le Voyageur

Quoting Beavah...."Or maybe it's because child molesters bein' atheists is more the norm than the exception, eh?" hmmmm (befuddled)...FBI stats says otherwise. So, do I draw the conclusion that Catholic priests who molest are atheists? Or,that child molestation turns Christians into atheists?

As a watchmanstate minarchist it was easy to percieve that Bush was a statist, hence I elected to vote twice for a write in candidate. I'll be doing the same again for the next one since the political system of representive government is broken, and the scoundrels now rule We the People outside of our Consitution with neo fascism...

Yes on both counts, Hess is a favorite.....I found Hess a way to get out of the funk that Hardy could put me in....Tess of the D'urbervilles made me so depressed I had to read Siddharta twice, along with Vonnegut's The Monkey House...

Let's see....I've read this year so far Infectious Diseases by Deanna Grimes Respiratory Disorders by Susan F. Wilson Cardiovascular Disorders by Mary M. Canobbio Back to Basics How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills - Reader Digest ISBN 0-89577-086-5 (OGE ya need to get a copy of this book...) Residential Framing A Homebuilder's Construction Guide by William P. Spence The Orkneyinga Saga Now Reading Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, and The Deer Slayer

If time and cost is a factor, consider that National, as well the Councils spend a considerable amount of time training volunteers to serve as Commissioners (Council, District, Unit, and Camp). And that there are volunteers who are willing to spend the time, and money. Here's an example... http://www.scouting.org/commissioners/ptc/index.html BSA knows that without trained Commissioners, their DE's would never make thier number goals, or be able to keep their Districts healthy Now, why is it, that such a key position as Scoutmaster has such a weak overall training program, and none for high adventure?

The works of Jack London, Robert W. Service, Mark Twain, and O'Henry On the Beach by Nevil Shute Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupry Les Miserables by Victor Hugo JB by Archibald McLeash The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna Siddharta by Herman Hess The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Beneath the Wheel by Herman Hess To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien 1984 by George Orwell A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen All Quite on the Western Front by E M Remarque Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Prince by NIccolo Machiavelli The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy Jude the Osbcure by Thomas Hardy Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Great Expectations by Charles Dickens The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold The Prophet by Khalil Gibran David Copperfield by Charles Dickens The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Life of Pi by Yann Martel Middlemarch by George Eliot The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn The Idiot by A. Solzenhitsyn

Here's my thinking for a win win, which is for National to partner with ARC, YMCA, SOLO, NOLS, BOSS, Outward Bound as well as with colleges and universities that offer training in outdoor/wilderness rec for reduced rates, and to tap into their trainers. Additionally, there are voulunteers within all Councils with a considerable amount of outdoor skills that could also be tapped into as trainers. Here, the Councils could ante up a few bucks in helping them maintain their certs......

Here's a rough ideal on how to train Scoutmasters... First, National creates a Merit Badge program just for Adult Scouters....examples of possible subjects - Land Navigation, Wilderness Leadership, WFA, WFR, WEMT, SAR, Basic Canoeing, Advanced Canoeing, Climbing and Rigging, Basic Backpacking, Advanced Backpacking, Tracking...etc. Next, a series of rankings...examples; Scoutmaster Basic, an automatic for just signing one's name on the dotted line and completing BSA's general training courses; Scoutmaster Intermediate, x number of mb's; Scoutmaster Advanced, an additional number of mb's, and Scoutmaster Guide as the final step. As always, it'll be up to the individual to decide just how much training he/she wants to undertake....

ah yes, the October apple fest in Julian. Been awhile. However, I'll be leaving for California mid Sept to climb in Yosemite, and an alpine on Shasta. Maybe I'll check the calendar for the date of the next fest, and if time permits, make a visit. Would be great to do a side trip to Woodson for a little bouldering....

hijacking my own thread.... Gunny, If you're climbing in Josh, then these climb sites are fairly close to you. - Mt. Woodson between Poway and Ramona (Poway is N. of San Diego). Great bouldering, everything from free climbing to Aid. - The Tahquitz and Suicide near the small town of Idyllwild (not far from Palm Springs) - East Face, Mt. Whitney (great techincal, i.e. A5 routes)

