High Adventure bases of Scouting America
High adventure bases are outdoor recreation facilities owned and operated at the national level by Scouting America. There are four bases, with each offering training and wilderness programs such as canoeing, backpacking and sailing.
The four high adventure bases are located at Philmont Scout Ranch, Sea Base, Northern Tier, and Summit Bechtel Reserve.
Northern Tier
Northern Tier is a collection of high adventure bases in Minnesota, Ontario, and Manitoba. It is made up of Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base in Ely, Minnesota operating in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park, Don Rogert Canoe Base in Atikokan, Ontario operating in Quetico Provincial Park, and Northern Expeditions Base in Bissett, Manitoba operating in Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park and points beyond. It is the oldest national high adventure base operated by Scouting America.Northern Tier offers mostly wilderness canoe trips, although other activities such as cold weather camping exist as well. Typical canoe trips cover and take 6 to 10 days. With each crew is a highly skilled technician/instructor called an "Interpreter".
Philmont Scout Ranch
Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico covering approximately of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, near the town of Cimarron. The main part of the ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips, was donated to the Scouting organization in 1938. Along with other donations and purchases, it is currently in use as a national high adventure base where 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. Philmont's terrain is mountainous, ranging in elevation from to.Philmont is also home to the Philmont Training Center, which is the main center for Scouting America’s national-level training for volunteers and professionals. In addition to its Scouting America programs, Philmont continues to operate as a ranch, maintaining a stock of cattle, horses, burros and bison.
Sea Base
Sea Base is a high adventure base in the Florida Keys. The main facility is located in Islamorada, Florida on the end of Lower Matecumbe Key. Other locations include the Brinton Environmental Center located on Summerland Key and the Bahamas Sea Base in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas.Main programs include sailing— including open water and reef sailing —island camping, snorkeling, and scuba diving. The Florida Sea Base Conference Center has become an alternative training site to the Philmont Training Center. Most conferences it hosts are for professionals or national level committees, but it also hosts conferences for outside groups.
The Summit
High adventure activities at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve are operated through the Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base. The Summit was purchased in 2009 and the high adventure base began operation in 2014. The New River Gorge region offers white water rafting rated from Class II to Class V along the more than 50 miles of river within the New River Gorge National River area. Other outdoor activities that are popular to the area include Rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking, hiking, geocaching, and orienteering. Some of the additional activities added with help from Scout feedback at the 2010 Jamboree, are skateboarding, freestyle BMX, mountainboarding, ATV riding, paddle boarding, dragon boats racing, and ziplines.The Summit is also the site for the national Scout jamboree and a training center. The reserve consists of a reclaimed mine site near Beckley, West Virginia. The purchase of the property was enabled by a $50 million grant from Stephen Bechtel, Jr.
Former national bases
Northern Wisconsin National Canoe Base
Northern Wisconsin National Canoe Base was opened in 1940 on the site of a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp on the south end of the east shore of White Sand Lake in northern Wisconsin. The closest town to that site is Boulder Junction, Wisconsin.The base was originally named MIWI after the initials of the four states in the region. In 1943 it was renamed Region 7 Canoe Base. The base had also been referenced in publications as Region Seven Explorer Canoe Base. Around 1967 it was renamed Northern Wisconsin National Canoe Base, as publications begin referencing the new name during this period. By that time, thousands of Scouts were embarking on wilderness canoe trips from the canoe base every summer, principally from the Chicago area due to its proximity.
The primary program was wilderness canoe trips, through the lakes and rivers of northern Wisconsin and the southern edge of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The base provided training, outfitting, and guiding for these trips as well as sleeping and meal facilities for groups of 6-12 crew members, including an adult leader, as they prepared to start or end canoe trips. They also provided transportation to and from starting and ending points. Training included an intensive Voyageur course for the youth leader of a group during the week prior to the group's trip. Additional programs for Scouts included whitewater trips on the lower Flambeau Flowage, swimming at the White Sand Lake beach, informal sandlot football and softball games between staff members and Scouts at the base, and winter camping in the cabins left by the CCC.
Canoe trips launched from the base utilized hundreds of different lakes and rivers and about 300 campsites. About half of these sites were on public lands; the others were on private lands under special arrangements, which typically included maintenance work by the Scouts. Examples of closer frequently used waterways include White Sand, Lost Canoe, Pallette, Escanaba, Presque Isle, Crab, Trout, Boulder, and Wild Rice lakes and the Manitowish and Trout Rivers. In the 1960s, staff tried to open up new routes using creeks, with occasionally hilarious results. While the canoe trip area covered millions of acres, most trips were concentrated in the area going about north, east, west, and south of the base.
The base celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1980 and enjoyed its most popular years in 1980–81, but usage declined rapidly and the permanent base was closed in 1983. Numerous interrelated factors contributed to its demise, including Scout leaders and executives lobbying for closure in favor of other bases, declining usage, increased residential development in the area used for its canoe trips, and a heavy snowfall during the 1982-83 winter that collapsed the roof of the dining hall, which was never rebuilt.
While the permanent base was closed, expeditions continued to be led using guides from Charles Sommers base until the summer of 1986. The penultimate canoe trip was with Troop 912 from Manitowoc, Wisconsin from 8/10/1986 to 8/16/1986.
Maine National High Adventure Area
The Maine National High Adventure Area was established in 1970 due to the efforts of BSA Scout Executive Bud Jeffrey, Seven Island Lands Company President John Sinclair, and Bill Wadsworth and John Donnell of the BSA National Office. The first of three Maine National High Adventure bases was established at the site of the former Foster's Matagamon Sporting Camp on the north side of Matagamon Lake, and was called Maine Matagamon National High Adventure Base. This base operated as a single unit in 1971 and 1972. An additional base was established at Pittston Farm on Seboomook Lake in 1973, and a third on Sysladobsis Lake, was operated in 1971 and 1979.Matagamon and Seboomook bases were the core of the program for many years. It was a highly successful program that exposed thousands of Scouts to the lakes, rivers, and mountains of the North Maine woods, providing them with a lifetime appreciation of wild lands, no trace camping, and self-sufficiency and safety in the wilderness.
Maine National High Adventure was operated as a national base until 1991, when the National BSA Office shut down the program. In 1993, the Matagamon base reopened as Maine High Adventure, an outdoor program run today by the Katahdin Area Council.
There is an active staff association called Maine High Adventure Staff Association that is dedicated to the history of the Maine National High Adventure Area, and to the support of the current Maine High Adventure Area.
Land Between the Lakes Gateway National High Adventure Base
The Land Between the Lakes Gateway National High Adventure Base was located on Shaw Branch of Lake Barkley near Cadiz, Kentucky. It opened in 1973 as a cooperative effort between the BSA and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The base hosted Boy Scout Troops, Explorer Posts, and some Girl Scout Troops for weeklong adventure treks. Participants had the option to choose backpacking, pontoon boat camping, canoe camping, or sail boat camping and utilized itineraries on both Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in both Kentucky and Tennessee. Although Land Between the Lakes ceased operations formally in 1983, their last summer with campers was 1979. Former LBL Staff members removed the High Adventure Base welcome sign in the summer of 1980 and donated it to the National Scouting Museum in Murray, Kentucky. After the LBL Base was closed, most of the equipment was donated to the Florida Sea Base and to Roy C. Manchester Boy Scout Camp on Kentucky Lake, which still operates a summer Aquabase program with weeklong sailing trips today.