le Voyageur

Red Feather A rewarming plan is simply the steps you would take to prevent hypothermia should a crew flip a canoe. The colder the water, or weather (windchill) the more aggressive the procedure should be, i.e. dry cloths, a fire, hot drinks, sleeping bags, buddy warming, evacuation.... John D., For tender, the best is cedar bark if it can be found in your area. The bark can rolled/rubbed between one's hands producing some real nice fluffy fibers that can be made into a bird's nest. Pine pitch (nature's naplam) can be added to your firelay to accelerate your fire.....

Dutch Oven Cake 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup cocoa 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup vegetable oil 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon vanilla 2 cups cold coffe (strong) 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinamon Put flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, cocoa, soda and salt into a cold dutch oven. Stir with a fork to mix. Form 3 wells in the mixture, pour oil into one well, vinegar in one and vanilla in one. Pour cold coffe over all ingredients and stir with fork until well mixed. Do not beat. Combine remaining sugar and cinamon, sprinkle over batter. Bake at a moderate temp. until done (350 deg. F. appx 35 to 40 mins).

For cooking eggs, I like boiling them. Afterwards, the same water can be skimmed off and used for oatmeal plus hot chocolate, or tea. To make and store charcloth for flint and steel use an Altoid tin. Scrape the white off of orange peels, and boil them in a sugar/water (syrup) solution until transparent. Makes a great addition to tea, or simply eaten alone. For backpacking, keep the lunch simple. My two main lunch menus are Pilot biscuts, jerky, cornnuts, a bit of bittersweet chocolate and tea and Pemmican, Parched corn with maple sugar, dried fruit and tea Tea is simple to make, just toss in a few teabags in a Nalgene before setting out in the morning. By noon, it's brewed. Some safety tips for canoeing Never, ever wear a puncho while canoeing On moving water learn and use hand and paddle signals Avoid dark colored helmets when running rapids. Pick a color that can be seen from a distance. Carry throw bags Have a rewarming plan Whistles are a must have

It's a good word, and conveys what it is for your scouters... Do understand what it't like to be misunderstood due to cultrual differances. Got takened to task for using the word squaw by a lady who thought that the word was vulgar and demeaning to her gender. Had she asked, or done her homework, she would of been informed that this root word could be found in nakskw (a young woman), pilskwesis (a girl), and skwasis (a young girl). Also, did read your profile, if you would, please tells us more about yourself....

Bob Gotta admit you're right about keeping it basic. Kinda thinking about setting it up as a very condensed first year camper program seen at summer camp using the sylabus as the primary focal point. If there's time left over, maybe cover Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat, Trek Leader, and Climb on Safety. The big unknown, as always, is the skill levels of one's staff...if they tackle a subject that is outside their experience, they'll only do a poor job of teaching that skill. The goal is to have both the staff, and the students comeing away from a training event feeling very positive about what they have done..it's gotta be a win win for everyone... Without a doubt,the information that has been posted is just great, it'll make the first staff meeting much more productive..many thanks all

FScouter More hands on, hey! Question - for pioneering, if you were taking this course would you be interested in learning simple pulley/lever systems (z-drags, 3:1)to move small logs around? For fire building, would you have been interested in learning to build firelays that conserve wood, plus the use of flint and steel over matches? How about tracking, would that of been an interest??? For First Aid - cover the requirements for the lower ranks, but add in some WFR?? Include training like CSpine/Spine management, Airway management, etc. Would a session in wilderness risk management be of an interest, or is this getting to far ahead of the game??? Also, if you would, please feel free to add additional comments, thanks

Thanks for the info all....got some insights now that I hadn't thought about. Time to find a syllabus at the Council and do some homework...thanks again

Sierra Clip Flashlight, a 3 season, non freestanding backpacking tent...that, or a sil tarp. As a suggestion for canoeing, consider dry bags other backpacks, this'll protect that so ever important sleeping bag......

Congrats OGE I guess being a bear is okay - our patrol was kinda small so everybody got a title...we had a Legal Eagle (lawyer), a Nesting Eagle (the guy had 12 kids!, Golden Eagle (banker), an me as a Lone Eagle (the course was in California, a little over 3,000 miles from my home council).

