Gain a lifetime of outdoor skills!
- Bailey Stokes
- Apr 17
- 3 min read
My name is Bailey Stokes and I am a lifetime Girl Scout. I started my Girl Scout experience as a Brownie and continued on to get my Gold Award as an Ambassador. Girl Scouting has always been a big part of my life, and now you can find me working at Sky High Ranch where I have spent the last six summers.
During my Girl Scout experience, I tried to participate in as much as I could. I especially sought out any and all activities that I could do outside. I went to camp, participated in the Outdoor Adventure Club, was a member of the Older Girl Advisory Board, and was a participant in Reach for the Peak for six years. Reach for the Peak was a highlight of my Girl Scout experience, and something my troop and I would look forward to each year. I competed for six years, with my troop getting the Eagle Award during our last competition. Reach for the Peak was special because it let us harness skills that we would need to work and recreate in the outdoors well into our adult lives.
Reach for the Peak is an outdoor skills competition hosted every year at Sky High Ranch that is open to Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors. Participants compete in discipline areas such as knots and lashing, fire building, map and compass, nature identification, emergency survival, and first aid. Additionally, participants set up a fully functional off-the-grid camp set-up and cook a complete dinner using various outdoor cooking methods. This experience is unlike any other camping trip we went on as a troop because it allowed us to be independent from our leaders and learn each skill through trial and error on our own.
Our first few years of the competition were all about learning. We looked up to the older troops around us and used the judges’ feedback to improve our skills. Each of the girls on my troop focused on becoming “experts” on one specific area in which we had interest. I focused on knot tying and used to practice knots in the car on the way to school. I have not forgotten the knots that I learned and use them often while recreating outside. Reach for the Peak is not only a competition, but an educational experience that allows participants to develop outdoor skills in a unique way. By the time we had reached our sixth year of competing, we had honed our skills well past that of what would have been achieved through a traditional skills class. Not only that, we learned valuable lessons in teamwork, leadership, problem solving and perseverance.
Getting outside and exploring can be something that is very intimidating and can ultimately be dangerous without the proper skills and background knowledge. Today, I am confident in my ability to safely recreate outside and a lot of that confidence comes from the outdoor skills I learned throughout my years of competing in Reach for the Peak. These are skills that I have continued to use in my everyday life. There is no better way to enhance your outdoor skills then putting them to the test in a supportive and friendly environment like Reach for the Peak. I am forever grateful for what competing taught me and would encourage any troop to give it a try.
This year Reach for the Peak is August 1 - 3, 2025 at Sky High Ranch. There is also a tickler event that gives troops a taste of what it is like on May 10, 2025. For more information or to register your troop please review the RftP 2025 Files Folder.