Leaderboard

Richard Smith, 75, known to those on the trail and many in Canton as “Old Scout,” completed the Appalachian Trail hike in what is known as the “AT Flip-Flop.” Instead of hiking from Georgia’s Springer Mountain through to Maine’s Mount Katahdin, he hiked from Harpers Ferry in West Virginia to Maine, took a combination of trains and buses back to Harpers Ferry and completed the hike back to Springer Mountain in December. “Most people start their through-hike at Springer Mountain in Georgia and hike north to Mt. Katahdin. I didn't want to do it that way, because the trail (has) too many

I’d report this event to the local council Advancement chair and if applicable, the host council Advancement chair. What is described is simply not acceptable. At an out of district event once, I was asked to “teach” and sign off on a MB in two hours. I asked coordinator if he was nuts. He told me this was what they promised the youth. i told him goodbye.

What makes this worse is that Environmental Science does not have to be done this way. Half of the requirements can be done by doing experiments, for crying out loud. 8 hours of lecture and fill-in-the-blanks? That sounds awful.

My Bobcat is the only one I remember, but I remember touring the Chevrolet factory, the railroad shops, the...😀

A few "pearls" from my treks: * The chuckwagon dinner is a great change from freeze dried but dont expect too much. The two times Ive had it, it is commercial-size (boil in the bag) dinty moore beef stew and dutch over cobbler. As I said, a nice change of pace but it is really easy to over eat and get sick (dont ask how I know). * We did cowboy action shooting the first year it was offered so things may have changed since then. We used 22cal revolvers loaded a single shot at a time. It was fun because it was pistols but it was really pretty "meh" if you have done much shooting.

I feel badly for your son, and also for the other boys. None of them "earned" the mB, and worse none gained much of anything from the "adult association" nor from the class. I AM a trained, certified educator and as a mB counselor I refuse to "teach a class" and I abhor the use of the workbooks. Scouts is not supposed to be school; nothing of the sort. I am saddened that many requirements tend to gravitate towards school-like work and districts/councils have mB "colleges". This makes advancement no longer a method, but the purpose; IMO that is wrong.

From the merit Badge instructions guide - Smaller Groups Are Preferred. Class sizes should be set appropriately to ensure each Scout receives high-quality,personal instruction and benefits from the counselor’s unique knowledge. This suggests that most classes should be small—perhaps no larger than a patrol in size. For larger groups, qualified instructors assigned to smallergroups should assist the merit badge counselor in order to ensure Scouts receive individual attention. Instructors should be knowledgeable about the merit badge subject, but they do not necessarily

My default answer is maybe.....Here's what I believe the requirement states (from https://oa-bsa.org/about/membership): Have experienced 15 nights of camping while registered with a troop, crew, or ship within the two years immediately prior to the election. The 15 nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of at least five consecutive nights of overnight camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. Only five nights of the long-term camp may be credited toward the 15-night camping requirement; the balance of the campin

2 Scouts (or 1 Scout and a buddy) meeting with 1 counselor. Source: explanation given to Scouts, found in Boy Scout Handbook, for earning a merit badge.

My favorite answer to this: *(( The true author of this article is unknown. It is here copied from the COME HOSTELING newsletter, Sept. 1980, of the Potomac Area Council of the American Youth Hostels, who received it from Dick Schwanke, Senior PAC Staff Trainer, who read it in the APPALACHIAN HIKER by Ed Garvey, who got it from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Conference Bulletin, which quoted it from THE RAMBLER of the Wasatch Mountain Club of Salt Lake City, which reportedly cribbed it from the I.A.C. News of Idaho Falls, which reported it from the 1966 PEAKS & TRAILS. I offer it