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resqman

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Everything posted by resqman

  1. 12 miles a day for 180 days (6 months) is the norm for thru hikers. Very obtainable by most people. 20 miles a day for 110 days (about 4 months) is quickly becoming a more common experience for thru hikers. 50 miles a day for 50 days is only for about 5 people in the world. 50 for 50 is a sprint with the hiker carrying little but water and snacks during the day and a support crew providing food and sleep accommodations at end of day. Shelters are about 12 miles apart. On the trail by 8:30, a couple short breaks, a 20-30 minute lunch and off trail by 5. Head off trail about once a wee
  2. Hiking the AT is similar to hiking any trail. Carry everything you need. Meet nice people. Spend time in the woods. I solo hiked Tennessee to GA Sept 2015. About 325 miles in 28 days. Son and his buddy did all of GA July 2015, about 100 miles in 8 days. Backpacking is backpacking. Water sources are abundant on the AT but often just little trickles. Enough for a hiker to easy fill a quart or two in a few minutes. Camping sites are limited because the trail often follows along ridges so you cant just stop and flop whenever you want. Shelters are spaced about every 12 miles apa
  3. The theory is that is you have a trailer, you only do drop and plop camping. The second premise is the only real camping is backpacking. I say false to both. We use a trailer to haul gear that doesn't into the micro sedans of today. Moms don't want dirt in the trunk of their Lexus so are unwilling to shuttle little jimmy to the camp out. Troop has 6 or 7 twelve inch cast iron dutch ovens. Couple bags of charcoal, few charcoal chimneys and couple of shovels to move around the coals. Load that in the trailer and each patrol has an oven and supplies to cook for the weekend. Troop ha
  4. Toad in the Hole: Set large pancake griddle on two burner stove or preheat a fry pan. Butter one side of bread. Use cap from the Pam Spray as cookie cutter and cut hole from center of bread slice. Place bread butter side down on griddle/pan. Crack egg into the hole in the center of the bread. Dab butter on side of bread that is up. Cook on medium heat until egg is firm and bread is toasted. Flip and cook other side. At same time, cook bread holes as toast.
  5. Didn't see where anyone suggested Boil-in-Bag Eggs. Write name on outside of quart ziplock with magic marker. Crack 2 eggs into ziplock bag. Zip up bag. Scout squishes the bag until the eggs are thoroughly mixed. Open bag and add grated cheese, diced tomatoes, diced onions, bacon crumbles, diced ham, diced peppers, sausage crumbles, diced mushrooms, etc. Usually have several bowls of supplies with spoons on table. Scouts add their own toppings to their bag. Add salt and pepper to taste. Tricky part: Burp bag of as much air as possible and zip. Throw in pot of boiling water. Wa
  6. At a Webelos den meeting, I showed the den a completed box oven. I split the den and gave one half a box, foil, a stapler, some coat hangers and a pair of pliers. Told them to make a box oven. The other half I gave them a bowl, some milk, a measuring cup, muffin pan and a Martha White muffin mix. You add 1/2 cup milk, stir, put in muffin pan and bake for 12-15 minutes. While they were making the oven and muffins, I got the coals going. Had the scouts put the pan of muffins in the pre-made box oven, set a timer and close the box. Showed them the thermometer stuck in the box at 425.
  7. How about 7-10 days backpacking the Pacific Crest or Appalachian trails? Son just spent a week kayaking around the Florida Keys. His cost was about $500 for food, lodging, travel and kayak rental. Stayed in Hostel, one night in friends home, and the rest camping. Back in the 70"s, my explorer post spent a week hiking every trail at the Chickamauga GA. Civil War Battlefield. Earned a patch and medal. As a lad, my explorer post did a number of weekend or long weekend Mini High Adventure treks. - Camp for the weekend. One day went white water rafting and the next went glid
  8. Monthly camping trips run $35 per month, dues $100 a year. Summer camp $250-$275. Uniform $100 twice between age 11 & 18. Personal camping gear: $50 sleeping bag, $75 pack, $20 mess kit, + rain gear.
  9. Well the same two scouts mentioned in the original post are at it again. This time they are driving to the Florida Keys and kayak for a week around and between the various keys. They are renting kayaks locally and paddling for a week. They will spend evenings in a hostel, various camp grounds/state parks, and one night with a family friend who lives in the area. Both have attended Northern Tier so are familiar with paddling and living out of a small craft for a week or more. Granted Canadian lakes are vastly different from open water in the Keys but they felt a need to ramp up the ch
  10. Well I do trust them all day while they are off running around the camp and taking classes. Sharing a meal you get a chance to ask them about their experience with the camp, staff, and their week. I eat with a different group of scouts every meal to get a general pulse. You see which kids are not eating and understand why they are sluggish, grumpy, etc. You get to hear stories about staff and if they are providing a valid program. Once meal time is over, then you can enjoy your cuppa joe if you must. 20 minutes three times a day is not asking much. Our troop rotates through about 5-
  11. I did a solo hike from Tennessee to Ga southbound. About 325 miles in 28 days last September. Averaged 12 miles a day. Had two or three days where I only did about 8 miles due to weather, waiting for post office to open to get food drop, etc. Hiked 2 weeks, took a zero mileage rest day, and then two more weeks. Towards the end I was covering 16+ a day with ease. 55 year old solo is different from group of teenage scouts. Was covering 10 miles a day at home with full pack in 4 hours during training. Took 8 hours on the trail. I live in Ga where it is hilly. Thought I was ready. No
  12. Staying in Shelters. In many areas along the trail there is area to pitch a camp so you need to plan on staying in the shelter area. Shelters vary in capacity from 6-12 people. Required to sleep in the shelters in the Smokies and must have a permit. I would recommend keeping the group size to under 12 total. Just not a lot of space to set up large camps. Cell service is pretty good meaning at least 80% of the time you can get a signal. But don't rely on having cell service. Tough to get lost on the trail. The white blazes are frequent enough. The trail itself is well worn in
  13. Most BOR comments were the scout was unprepared for the review and requested to come back better prepared. Troop policy is full uniform and book. Partial uniform or lack of book, you get bounced.
