COPE is usually run as a one day course, 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. It can be a day trip or the Saturday part of a weekend camping trip. Reservations for the COPE Course do not include reservations for a camping place. Separate camping reservations must be made with the Council Office. I recommend making them as early as possible, Hayden Villa and major Roy Leantos are adjacent to the COPE Course.

COPE includes a high course and a low course. To do the high course a scout must be 8th grade or above. Scouts should spend three hours on the low course before going to the high course. Normally, everyone does low course in the morning then the older scouts do the high course in the afternoon while the younger ones do additional low course elements. Occasionally if we are short of staff we may have to ask the scoutmaster to take the younger group in the afternoon.

There is a rumor going around that the high course at Camp Lewis is closed. This is not true. The rappelling tower and high wire elements we have used for the past eight years are closed because BSA National changed the standards required for the utility poles used in constructing them. We are working on plans to replace them. In the meantime we have built a five element high course on trees so that we can continue to offer a quality program to our scouts. This temporary high course includes a Flying Squirrel which has been rated awesome by everyone who has tried it.

COPE is run by a volunteer staff.. If we had more staff we could run more courses so we are always looking for more volunteers. If you can find us two new staff members we could schedule an extra date for you.

To join the COPE Staff you must:

• Be a registered member of BSA
• Be 15 years old or older
• Have done a COPE course or have some similar experience
• Be willing to commit to working three Saturdays in the coming year
• Take a weekend training course.