Good question, If I am going to give you all of this great advice you probably want to know that.

I am Jim Conners; I am located in Upstate New York in the Finger lakes region. I was involved with scouts as a youth and have been a leader in our small town's scouts since my son joined in First grade, now he is graduating High School so for about 12 years worth of leadership experience with scouts. I have also been involved with helping my wife's Girl Scout Troop, our church, local festival and a ran a local business for 18 years.

My life has taken some twists and turns as of late but it is giving me the opportunity to put this together and get this valuable resource out so maybe I can make someone else's life easier.

My Qualifications:
Well other than experience and learning from what we did within our troop, not much, but I feel that is quite enough.  What I have done is 2 large scale trips from NY to Wyoming and 6 years as scoutmaster with a camp out each month for up to 35 to 40 people.  Some of our normal camp outs would entail going to multiple locations and more touring so I learned a lot during these to help towards the Big Trips.  I also have lots of other experience as a scout leader from cub scouts (both as a den leader and various positions within the pack since 2000), teaching Archery at day camps and fun days, doing the theme decorations for our church for over 8 years and running the children’s section of our local festival for 3 years.

What I am not - is a professional writer so bear with me as I am sure there will be some errors but I am willing to learn.  If you have any suggestions, questions, comments or additions please email me with them but please be nice.

If you really would like some help I would be willing to consult.

Here is a brief run down, As you go through the guide you will get a better idea of what we did.

2006 – I had just moved into the troop with my son and the majority of the planning was done by a group that I helped with what I could but being new the majority of the decisions were done by other people.  We had 36 people mostly leaders, scouts and a few parents.  We went to Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Teton National Park, Cody Wyoming and some small campgrounds between destinations.  We flew in and out of Salt Lake City and rented vans there and a leader, with his wife, drove the gear out.  The trip lasted 9 days.

2011 – Between the 2006 and 2011 trips I had become the scoutmaster and did a lot more of the planning.  We did a similar trip but extended it to a 13 day trip.  This time we went to Yellowstone, Tetons, Craters of the Moon (Idaho), did some back country experiences, visited the Salt Lake and some small excursions.  This time we had 43 people including Scouts, Leaders, Parents and Siblings.  I will attach our schedule and itinerary so you can see exactly how involved our trip was.  Way too much to get into in the introduction.

Disclaimer, For a lack of a better term.

Please keep in mind all information contained within the BigTripGuidBook.com is my experience and opinion. You should take proper precautions and steps to ensure that your trip is planned properly. I make no warranties towards our planning, forms, fundraiser suggestions or activity suggestions. You should follow your organization's rules and laws when planning for your trip.

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