Marsden Tract -- Oct 10 2009

Post date: Oct 15, 2009 10:49:6 PM

I went to Marsden Track for the 3rd time. It was a bit harder but I was able to get several requirements done:

For the 1st class cooking requirement I planned, and purchased food for 6 of us for dinner, breakfast and lunch.

For Saturday night dinner I planned a foil dinner - hamburgers cooked over campfire. Everybody had the option to put cubed tomatoes, carrots, and onions. After you wrap the whole thing in alumunim foil (heavy duty) you let it cook on the side of the fire pit for about 20 mins. Most of the food was burnt but it tasted pretty good -- I think it was too close to direct fire. We also served dinner rolls and butter. For Sunday breakfast we had scrambled eggs. Just crack the eggs (into the pan!) and mix them up but do not overcook. We also had turkey bacon (less fat than regular bacon), orange juice and milk. For lunch we boiled some hot dogs.

When you plan for food for camping you need to keep it simple and easy because you have limited resources, and water. You don't want messy stuff that will be hard to clean up, or take long time to prepare and cook. You also want to pay attention to food storage and transportation. Eggs will not last more than a day or two without refrigration, for example. You also need to store food away from your tent, sealed up and preferably hanging from a tree so wildlife could not get to it.

Also, when you are shopping make sure to look at the unit prices of items, because you cannot tell how good the price is from how much you actually pay for it.

Sunday morning I also completed the full gear hiking requirement section of the Camping Merit Badge. We hiked about 5 miles with our backpacks.

I'll post some pictures later...