Mooseman

I have the brand on my paddle, there is nothing more to it than the X. the reason it is an X is that Charles L Sommers used to be the region 10 canoe base. If you look at the picture you will also see a CLS inside a canoe, this a secondary brand but not the main brand.

It is a serifed captial X ... the roman numeral 10 for region 10.

I always use a 20 degree synthetic bag. You never know what the temperature will be like, I have seen it snow in July. With a 20 degree bag if anything happens you will be ready. It is nice to have it be synthetic because if it does happen to get wet it will still work, keeping 70% of its original warmth.

I love my -40 degree bag, works great on the really cold nights. http://www.thenorthface.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=70184&storeId=207&catalogId=10201&langId=-1&from=subCat&parent_category_rn=11749&variationId=7D8 If you are starting out though I would suggest that you combined two bags, it is cheaper and easier. Maybe a 20 degree and a zero degree... or what ever you might have.

In my experience I would also try to put parents and their scouts in separate canes, at least for the first two days. This alleviates tensions when people have not paddled much. I would also suggest switching canoe partners around on longer trips (more than 3 days). one canoe will always lag and it will create bad feelings between canoes if you don't switch things up.

My mistake, sorry. For early in the season they might be a good choice.

The majority 95% + of the interpreters (guides) at Northern Tier use jungle boots, as some one previously posted you can get them from the Norther Tier website, I think they are in the $35 range, not bad when most people going to philmont spend 3-5 times that on boots. you can also take some old backpacking boots and drill holes in the sides or live with sloppy feet the whole trip, it is really not that bad. In response to the previous poster, you would be hard pressed to find an Interpreter who would let you pull loaded canoes up on to the portage. There are some portages where ther

Swamper training is the term used for staff training. The "swamper trip" is a trip halfway through training where staff go on a 4 to 5 day training canoe trip.

Personally, I would not relate an Interpreter to a regular guide and by no means a tour guide of the BWCAW. As Mike F. related them to tour guides or buses in Europe. On the trips I have been on at Northern tier, the interpreter was there more as a role model. The Interpreter was able to challenge the scouts in a different way than I can as an adult leader who already has a history with the scouts on the trip. I see the whole reason for using Northern tier is to give the scouts this different, positive interactions with adults in their 20s. Of the scouts in my troop, I know that they

there is a really good natural history museum there. They also have a really nice bizar area called the Grand Forks. when are you going on your trip? -Karl

Everyone enjoys National High Adventure, so why not get paid for it!! Northern Tier National High Adventure base is looking for quality staff members to guide canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota and the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario,Canada. If you or anyone you know is interested in working for Northern Tier, check out our website at http://www.ntier.org/ or call us at 218-365-4811. You must 18 years of age to apply.

Yep, I ment 5% sorry.

I have been biting my tongue but I have to say, I had a bad experience at philmont. When I went I had the expectation that it would be a challenging trip with lots of hiking in remote areas on difficult trails. Our troop had done a number of trips on the AT. With no grade more than 5 degrees and distances less than I had expected, the trip did not live up to my expectations. There were a number of other people who I have spoken to who had the same experience in that philmont was not the challenging wilderness backpacking Mecca they had been led to believe. Also my group had one very

With the holiday season coming up and people looking for gifts... what camping or scout gear do you have on your list this year? -MooSeman

I hiked the Freedom trail as a scout in boston. I believe it takes about one day and I believe that you can earn the medal just by walking it. if you stay at Sayre, which I might add I like, the scout office is there and they will most likly have info on the freedom trail. If you guys are really into history then it would take more than one day, the trail highlights all of the importaint historic parts of boston.

Hi Looking at the closed entry points that infoscouter listed, it looks as though the fire would have little or no ipact to the base operations. the fire seams to be more around the gunflint trail which is at the very eastern edge of the loop where you would normaly. Also in the BWCA winds normaly blow from west to east, so the likely hood of the fire speading to where you are going is relitivly low, in my humble opinion. if you are going into the quetico you would mostlikely not hvae any problems. the base normaly operates through entries at prairy portage and not cash bay (in the east,

Hi I personally use Altama jungle boots and in my experience they work the best but if you don't have an army surplus store near you here are some things you should look for. A boot with minimal padding, padding is like a sponge and if have padding it will track that much more water into the canoe, and keep your feet wetter. a good tred, you will be walking on dirt paths, rock faces, gravel, fallen slippery rotting trees ext. basically every kind of surface you can thing of, with a 70-90 lbs pack, if you don't have good traction you could hurt your self. a strong toe and heal

Hi I have been to both the boundry waters and the adirondacks, when I was a scout. I found the adirondacks to be more setteled on the lakes than the boundry waters.The lakes were smaller than in the boundry waters and the method in which the canoes were portaged was more difficult in the aderondacks than in the boundry waters. With only half of the trip on lakes I did not really get a feel for canoeing while I was in the aderondacks due to the short length of the time in canoes, and it does take time to get uesed to/ learn to canoe. The hiking in the aderondacks I found to be more str

Hi It seams as though burning would be just fine as long as you make shore that it all burns and no trash is left in the fire circle. Heck, in my town all the trash is sent to an incinerator any ways. The only reason not to burn is most people don't make shore that all the trash is burned. I have seen too many fire circles with aluminum foil in them or half melted plastic. Many people forget that hot chocolate and oatmeal packets have a mettle or plastic liner. -MooSe

High adventure is an activity that at some point during it you ask yourself why you are there, and at the end you can't believe you were able to complete it. -MooSe

The past couple of months have been slow trading for me. If any one would like to trade it would be great. a couple of the folowing patches. Knox Trail, La Salle, Boston Minuteman, Yankee Clipper, Westmoreland-Fayette, and Voyageurs Area. I also have other dupes at http://www.geocities.com/dd1212127/dupes.html it would be great if anyone wants to trade. -Karl

HI I went both as a scout with my troop and with the OA voyage. I have also been with my family in the BWCA. I truly believe that going through the Boy Scout High Adventure base is the way to go. The gear might not be as new as the outfitters or look as good but it all works and gear is a miner part of the trip. To understand why it is better to go with through the boy scouts you first have to under stand what the true goal of the trip is. The real goal is for the scouts to learn to have a good time out in the wilderness and for them to develop a sense of self pride in having complet

I use the pages that they sell at the scout store although they are a little expencive check this out http://www.scoutstuff.org/cgi/catalog the larger patches I keep seperatly in some sort of box. -MooSe

Hi I am looking for people who would be interested in trading. I have a dupes list at http://www.geocities.com/dd1212127/index.html but I would also be willing to trade my council patch for yours or my Lodge flap for yours till I am out. My e-mail is huemille@stolaf.edu and I am from Boston minuetman council. -Karl

I am in boston minuetman council and moswetuset Lodge 52 I would be interested in 2:2 for both if possible. -Karl