Plan your Visit

Welcome Scouts & Scouters

Be Prepared for your Nobscot adventure!

You will find the information on this website helpful in selecting a Tentsite, Adirondack/Lean-to, Cabin, or Lodge.

Particularly if you have not been to Nobscot in recent years, you will find that Nobscot Hammer Crew volunteers and Mayflower Council have been busy making many improvements including new metal roofs, renovated latrines, updated cabin/lodge interiors and exteriors, log seating around Firepits, new picnic tables, trail work, more signs and trail markers, more tentsites and overall site improvements. We also have captured GPS coordinates for almost every location on the reservation – it’s all here on this website!

Start Here

First, answer these questions about your needs!

Do you want to stay in a cabin or lodge, camp at a site with a lean-to, tent in a designated tenting site, undeveloped tenting site, or discover your own Leave-No-trace tenting site?

How many youth? How many adults? What genders? What are the required sleeping arrangements?
How many will be tenting and how spread out can they be?
Do you require multiple sites?
Do you need a site with a large open area for activities?

How much equipment are you bringing into camp?
How do you plan to carry your equipment to the site you are camping at?
What’s the experience level of your unit’s members?

What are your goals? A trip for novices? A backpacking experience? Remote Wilderness Tenting? Leave No Trace™ training? Advancement? Leadership development? Or just a fun time?

Do you want to give some service hours to the Camp?

Once you have a good idea about your needs and your plans, this guide will help you through the site-selection process. Nobscot can support a broad range of camping requirements, but depending on your needs, some sites are a much better fit than others.

✅ Pre-Arrival Tips: Packing, Cell Phones, Parking, Maps, and Check-in

Vehicles: Private vehicles are not allowed on the trails and must remain in the designated parking lots.
Packing: Nobscot is a "carry-in/carry-out" wilderness camp, meaning all visitors, including scouts and adults, must pack out everything they bring in, including their trash.
Water: Six well-water hand pumps are distributed throughout the camp. Visitors should bring a container to carry water to their site.
Showers: Showers are not available for scouts. Only adults staying overnight at Henderson Lodge have access to showers.
Latrines: The camp has latrines, but it's a good idea to bring your own toilet paper as a backup.
Rubbish: Troops are responsible for taking all their trash with them when they leave. The dumpster is for maintenance only and should not be used by visitors.
Cell Phones: Cell service is generally acceptable for emergency calls and some data access. Charging locations are extremely limited, so it's recommended that adults bring a portable power bank, as GPS and other apps will quickly drain batteries.
GPS Coordinates: GPS coordinates can be helpful for navigation.
Trail Markers: Some popular trails are marked with colored disks or "blazes" on trees. Orange blazes mark the return trail to the Andersen Welcome Center.
Parking: There are two main parking lots, both located to the right upon entering the property.
- Day Parking: The first lot you encounter.
- Scout Overnight Parking: Located about 100 yards past the Day Parking lot, reached by bearing left.
Check-In: All overnight visitors must check in with the Campmaster upon arrival.

Nobscot map

Nobscot Wilderness Map

📍Nobscot Map:

Nobscot is a wilderness area with rustic, wilderness latrines (outhouses) and hand-powered water-well pumps shown on the map. Hiking with your own toilet paper is always smart.

Note on map usage: Over 100,000 Boy Scouts have been creating well-traveled "cut-throughs" to create shorter paths since 1928. There are several large paths not shown on the Nobscot map.

❓More information at these links:

Please familiarize yourself with our Policies and Rules.
Please read the "Pre-arrival tips" and the "Policies and rules for staying overnight" as part of planning your trip. They include information on almost everything that people regularly ask about.
Read the “Definitions” to become familiar with Nobscot overnight accommodations.
Please refer to the Overnights page for additional information.

📋 Plan For Leadership & Skill Development

Plan ahead for some fun activities with a focus on leaderships and skill development while at Nobscot.

Outdoor adventure is the promise made to young people when they join Scouting. Boys and girls expect outdoor programs that stir their imagination and interest. In the Outdoors we strive to meet the Aims of Scouting.

Character Development

In the outdoors, Scouts have opportunities to acquire skills that make them more self-reliant. They can explore hiking trails and complete challenges they first thought were beyond their ability. Attributes of good character become part of them as they learn to cooperate to meet outdoor challenges that may include extreme weather, difficult trails and portages, and dealing with nature’s unexpected circumstances.

Citizenship

Good youth leadership, communication, and teamwork enable them to achieve goals they have set for themselves, their patrol, and their troop. This working together through the patrol and troop teaches active citizenship.

Personal Fitness

Scouts are challenged in the outdoor adventure and high adventure and are pushed physically and mentally to accomplish tasks of the outdoors.

Leadership

Scouts plan and carry out activities from start to finish. With thoughtful guidance from their Scoutmaster and other adult leaders scouts make a plan and carry out this plan. Learning by doing is a hallmark of outdoor education. A youth or adult leader may describe and demonstrate a Scouting skill at a weekly meeting, but the way Scouts truly learn outdoor skills is to do it themselves on a troop outing.

Other opportunities

Click for General Outdoor Skill activities from BSA
Merit badges: There are great opportunities for scouts to make progress on merit badges at Nobscot.
The Campsite: Many meaningful activities can be centered around the campsite itself, where Scouts pull together towards the common goal to make and keep their camp comfortable and organized—everyone doing their part and helping one another. Creating a campsite that is well-working and enjoyable requires timeless Scout skills that the scouts have acquired or need to acquire. Scouts can take pride in what they’ve accomplished as reflected by their ability to function as a well-working Scout group that can establish an effective campsite.
Learn Forest Management: The forest floor provides a wealth of fuel for campfires. Gathering and burning dead wood is an important part of forest management. “Slash piles” found along the trails may be taken for burning. Scouts can make "slash piles" of their own for use on another day.
Hike: Tipling Rock is one of many possible destinations.
Find a FirePit: Have the scouts fan out and see how many FirePits can be found under leaves and pine needles.
Find a Leave-No-Trace site: Have the scouts fan out and discover good sites for tenting, that are lot listed as tenting sites.

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