Since I'm not smart enough to figure out how to work the edit function, let me rephrase the second paragraph. For those of you have been either an instructor, or an instructee need some insight to prepare ahead of time. If you would, please opine away on the following questions.... [a word to the wise: one should avoid English when studying French mixed with Ottawa]

I'm getting the feeling that the District may "volunteer" me to run the new leader's Outdoor Essentials training coming up this fall. For those who has either been an instructor, or an instructee. So, to be prepare, if you would, please opine away on the following questions... What did you like, or not like about the course? What could of been better focused on? What could of been left out? What changes do you feel would of made your training, or course better for you? Thanks

I agree with BobWhite in the entire - send this kid packing, and remove him from the program. My reasons, this kid is showing all the classic signs of a sexual preditor. No need to try and save what can't be save...

SST3rd The Trek did pretty good overall dispite very low water levels. Lots of good scouts and scouters made for one great summer that flew by. We've also started working on Indian Camp shifting to a more Eastern Woodlands identity and away from the Plains/Hollywood Indians of the past. Hoping to have our industrial strength wigwam (rebar and fiberglass bark) finished by then, with luck we might have one or two more built. The goal is to make Hemlock Grove look like a John White sketch of the late 16th century... What I'm hoping for next year is, 1. To distant the Trek from the High Knoll Trail menu, and focus more on foods and cooking techniques of the Fur Trade era. 2. Ban matches, lighters, etc. for flint and steel. 3. More living history, would like to co-op with Indian Camp for a tie in. Since we have everyone portaging to Hemlock Grove, kinda thinking about a mock ambush in route where trekers are takened "hostage". Would get all in the spirit of the program very quickly.. 4. Locating non State run campgrounds. Rangers tend to frown a whole bunch on black powder shooting on their turf. 5. Get trekers to carry less gear, and have more faith in their camping/outdoor skills. 6. Add the Historical Trail award to the program. 7. Try and get National to rewrite the requirements for the American Heritage merit badge (it's okay if you like doing written reports, be more fun if they would add some living history to it.) Looking forward to seeing your crew next year. We'll make sure that they'll have of ton of fun....LV

Several years back when I was active at the troop level it was extremly difficult to keep any scouting unit in this county running over a year. Thankly we've got a unit thats been here going on about 3 years now. The problem with scouting in this area was that in the past, mostly the 50's and 60's units were supported by the KKK, and the community's memory of this era is starting to slowly fade. It's a tough legacy to live down, but inroads are being made by some hardworking scouters here. Now, if we could only find a way to keep a DE in the District.....

For me, the concept of creationalism creates both a paradox, and a danger. As a paradox, the concept requires that Christianity be an absolute truth. And as such, all other religions, and creation storys as an absolute false. Thus, Judism, the foundation of Christianity would be false, and if Judism is a false religion, then Christianity falls like a house of cards. The danger is that this ideal places the human outside of the web of life; to rule and have dominion overall. As faithmongers, humans have a wrecthed history of stewardship not only of the general enviroment, but also over their own kind. Tend to think that after spending the last 2,000 years going down this road, would be nice if we humans could find a better path....

With my focus on High Adventure, I try to attend every few years basic Unit Leader training to stay in touch with the changes. As for Youth Protection, I average 2 to 3 training sessions every year (NCS, camp staff, council specific)... Other than that I generally spend the entire year keeping current, or training on my certifications for summer camp (C.O.P.E., Trek Leader, EMT, ARC Lifegaurding, Swift Water Rescue, AHA CPR/DeFib, Climbing Director/Instructor).

Yep, got a bit of a chuckle from the boxing glove reparte'myself. Brought back memories of those old 1930's era Jackie Cooper flics "Scouts to the Rescue". Nothing like seeing Scouts dealing with gun toting thugs, fist fights, fending off indians, riding wild broncs, canoeing raging rapids through a forest fire, flying biplane fighters...Wow! The Guide to Safe Scouting sure takes away the fun....

I consider DEET too toxic for general use as a tick repellant... Try using Flower of Sulfur, a small bottle of the stuff dumped in an old sock can be batted around one's ankles and cuffs to keep these little critters off of you....it's an old method used by our colonial ancestors long before DEET.

