Scouts and Caving
Juel A. Fitzgerald (juel@USA.PIPELINE.COM)
Fri, 29 Mar 1996 13:01:48 GMT
I just read part 2 of this topic. Somehow I missed part 1; could you
please resend to me personally so as not take of space for others?
I found it quite fasinating. Thanks for providing detailed information on
caving to us all.
The trip with the Cadettes was an one year endeavor on the troop's part.
After deciding we were even interested, where and when we wanted to go then
we all had to prepare for the trip. We had to do much of what what
explained in part of narrative just sent out.
For our own personal well being we went further. We took the scouts on
local hiking/caving trips in our area where we have ledges and caves. We
mainly did this to weed out any unknown claustrophophics and to give them a
small taste of what was to come. We also had a parent meeting to explain
EVERYTHING about caving. The parents was yukking and the scouts was
panting for more! We also had each parent sign a special High Risk
Permission slip in order for their daughter to take the trip.
Just before the trip we had a shakedown, just like we would for a backpack
trip. In this case instead of trying to shake out the unneeded heavy
items we were making sure they had EVERYTHING that had been specified on
their list - no if ands or buts! If it was on the list it is NOT an
option! The scouts and parents complained but after the trip was done, the
scouts told how they were glad they had been forced to bring whatever it
was they were planning on not bringing.
This group also happen to be a group of athletes from various year round
sports and was physically able to under take this type experience. The one
comment one of them made at the end as part of an evaluative statement was
"we forgot to stretch before we started".
Juel A. Fitzgerald
Troop Advancement Chair Troop 464
Cadette Troop Leader Troop 282
Greater Cleveland Council
Girl Scouts of Lake Erie Council
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
