long – standing Scout Leaders- Hal McCrory and David Pickens; McPickmont is a weeklong backpacking trip. In years past, McPickmont has been held in such locations as Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area and The Grayson Highlands State Park of West Virginia. During the week long adventures, the group will hike distances as far as 50 miles and visit sites that few Americans will ever see.
The Northern Tier National High AdventureBases
The Northern Tier National High AdventureBases are a collection of high adventure bases run by the Boy Scouts of America in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of Minnesota, Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park and points beyond.
The BWCAW is a 1,090,000-acre wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. The BWCAW is renowned as a destination for both canoeing and fishing on its many lakes and is the most visited wilderness in the United States.
Quetico Provincial Park is a large wilderness park in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, renowned for its excellent canoeing and fishing. The park covers over 1,833 square miles or 1,173,120 acres and has only 2,200 backcountry campsites scattered on over 600 lakes.
Philmont Scout Ranch
The Philmont Scout Ranchis a large, rugged, mountainous ranch located near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico; covering approximately 137,500 acres of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico. The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is currently in use as a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities. It is the largest youth camp in the world by size and number of participants. Philmont is also operated as a ranch, maintaining small herds of cattle, horses, burros and bison.
Florida National High Adventure Sea Base
The Florida National High Adventure Sea Base is a high adventure program base run by the Boy Scouts of America in the Florida Keys. The main Sea Base is located in Islamorada, Florida on the end of Lower Matecumbe Key. Other bases include the Brinton Environmental Center located on Summerland Key and the Bahamas Sea Base in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas. Programs include: sailing, scuba diving, rustic camping on undeveloped barrier island and fishing.
