VT Camp Director hikes Long Trail to raise funds

[RememberSchiff]

Clint Buxton said he was at a high point Thursday, figuratively and literally.

“It is drop-dead gorgeous,” Buxton said, speaking by phone from the top of Bromley Mountain. “I can look to the top and see where I came from yesterday.”

The 61-year-old is hiking the Long Trail, partly to fulfill a longtime ambition and partly to raise money to help maintain Boy Scouts of American properties in Vermont. He set out from North Adams, Mass., on Saturday and expects to be on the trail for 27 days, covering 272 miles. People can track his progress and donate at scoutingvermont.org.

Buxton normally spends his summer as the camp director at Mt. Norris Scout Reservation in Eden. When the camps was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buxton said he decided it was time. He started training in July and set off shortly after his granddaughter’s birthday. He got pledges from various sponsors, with his own family donating $1 per mile of his hike to the Scouts. He said he has raised in the neighborhood of $10,000 so far.

“Although this is a personal goal for me, I wanted to do something impactful for scouting, maybe do something to produce a multiplying factor,” he said. “Our society needs scouts more than ever. ... There’s some very strong national headwinds we’re dealing with, but I still believe in the program.

More at sources:

https://www.timesargus.com/scout-camp-director-hikes-long-trail/article_9c8e49a5-c891-5eed-919f-4cbe25079082.html

https://www.scoutingvermont.org/buxtonhikeslt.html

Scout Salute,

[RememberSchiff]

Update 9/24/2020: 

After 27 days and 272 miles,  Camp Director Clint Buxton completed his fundraising hike and raised $30,000.

Buxton had been conditioning throughout the summer by hiking Camel's Hump and other favorite trails. But suddenly, with less than two weeks to go, he found himself taking a crash course in social media and grass roots community organizing.

Buxton quickly got up to speed and had a support team of friends and family behind him as he stepped onto the trail and adopted the trail name ‘Hawkeye’ in August. Along the way, dozens of Scout Packs and Troops linked up with Clint as he made his way toward the Canadian border. Others joined in virtually by hitting a local trail and posting their adventures with a ‘Flat Buxton’ cutout on social media using the #BuxtonHikesLT hashtag.

More details at source:

https://vermontbiz.com/news/2020/september/24/trail-magic-‘unemployed’-scout-camp-director’s-long-trail-trek-raises-30000