A Tour and Activity Plan is not required for the Watchu Mountain Adventure, except for "out-of-council" crews. Tour and Activity Plans may be required for shakedown hikes and other crew activities.  Any two advisors accompanying the crew on the training event can sign the Tour and Activity Plan. 

Check in any time between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and as early as possible is recommended since Friday night traffic problems on Interstate 80 should be expected.  Please arrange to report in as few vehicles as possible, as parking at Watchu Mountain is limited.  The program will start immediately upon check-in.

"Fast Pass" is an expedited check-in process where a crew shows its Tour Permit for the weekend and turns in a Watchu Crew Roster and Medical Forms. The Watchu Passport lists the requirements to qualify for Fast Pass check-in. The Watchu Administrator will need to review the status of every item of the Watchu Passport for crews that are not Fast Pass qualified, delaying their start of the very busy Friday night activities.

At Watchu check-in on Friday evening either the original OR a copy of each crew member’s Philmont Medical Record, with a copy of the front and back of the crew member’s medical insurance card attached, may be presented.  All of the crew’s medical records will be sealed in an envelope for safe keeping, to be opened by staff EMTs only in the event of an emergency.  A receipt for the envelope and the records presented will be given to the crew Advisor at check-in and the sealed envelope returned upon presentation of the receipt at Watchu check-out on Sunday.

If it is not possible to have a doctor complete the examination portion of the Philmont Health and Medical Record prior to the Watchu Mountain Adventure, the completed participant portions of the Philmont form (pages 3 and 5) along with a copy of the most recent school or camp physical and copies of the front and back of the crew member’s medical insurance card will be accepted for the weekend.

The structure of the Watchu Mountain Adventure makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a crew member to leave for a short period and return.  All crew members are expected to attend the entire weekend, and it should already be blocked out on their calendars.

Just as at Philmont, crews will arrive in full official BSA uniform (described in the Uniform Fact Sheet sent with the September family letter and posted on this Web site under 'Trek Preperation'), which will then be worn Friday night and on Sunday.  On Saturday, the “uniform of the day” will be trail clothes until dinner, and then the full official BSA uniform for the evening.

That is correct, each crew must supply all personal and crew equipment for the Watchu Mountain Adventure.  In other words, the crew must bring everything specified in the Guidebook to Adventure as "Personal Equipment", "Crew Equipment supplied by the Crew", and "Crew Equipment supplied by Philmont".  Crew members should also bring a bag meal for Friday evening. The only things that will be provided to each crew are fuel and Philmont trail food for meals on Saturday and Sunday.

Each crew should carry a cell phone throughout the Watchu Mountain Adventure.  Upon registering on Friday the cell number will be recorded for use in an emergency.

Philmont trail meals for the entire program, except Friday supper, will be provided. Your crew must bring a Friday evening bag supper or eat before arriving on Friday, as there will be no time to cook a meal. The specific meals selected from the prior year's Trail Menu (posted on this Web site at Trek Preparation) will be announced several months prior to the Watchu Mountain Adventure. Any crew member who has allergies to items in those meals will need to bring suitable substitutes, the same as they will do at Philmont.

All of the crew's youth leadership positions should be filled prior to arriving at the Watchu Mountain Adventure.  Briefings for each of these positions will be held early Saturday and Sunday morning.

Each crew member should arrive with at least two quarts of water in their personal water containers for Friday night and Saturday breakfast. After that, safe drinking water will be available throughout the weekend at the Watchu Mountain Well.  While the Philmont process for purifying water will be covered during the Trail of Discovery, the water at Watchu is clean and drinkable and will not need to be purified.

All crew campsites will be "dry camps" within 1/2 mile of a source of water, the Watchu Mountain Well.  Crews will be required to transport water from the well to their campsites.  As recommended in the Guidebook to Adventure, crews must have crew water containers with at least 5 gallons of capacity (2 collapsible 2-1/2 gallon, or equivalent smaller, containers) in addition to each crew member’s 3 or 4 quarts of personal water containers.

No, the hike during the Watchu Mountain Adventure is “only” a tough 8 miles, so the weekend will not qualify as a backpacking trek for purposes of the requirements for Backpacking Merit Badge.  However, note that a crew’s Philmont trek can be considered to be a series of separate backpacking treks each of at least 15 miles of at least three days using at least two different campsites for purposes of satisfying the merit badge requirement.