Outdoor Adventurer is a real campout with your patrol or a Scouts BSA troop. You'll pack your own gear, help set up camp, and learn to keep the camp kitchen clean and safe. It's great practice for camping in a troop.
Why it's worth it
This is a real overnight campout, run more like a troop trip than a family camping weekend. You'll pack your own gear, find your site on a map, help set up the patrol's kitchen and tents, and keep food safe so nobody gets sick. Scouts who have done this walk into their first troop campout knowing what to do.
Start this week
- Lay out the Scout Basic Essentials on your bed and find what's missing.
- Pack your sleeping bag, pad, and clothes in one bag and try carrying it to the car and back.
- Ask your patrol leader or den leader which campout you'll attend and look the campground up on a map.
Stay safe
- Use the SAFE Checklist before you go, keep fires and stoves to adult-supervised areas, and keep food stored away from tents.
Requirements · 8
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
- Requirement 1
Learn about the Scout Basic Essentials
Tip: Gather the Scout Basic Essentials and practice packing them into your daypack.
For example: The Scout Basic Essentials are: a pocketknife, first-aid kit, extra clothing, rain gear, water bottle, flashlight, trail food, matches and fire starters, sun protection, and a map and compass.
- Requirement 2
Decide what you'll take for an overnight campout (tent and sleeping gear included) and how you'll carry it
Tip: Make a packing list for your tent, sleeping bag, and pad. Try carrying your full pack around the house.
For example: Pack heavier things like your water bottle near your back, put rain gear on top where you can reach it fast, and stuff your sleeping bag in a waterproof bag. Ask your adult before buying anything new.
- Requirement 3
Go over the four points of the SAFE Checklist and how you'll use them on the campout
Tip: Talk through each SAFE point with your patrol, like who's supervising and what to do in bad weather.
- Requirement 4
Find the campsite where you'll be camping on a map
Tip: Use a camp map or online map with an adult to find your camp and campsite before you go.
For example: Look at the campground map with your adult and find the entrance, your campsite number, bathrooms, and water spigots. Then find it on an online map to see roads and nearby lakes or trails.
- Requirement 5
Go on a campout with your patrol or a Scouting America troop
Tip: Camp overnight with your patrol or join a troop campout. Help wherever you can.
- Requirement 6
When you arrive, decide where the kitchen, eating area, tents, and firepit go; help set up patrol gear before your own tent
Tip: Decide where cooking, eating, tents, and the fire will go. Set up shared gear before your own tent.
For example: Pick the kitchen spot first: flat, near water, and away from tents. Put tents uphill and upwind of the fire ring. Set up the patrol dining fly and kitchen before anyone pitches their own tent.
- Requirement 7
Explain how to keep food safe and the camp kitchen clean; show you can do it during the campout
Tip: Wash hands before cooking, keep cold food cold, and set up a simple wash-rinse-sanitize dish station.
For example: Wash hands before handling food, keep cold food in a cooler with ice, cook meat all the way through, and wash dishes in three tubs: hot soapy wash, clean rinse, and a sanitizing rinse.
- Requirement 8
After the campout, talk with your patrol about what went well and what to change next time, including how you kept the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids
Tip: Talk with your patrol about what went well, what to change, and how you cared for the campsite.
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
A Scouts BSA troop campout
Camping with a troop shows how patrols plan, cook, and clean up on their own.
How: Have your den leader ask a troop's Scoutmaster if your patrol can join a campout. A parent or guardian or den leader camps with you.
Talk about it together
- What part of setting up camp did you help with the most?
- What gear did you wish you had brought, or wish you had left home?
- How did your patrol work together when something went wrong?
- How did you leave the campsite compared with when you arrived?
- What are you excited to try on your first troop campout?
Helpful reads
- Cub Scouts: a guide for families, How Cub Scout ranks and adventures work from kindergarten through fifth grade, what an adult partner does, and how to keep it fun at meetings and at home., Families · Leaders · 4 min read
- From Arrow of Light to a troop, What changes when you join a Scouts BSA troop, how to visit and choose one, good questions to ask, and how to make your first year a great one., Youth · Families · 4 min read
For leaders & parents
- Camp with a local troop so scouts see how older patrols set up and run camp.
- Let scouts make the plans and lists; adults check for safety.
People & places that can help
- Local Scouts BSA troop — Older Scouts can show how they set up camp.
- Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (opens in a new tab) — Simple principles for caring for your campsite.
- Your local council camp — Campsites and staff ready for Cub Scout campouts.
- Smokey Bear (opens in a new tab) — Campfire safety and fire danger ratings.
- Camping in National Parks (opens in a new tab) — Campground tips and what to know before you go.
Pairs well with
Counts toward
More Arrow of Light adventures
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- Duty to God, Required, Adventure · 3 requirements
- Champions for Nature, Elective, Adventure · 6 requirements
- Cycling, Elective, Adventure · 7 requirements
- Engineer, Elective, Adventure · 5 requirements
- Estimations, Elective, Adventure · 4 requirements
- Fishing, Elective, Adventure · 7 requirements
- High Tech Outdoors, Elective, Adventure · 4 requirements
- Into the Wild, Elective, Adventure · 5 requirements
- Into the Woods, Elective, Adventure · 5 requirements
- Paddle Craft, Elective, Adventure · 9 requirements
- Race Time, Elective, Adventure · 5 requirements
- Summertime Fun, Elective, Adventure · 1 requirement
- Swimming, Elective, Adventure · 4 requirements
Into this? Explore more
Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.