I've no desire to staff a National Jambo hop's, it's not my thing since I only work real rock, not towers. My concern is rope useage on natural rock, not towers. Towers can be built with anchor systems that reduce shearing forces, avoids sharp bends, as well as provide greater protection from abrasion for ropes. Not so natural rock where you have to work with what nature has provided. Saying that, in Yosemite, I've seen on several occasions what happens when a rope fails with climbers taking 3,000 plus foot falls. As such, it's made me fairly conservative in how much I'll push a rope to it's "limits". Ropes are cheap and can be replaced, lives aren't and can't. As to why my "low numbers" for repells, it's due to the eights aluminizing the rope, along with friction compromising the sheath over time making the rope stiff and difficult to work with, thus making a rope inspection dicy, with the big unknown in how the transfer of heat has affected the inner core. Better to err on the side of caution then keep pushing it an extra 100 or more repells to save a few bucks. Now, I would consider maybe 500 to 750 repells on a Bluewater 13mm line with steel eights, but our Council's preferance is for the less expensive, and imho, less safe 10.5mm's. Just not enough guts under that sheath for me to warrant pushing it beyound 300 repells....

As both an A5 climber/rigger with over 30 years of experience, and a BSA Climbing Director, I feel that the Current BSA Climbing Standards of 4 years is excessive, keeping ropes much too long in inventory. It needs to change, requiring Councils to at least consider new ropes every season for their summer camp climbing programs based on the use of the previous year. As I see it, the current Standards have the potenial to set the stage for an incident when used by inexperienced Climbing Directors/Instructors lacking real world climbing experience (nothing in the requirements requires a CD to be a climber, or even have a minimum number of years of climbing experience prior to showing up at Camp School). For myself, I retire rope at 100 hours of use, and/or 500 belays for a dynamic, and 250 to 300 repells for static, reserving the right to retire sooner should I feel that there is something wrong with the rope. Thoughts from other CD's, CI's or climbers on this?

I agree with the article, a considerable amount of insight as to the problems that weaken all of BSA's outdoor programs. Been saying it for years....we, as an organization need to get our act together, and National needs to step up to the plate and stop their CYA tap dancing that they are so good at(Climb on Safety, Safe Swim, Safety Afloat, BSA Lifeguard, LNT....etc). National needs to partner with Outward Bound, NOLS, BOSS, and Solo, etc....creating programs that not only train, but provide a base level of experience...

Being a member of a living history Venture crew .... Outfit #1 center seam Ligoneers, leggings, French Fly breeches, longshirt, tuque, chesnut color socks with black stripes, tuque, sash, leather belt, 3 sheath knives, powder horn, possible bag, haversack, hawk,cartridge box, wooden canteen, and the musket..... Outfit #2 Sailors slops, sabots, dropsleeve shirt, French Marine forager cap, justicorp Outfit #3 Highback canvas pants, flowery drop sleeve shirt, braces, vest, corduroy jacket, leather boots, tuque or slouch hat

Never counted how many. In climbing and canoeing it's more important in knowing how to build anchor and pully systems with a basic set of knots to get the job done.

Looks like I made a mess of those links (and no way to edit the errs).....just google JP Coleman State Park

A short distance north of Corinth, Miss. in Tennessee - Shiloh Battlefield North of Iuka, Miss, is a great campground along the Tennessee River

OK,I'll ask when was the last time anyone went anywhere with three spars about 6 to 7 feet in height? Unless of course you have spent the day Pig Sticking and you used the spars to carry the dead pig back to camp. Eamonn Pig sticking...hey. Reminds of the time when BP and I had had enough of the hobnobbing with the local gentry in Mombassa. Says to ourselves, enough is enough and time to man up. Decided a bit of boar hunting would be the ticket. More so, because we had been invited to a Young Maiden Fesitval and Jitterbug contest (Lady Kimberly's Debutant Ball and Social Mixer) and wild pig on the spit seemed to be the ideal fare for the occasion. So, BP and I jumped on the Lunatic line and railed up with our ponies, and a fair collection of pig sticking lances to Ngomongo on the backside of the Tsavo. After several days of wearing out our ponies in the equatorial heat, and with the scent of lion hunging heavy in the dry air, we had ventured within the shadows of Mt. Kenya wherein was a small waddi from which was coming one heck of a lot angry boar like grunting sounds, and carrying on's. BP, seeing the dust rising from the waddi like an avenging angel gives me the grin, and then..... oooops...sorry. Off topic. Ehhh us canoe types carry spars to pole up river. Often times we find them cleverly hidden in the woods...

