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This article is part of a recurring series highlighting successful annual events held by Scouting America councils.
Most likely, Scouts in the Boise, Idaho, area will never have to trade fur for food like mountaineers did in the 1800s.
Nor will they need to fire a dart using the ancient spear-like atlatl or build a fire using flint and steel. But Scouts still sign up to do these things at the Mountain West Council’s annual Mountaineer Rendezvous faster than a jackrabbit zigzags across the prairie.
In fact, this year’s event, Sept. 11-13 at Bradley Scout Reservation near Stanley, Idaho, sold out and is capped at 250 participants so Scouts can rotate safely through the activities.
That success wasn’t guaranteed. When the council first considered holding this event five years ago, some Scouters questioned whether families would have the time to attend. Idaho schools start in early August, and by the time mid-September arrives, schedules are filled with school, sports and band.
“A lot of people said families are just too busy,” says RD Hill, the council camp director and event organizer. “We tried it anyway, and here we are.”
The council’s answer was to make the event different from traditional camporees, where Scouts might work on camping skills and merit badges. Instead, the council focused the Mountaineer Rendezvous on the traditions and culture of the Rocky Mountain fur trade era.
“It’s a completely different event compared to what we normally do,” Hill says. “We just had to make it unique enough that everybody would show up.”
If you build it …
Several Scouting America councils hold events each year that recreate a Rocky Mountain Rendezvous. Hill and a fellow council executive already had been to a few.
“We didn’t have to do this from scratch,” Hill says. “We just patterned it after every rendezvous we’ve ever been to.”
The goal wasn’t to create a perfectly historically accurate reenactment. It was to create an immersive adventure that gave Scouts something they wouldn’t normally experience at a camporee.
The council divides participants into groups called clans. A large troop can form its own clan; two or three smaller troops can be combined into one. The clans then rotate through the event’s different stations, with each group spending about an hour at a station before rotating.
The activities aren’t designed as competitions.
Instead, Scouts get a chance to try something new and learn about the skills and history associated with the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, a yearly fur trading event each year from 1827 to 1840. Mountaineers, Native Americans, traders and trappers gathered at the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous to replenish supplies, trade goods and share stories before returning to the wilderness.
Bringing history to life
The Mountain West Council’s 2026 version introduces Scouts to this Old West tradition, and some Scouts add authenticity by wearing buckskin pants, drop-shoulder shirts, handmade hats or capotes fashioned from blankets.
Under trained supervision, Scouts try black-powder rifle shooting, archery, and atlatl, tomahawk and knife throwing. They build log shelters, climb and rappel during the Cliff Escape event.
Scouts also get period-inspired nicknames. Those who don’t choose their own leave it up to their fellow Scouts. At the rendezvous, Hill’s nickname is “Outrider.” The lead firearms instructor answers to “Thunderstick.”
The council doesn’t ask Scouts to perfectly recreate life in the early 1800s. It uses a theme to create an adventure that encourages Scouts to try unfamiliar skills and learn about the region’s history.
“Councils thinking about trying this should just go ahead and do it,” Hill says. “It doesn’t have to be perfect or 100% period correct. It just has to be an adventure for kids.”
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