OGE First, best of luck to you and remember to have fun. So, if I was planning my ticket I would consider developing a new high adventure program for our Council summercamp. Since, this area is heavy in the history department the program would be a week long living history/canoeing trek that would retrace the John White, Ralph Lane expeditions of 1585/86. Also, would try to get the Council interested in a off reservation fishing program based out of the Outer Banks. It would be a mix of inland fishing, as well as a day of deep sea fishing off of the Oregon Inlet. Another area would be to developed a training program for our O.A. Lodge shifting the focus from their Hollywood/Plains Indian pagent to eastern woodlands. Lots of resources in the area which could be tapped into to make this happen.... Again, best of luck

ASM7 If BSA would let me design the uniform you'd be proud to wear it everyday...heck, you'd probadly change your name to Daniel Boone, or even Hawkeye....

Tiny1pj, You've missed my point...here's my thinking which centers around the Totem Chip based on my 10 seasons of camp staff experience, as well as over 30 years as an outdoorsman. - Yes I agree that there are huge acreages of diseased and damaged forest that need to be cleared, but that is the domain of the professional forester, not an 11 year old with an ax! - Most 11 years old come from an urbanized enviroment and are weak, soft, overfed, pampered and have short attention spans. They lack the physical strength and coordination neccessary to weild an ax. The term used by the Handicraft staff at most camps for the Woodcarving Merit badge, which most 11 year olds sign up for is called Fingercarving for good reasons. The use of edged tools should be developed into an older boy's program where, besides the ax and hachet, they can learn how to use a fro, broadaxes, adzs and other edge tools. I don't want to see an end to the use of wood tools, just a small delay until the scout matures. - There are few scouters left that really know their stuff when it comes to edged tools. Our soceity has moved out of it's rural past and left a lot of the knowledge of that world behind. Reading a few pages in the Scout Handbook on woodtools does not make an inexperienced scouter knowledgeable on the subject, nor fully prepared to teach it properly. - Most scouts will hike established trails that are highly impacted, the very reason LNT was created. When was the last time you saw someone carrying an ax, or a hatchet on the AT, PCT, CDT, the John Muir, Bright Angel or the hundreds of other popular trails that abounds in this country? A greenhorn might do it, but only once... - On a side note, NOLS does get the credit for inventing "LNT". However, Royal Robin started the trend in Yosemite within the climbing community nearly a decade before NOLS took up the banner. Just a little credit where credit is due...

Seems that I'm not the only one with this problem, but I've another one that is causing me a lot of heartburn...which is a forged, or altered med form in which the parent or unit leader will use to shoehorn an underage, or medically compromised scout into a high adventure program. Nation Standards for Council High Adventure and Specialty Adventure Programs are very specific as to age. To quote directly from the Standards and referring to Standard M3(the M means manditory with no exceptions) " Every participant must be a registered Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, or Venturer and must have attained the age of 13 or have completed the seventh grade by January 1 of the year he or she will participate. Programs requiring greater physical strain, mental stress, or higher levels of skills are limited to older Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Venturers. Experience levels and preadventure training are considered in determining age standards higher than the minimum." Here's the story behind the angst...mid summer of our trek we're running a large crew, about 16 boats on the water (32 souls including guides). At check in we go through the med forms, everything seemed to be okay with the exception of one, the form just didn't look right. The unit leader assured us everything was okay and the scout would be fine. The scout ended up being cargo for the week, didn't have the stamina to paddle for long hours, or to carry his weight on the portages. As the unit was driving out of camp and headed for home one of ass't unit leaders bragged that this kid was only 12! Even though in our precamp handout the age limit was expressed these unit leaders choice to ignore this requirement. These unit leaders actually put this scout's life, as well as the lives of the guides in at risk. Had this kid flipped in the rapids and needed to do some very serious swimming he would of never made it to a safe haven...just something to think about....

Here's mine... supplex nylon knickers with button fly and gusset in the back to adjust width - color, medium tobacco/tan wool/nylon blend knee high socks - supplex nylon shirt, color - forest green long weskit, color - madder sash for the waist (double wrapped) long hunter hat

Yep, do remember those shoes, and even the Buster Brown Show.... As for footwear for the class A's I would go with Hi Tec. You can buy 3 sets of Hi Tecs for the price of one set of those trendy shoes with the swoosh....my last pair cost 24 bucks, giving up the ghost after 18 months of hard use...

My advice is, if you've got the time is to serve as a Camp Commissioner at a summer camp. NCS training and certification plus camp staff tenure will show any District Comish how serious you are about the job...