FOR BROWNIES
Tanasi Council Leaders' Guide For:
Listening to the Past Try-It
Scavenger Hike Adventures and Mountain Journal
By Kat and John LaFevre/Tanasi Council Partners
Program Description: Follow clues in Scavenger Hike Adventures trail book on Scavenger Hike Adventure #2, page 11, Porter's Creek Trail to the Old Hiking Club Cabin. This adventure is in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (two miles round trip on a wide trail/allow about 2 hours). Most of the trail is a wide, old gravel roadbed along a beautiful mountain stream. It is a gentle slope uphill, but is downhill all the way back!!! See Scavenger Hike Adventures trail book for detailed directions and comments about the trail.
Brownies will learn about the people who lived here in the Smoky Mountains over 150 years ago. Find a special tree used by Cherokee Indians (Treasure #2) and count steps to find a giant "turtle rock" where pioneer teenagers went on dates over 100 years ago (Treasure #5)! Find where pioneers lived and discover where they kept their potatoes (Treasure #14)! You will explore an old cemetery, an unusual barn (Treasure #17), a cabin with a bear lock still on the door (Treasure #21) and an old-fashioned "refrigerator" from long ago (Treasure #18)!!! You will cross log footbridges and even find the remains of an old antique Model T Ford (Treasure #16)!!! Brownies may complete numbers 1-4 and earn the Listening to the Past Try-It. The troop can pack a lunch and enjoy it at the nearby picnic area (it has restrooms) or lunch on the porch of the Old Hiker Cabin!!!
1. Community Stories: Learn about and find the old cornfield that is no longer there!!! Learn the story of pioneer settler VanderBill Whaley and his daughters and tell your family about his homestead and the unusual 13 steps and rock wall that his daughters helped build.
2. If These Buildings Could Talk: Learn interesting facts about the old barn you found that was built in 1875. Figure out how the "bear lock" on the old cabin door works!!!Find the building (springhouse) where the pioneers stored milk and eggs.
3. Visit the Oldest Cemetery: Visit the old pioneer cemetery along the trail and make notes of names and ages. What are some surprising discoveries in the cemetery? (so many children and babies).
4. Tell Stories of the Past: Share some of the stories you learned on this trail with your family.
Suggestion: Leader carries the Scavenger Hike Adventure Book (it works best if only the leaders carry the book) and reads CLUES for girls to follow. Divide the troop into smaller groups and give the first group a 5 minute headstart. You can all meet together at the Hiker Cabin and take a break after the hike. Each girl fills out her score for the trail in her book and her certificate is signed by Leader(s) and Parent(s) as witnesses. Questions or Advice??? e-mail Kat and John or click on special Girl Scout Page.
Explore the Smokies!!!
"Don't Just Take A Hike…Take A Scavenger Hike Adventure