Desert Backpack Award

Desert Backpack Award

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The Desert Backpack award is a High Adventure Award intended to encourage long distance backpacking on trails in the Mojave or Colorado Desert of the Southwestern U.S.

Requirements include an overnight backpack in an arid desert environment, plus at least one hour of conservation work to be completed in the area within 30 days of the backpack.

Requirements for the Desert Backpack Award:

1. The backpack must be made in the Mojave or Colorado Desert of the Southwest U.S.

2. Scouts must complete an overnight backpack of 7 ½ hours scheduled backpack time in 2 consecutive days, camping at least 1 ½ hours scheduled backpack time from both the trailhead and pick-up point.

3. The backpack must be in an arid desert defined as “an area of low annual rainfall, high evaporation rate, scarcity of water, wide range of temperature and sparse vegetation. This does not include the chaparral ecology. It ranges from sandy flat lands to jagged, steep mountains. The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Joshua Tree National Part are excellent examples of desert parklands.

4. Each person shall, as part of a group project, complete one hour of conservation work to improve the trail, campsite, or the general area either on or within 30 days of the backpack. NOTE: Trail work, except clean up, must be authorized in advance by an area ranger.

5. Approval for the event must be in compliance with the General Requirements found on pages 4 and 5 of Trek Aid No. 100.