Here's a trick to teach your rain fly.... You'll need of course a rain fly (mines a 9 x 12 light weight tarp); four 3 foot lengths of 8 or 9mm line (rope), three 10 to 12 foot lengths of 8 or 9mm line, three spars about 6 to 7 feet in height, three solid stakes, and a buddy. Now to hopefully explain the set up of the fly (using mine as an example) locate a corner gromet, form a bight with one of the short sections of line slipping it through the gromet, tying in using a lark's head. Then bring the ends around a good tree, securing the ends with a grapevine knot. This is a fix pivot point with the tree serving as an axle, and the loop as a bearing, a strong knot is most important. Be to sure to push it up the tree to a fair height, say about 6 feet or so. Now, working along the short end of the fly (the 9 foot side)repeat the same procedure as you did with the pivot point, but don't tie off to the any trees. Slip a spar into the loop and tie one of the long lines above the loop using two half hitches and pull it out at a 45 degree angle from the groment, block the bottom of the spar with a foot, and lean it out about 45 degrees, and have your buddy secure it to a stake using a taught line hitch. This is your first lever. Repeat the procedure at each of the corners. Be sure to keep the far end of tarp a little lower then the top, around 8 or 10 inches lower than the fix pivot point side to add a wee bit of slope to the fly along's it's long axis...afterwards, snug up all the taught line hitches. Now, when it rains, water will pool in the middle, and soon the weight of the water will pull the lower spars inward and dump the water, Once the weight is off, the spars will spring back to their original positions to dump the next around of water....

During my tenure working the Point Camp outpost at Blue Ridge I had the chance to belay dozens of scouts and scouters of different weights, and skill levels with the Cinch. IMHO, for single rope top belays, ATC's are dinosaurs, and I'm no longer putting them on my buy list for next year. The Cinch is safe, reliable, and has a fast learning curve, and feeds rope like a champ. As an auto locking device it will lock off a fall quicker than any belayer can with an ATC, and that margin of safety to minimize fall distance is priceless. Here's what this guy looks like....if you're a COPE, or Climbing Director, give this tool a try, I think you'll be impressed with it like I am.... http://www.gearreview.com/images/trango_cinch.jpg

Good to hear from you, too Hope all has been, and is well with you, and yours... YIS also LV

From the Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work (p95 fig 283, plate 43)I came across a knot calle the The Double Sliding Loop with Blood Knots. Well the term Blood Knot caught my attention. Why? Well, today and over time Blood Knots are now known as either the Fisherman, or the Grapevine. With a little work, and a bit of practise this has become my favorite knot for a quick bombproof climbing anchor using 10.5mm static line as a runner instead of webbing. My method is to wrap two to three coils around a suitable tree, over lap the runner and tie the double grapevines. Then it's just a matter of snugging the coils and knot tight in the direction of pull. This leaves a large loop in which a Figure 8 with a single bight is tied into it while snugging in a rope thimble for the carabiner for shear reduction.... Great knot, maybe it'll be in the Climbing MB book one of these years...

I know that I would make for a terrible SM. But, I could be a resource for SM's. Not every SM has the time, or energy to get all the certifications, training and experience needed to run high adventure programs for older scouts. Other great jobs out there....COPE Directors, Climbing Directors, EMT's, Whitewater experts, Living Historians such as Mountain Men, and Voyageurs, Black Powder shooters, Trail Builders, Touring Cyclists, etc. etc..... Find a niche, and go for it...

One of the biggest complaints that I have when working an outpost are the stuffy tents. The remedy was to buy my own tent, which I did. A Eureka Tetragon 1610 which was on sale at Campmor. A huge beast of a tent spanning 16 feet in length, by 10 feet in width which can be divided into three rooms. One side for my assistant, the other for me, and the center to store, house gear. Since it's free standing, we won't be tripping over guy lines, plus the ventilation and interior lighting will be better then the canvas wall tents. I'll write a review of how it performed after camp.....

A heads up....http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/01/yosemite.road.ap/index.html It the road is not opened, take 108 north to 395, then drop south. The Tioga pass is climb, but worth the effort. Also, got the time, take in the ghost town of Bodie....