  14. Me thinks you are spending too much effort on this. The boys pick a name de plum. It is funny or weird or boring or stupid. After a while they get bored with it and pick a new one. Or they take on a fierce love and protection of the name. Some relish in the fact that the name is meaningless. Lots of No Name patrols thru history. There are blank patrol patches available. There are patches that have the word NAME with the red circle and diagonal stripe across it. Agree this is playground bickering. Troop policy is you can only change patrol names once a year. Just because of th
  15. Lads pick the patrol name. SM would veto if deemed somehow inappropriate or un-scoutlike. Patrols are run by the boys. They make poor choices and live with them. That is part of scouting. The patrol name only has to last as long as they want. Next week they could vote to change again. Keep in mind this a good learning lesson for the boys who don't like the name. Next time a patrol decision is to be made, they will likely be more vocal about what they want weather it is food choice for the campout or who shares a tent. Had an adult enter a patrol room and tell the scouts to stop
  16. Had a Pioneering MB Kit. I built the rope making machine in the mb book. Had two other methods to make rope using examples from the Cub scout books. We had 4 boxes that held poles in the correct position so lads could lash. Had about dozen or so "hiking staffs" from the scout store which are just wood dowels about 1.5 inches in diameter and 5 feet long. Small enough to practice the various knots and lashing but too small to really build much of anything. Included a box of ropes cut to about 15 feet with the ends whipped to use for the various lashings. Had a 300ft spool of binders t
  17. The unwritten rule in our troop is you discipline other kids scouts but not your own. If you kid is acting up, you go and get another ASM. I tried to make sure that my sons were aware of upcoming events. I let them make the decision to attend or not. I made sure that they had all the needed gear or supplies for the event available to them but left it up to them to pack and select what they actually took with them. They learned some lessons by leaving equipment at home. Only can think of one or two times they came to me mid event asking for some gear/equipment to cover their anatomy.
  18. New parents are requested to serve on the troop committee for 1 year prior to becoming ASM. Time to learn troop culture, transition from Pack to Troop mentality, keep them away from the their son, etc. As mentioned, within a campout or two, you can spot those that will work well in the field with direct contact and those that are better suited for troop committee work. SM can and has waived the 1 year committee work for those he felt would be do their best work as ASM. The troop pays all fees for any costs for all adult training including IOLS, SM specific, and Woodbadge. Troop cultur
  19. Don't be afraid to let the boys lead. They will surprise you.
  20. The troop is under no obligation to transfer any credits to anyone, anytime, anywhere. The money technically is owned by the sponsoring organization not the troop. While I understand your perceived right to some portion of the money/credits, it doesn't work that way. Let it go. You will only cause yourself heartache. The money will go to help fund scouting, just not your son.
  21. What is the goal of reorganizing the patrols? It is to make the adults happy? If the adults think something needs to change, then I recommend offering the topic to the troop. Make it a project where the existing patrols meet, discuss and come back with their own ideas 2 weeks later. Then the boys will have buy in with the final decision. If the adults are going to pick and decide without boys input, then just do it now.
  22. FCFY implies that the scout will be active enough to complete all the necessary requirements. FCFY should not be a patrol/troop/adult goal. The real goal should be an active troop. Scouts stay if the there are fun, cool, different, challenging things to do. Boring meetings, lack of outings will drive away scouts. Fill meetings with learning and/or fun activities, the scouts will stay. Offer at least one campout a month year round, scouts will stay. If the "monthly campout" is really an activity where scouts happen to stay in a tent, so much the better. IE; A weekend canoe trip where th
  23. To some degree it seems to be the actual Eagle scout. Some speak well and others stand there like a sullen teenage forced to go through an ordeal. If the Eagle is truly appreciative of the help he received along the way, and shows enthusiasm for the award, I see the younger scouts begin to think it is possible. If the Eagle shuffles around and looks bored, then the younger scouts get the idea that earning Eagle is not very worthwhile.
  24. Troop buys the eagle award kit consisting of the patch, medal, mentor pin. Adults agree to attend the ECOH. Troop has a box of COH and ECOH decorations. Usual stuff: candles, tablecloths, stuff to put on the podium, etc. If the ECOH is held separately from the standard COH, the eagle family can borrow the box of decorations for the ceremony.
  25. Your ID is council specific. I moved and the new council cant pull my records because they are not national records. BSA record keeping is horrible. Print your records before they get lost. When you re-apply, you can show your print out to council to make sure they update your records.
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