As most of College Park slept in on Sunday, June 14, scouts of BSA Troop 740 prepared to depart for a walk from the city’s Berwyn neighborhood to Goshen, Virginia, a staggering journey of 208 miles.
About half of the troop’s 30 scouts, ranging in age from 12 to 17, gathered in the parking lot of Holy Redeemer Church on Berwyn Road at 6:30 a.m. to organize supplies, check gear and say their farewells to family members.
“Troop 740 does a lot of adventurous out-of-the-box things,” Tom Kovarik, parent of scout Lazarus Kovarik, 15, said. “This actually just kind of goes with the territory, and I love that they are attempting big things.”
The walk will finish at the Goshen Scout Reservation, where the group will attend Camp Olmsted for a week, earning merit badges for skills like welding, nuclear science and sewing, and participating in educational programs.
The scouts’ parents will arrange transportation back home after the camp concludes on July 4. A few will leave early to participate in the 250th anniversary parade in the District.
“One of the things that we try to do with Boy Scouts is to get kids out and make them understand what they can do, what’s possible,” Assistant Scoutmaster Chris Gordon said. “And so this is just one of those things where they’ll be able to brag to their friends, ‘Yeah, I walked 200 miles to camp this year,’ and it’s not so much the bragging rights, but it’s the internal knowing that you can do these things.”
The trek is expected to take approximately two weeks, with scouts covering roughly 15 miles each day. On the first day of the interstate hike, the troop made its way to downtown Washington, where a boat picked them up for a ride across the Potomac River.
One day of the journey will exceed 20 miles, allowing participants to satisfy a requirement for the Hiking Merit Badge.
Another day will be shorter, about 10 miles, because it will involve a steep crossing of the Appalachian Mountains. Throughout the journey, the group will travel primarily along sidewalks and lightly traveled roads.
“We’re heading west,” Gordon said. “The first night is in Alexandria, the second night is in Lorton, and it goes to Catlett, Remington, Culpeper, Pratts and then we start getting into little teeny areas out in the middle of nowhere.”
Along the route, troop members will spend some nights camping and others sleeping at churches that have offered shelter and access to restrooms. Gordon noted that support has been unwavering; even a local Crab Shack offered housing for a night.
The scouts, who voluntarily signed up for the adventure, will be accompanied by at least two adults at all times, including the troop’s Scoutmaster Loren Lavoy and Gordon. Parents will also be present some days and will replenish food, water and gear.
The idea for the long walk began during a troop meeting when Gordon casually suggested walking to summer camp. While some scouts immediately embraced the challenge and others questioned the idea, the concept quickly gained momentum and evolved into a major troop undertaking, Gordon said.
“My first reaction was, ‘That sounds awesome,’ and then I started to think about the logistics, but the whole time I was excited to go and very intrigued by this opportunity,” said Nathanael Jordon, 16, the troop’s senior patrol leader.
As the first trip of its kind for the troop, which was chartered in 1955, preparation for this trip began months in advance. The scouts trained through camping, multi-day backpacking adventures and a five-day kayaking trip on the Patuxent River.
“I’ve been in scouting for a while, so I know what I need to do,” scout Liam Prikockis said about preparing for the trip. “But I also watched tons of things on hiking, and there’s a lot of good videos on backpacking, so I kind of followed that. And I did a lot of walking.”
To pay for the outing, the troop raised $4,500 through the fundraising site Zeffy, leaving the group just $500 shy of its goal. The donations go toward food, campground fees and other trip expenses, allowing families to avoid out-of-pocket costs.
With the support of adults, the scouts are prepared to respond to medical emergencies, according to Kovarik, who noted that all scouts are trained in first aid. Gordon said the troop is also carrying a rickshaw-style cart capable of transporting injured participants.
The parents of scouts said they are proud of their children and expressed confidence in the troop, its leaders and the scouts themselves. But they pointed to medical emergencies and walking close to traffic as concerns.
“This is one of those experiences you have when you’re little that you’ll remember long into your life,” Sarah Michailof, parent of scout Lucas Michailof, 17, said. “And it will be a source of strength and pride.”