MDC offers free backpacking training and trip at Kansas City

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News from the region
Kansas City
Published Date
03/04/2020
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UPDATE: MDC HAS CANCELLED THIS PROGRAM/EVENT TO HELP PROTECT THE PUBLIC AMID ONGOING CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) CONCERNS.

Kansas City, Mo. – Backpack camping requires good planning and then hiking while carrying shelter and food on your back. The reward is a sensory-filled immersion in nature. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is offering a free backpacking activity that includes training classes and then an overnight hike at the Big Buffalo Creek Conservation Area in Benton and Morgan counties. MDC staff at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center in Kansas City will teach the classes and lead the backpack trip.

The introduction to backpacking course will begin with pre-trip training sessions from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, and Tuesday, March 24. Discovery Center staff will introduce participants about the camping gear, camp skills, and hiking tips needed to enjoy backpacking. They will teach what is needed, how to pack gear, and how to use the gear out on the trail.

Participants will shoulder their packs and head into the woods on Saturday and Sunday, April 4-5, for an overnight camping trip at MDC’s Big Buffalo Creek Conservation Area. Spring flowers should be emerging on the area’s forest-covered hills. Wild turkeys may be gobbling at sunrise. Hikers will see Big Buffalo Creek, a scenic, clear-water stream that winds through that corner of the Ozarks.

For more information about the backpacking sessions, call 816-759-7300. This training and trip event is for participants age 18 and older. Registration is required and requested by March 13. Space is limited for this session. To register, visit MDC’s events signup webpage, https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Ze4.