69RoadRunner

Should a mod move this to the high adventure section?

Are you hoping to communicate with another crew you have there at the same time? If Philmont uses those, I'm pretty sure they'd not want crews using the same bands.

This is why we switched from white gas to canister stoves. I watched some of our scouts learning to use the white gas stoves and did not like the unnecessary safety risks. Add in the priming and likelihood of fuel spills and we moved to remote canister stoves. It made a big difference. My understanding is that both fuel types are available at staffed camps. Is that correct? What is the suggested canister size for a crew of 8? I'll have a tiny, light stove for adult coffee since a properly caffeinated scoutmaster is the number 1 safety item in scouting. That would be our emergency ba

That is a bummer. Get the crew certified ahead of time so you can have more days diving.

Your adventure will be very different from ours since you'll be staying in the dorms. Only our first and last nights were in the dorms, the rest were on the sailboat. The first night, the a/c was cranked in the dorm. That might have been because it was broken when we arrived and they over compensated when it was fixed. We only brought sleeping bag liners and were rather chilly that night. Bring earplugs. In a large room like that, you'll have some loud snoring. Have fun!

Even better.

As others have said, he isn't the CM. Perhaps I missed it, but do you have someone you want to be CM, is qualified and willing to do the job? I would send him an email explaining to him the several reasons why he is NOT CM. Then have your meetings without inviting him. If this is not going to work, then it might be time to move on as you said. It takes courage to stand and fight, but you might need to decide this battle is not one for you and your son. You can't fight it alone. If you don't have support in the pack, then move on. I wish you well.

I must have read that a while back, and now it's sounding familiar. I'm a little concerned about "most" staffed camps. This will affect our itinerary selection. Our scout uses an insulin pump that also monitors his levels. It connects via Bluetooth to his phone and his dad's phone so they always know his status. Because his dad needs to be able to get to him in the middle of the night at times if his levels are off, the scout tents by himself. He obviously could tent with his dad, too. This avoids bothering another scout and YPT issues.

We have 1 scout with diabetes. His dad is an ASM and will be coming with us. His dad read through Philmont's literature and it's clear diabetes does not prevent a scout from participating (with certain criteria that our scout meets). He's going to contact Philmont, but I just wanted to ask if others have experience. The biggest question is getting ice to keep the insulin cold. I'm assuming they provide it at staffed camps, so as long as we don't have a long gap between staffed camps, we'd be OK. The little cooler he has is like a Thermos and can go 2-3 days while keeping the insulin co

Very cool! The flip-flop also means not hitting Katahdin in the snow.

The chuckwagon pancake breakfast sounds better. I've been told by a couple of scouters that the burros were horrible to deal with on their treks. I told our crew no burros. I'm not going to deal with them. That was the only restriction I gave them. All of that helps very much! Thank you!

I surveyed our crew by having them look at the list of activities and mark the ones that interest them. Compiling the favorites will help them sit down choose their treks. I think this bunch needs to be in the lower mileage treks, unfortunately, based on our hikes. The activities most popular with our crew are Blacksmithing, Tomahawk Throwing, Shotgun, Cowboy Action Shooting, Horse Rides, Chuckwagon and Archery. There are others that multiple people chose. Any thoughts on these based on your experiences? Did your crews like them or were they disappointed? Any activities that were mor

I admit I haven't tried it, but I've read that they aren't as stable, particularly with scouts operating them. I believe the Philmont Guide suggests not to use them. I don't think it forbids them. EDIT: Here is what the Philmont Guide says: If using isobutane/propane fuel stoves, be sure that they are designed to hold an 8 quart pot. The safest stoves on the market that accomplish this requirement have a fuel line that separates the canister from the stove. This reduces the reflected heat from impacting the canister and permits the user the ability to adjust the temperature safely. Sma

You'll have to purchase stoves and ship them ahead of time. We got these: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007S3MHI0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And you're correct, you don't want a stove that sits on top of the canister.

Our troop carries a balance from year to year for continuous operations. My daughter's troop basically starts from scratch each year. GSUSA troops seem to just be for 1-2 age groups that fade away when the girls get older. So they are always creating new troops.

My daughter's Girl Scout troop and our Boy Scout troop meet at the local elementary school. Our CO is the local homeowner's association. The GSUSA has service units that seem to take on the role of the CO. This is one part of GSUSA that I like better than BSA. I don't like how GSUSA troops basically start financially from scratch each year. It's very limiting.

Yeah, I need to get our crew to make some choices.

This is an opinion piece from authors with an agenda. Their agenda is not to advance the interests of BSA, but to advance atheism. Consider that when deciding if BSA should change to meet the terms of their agenda.

I'm not saying it's a terrible experience. Kids are in great co-ed activities all the time. I think there's benefit to having some single-sex activities. Making Cub Scouts co-ed takes one away.

Girls from Venturing crews have been counselors at every summer camp we've attended since I joined. That hasn't been an issue. The Cub Scout model is terrible now. Cub Scouts was one of the few non-sports activities for just boys. There are many more for girls. Now that's gone.

If BSA is not lying to us and the troops will be separate and not become co-ed, it won't be a huge impact at the Boy Scout level.

Employee pensions appear to be protected from bankruptcy. https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/on-retirement/2010/12/14/what-happens-to-my-pension-if-my-company-goes-bankrupt- It looks like a lot of possible outcomes and we can only speculate. I hope the post about the HA camps being in trusts that are protected is true. I guess this is where good lawyers help an organization protect its assets in cases like this. I would imagine that this will drive up the cost of liability insurance for BSA. We might shake our heads at some of the new YPT rules, but at my church, we had to wat

I'm not sure about Philmont, but Sea Base said that 18-21 year olds could count toward the majority youth requirement. While you get occasional emails, they are about payments being due and sales at Tooth of Time Traders. Contact them to be sure. https://www.philmontscoutranch.org/about/contactus/ I'm surprised how many 7 day slots are still available. The last 2 might hit the beginning of school for many, but most (not all) could do the early August ones.

Jack and Jill went up the hill, each wearing awful 70s polyester. Those polyesters are a mean animal, but their coats are worth a fortune.

Keep them separate. It will prevent the possibility of one troop spending money budgeted for the other troop. One of the biggest causes of problems in relationships, personal and professional, is money. Keep it separate and you reduce the chance of that happening. You will need to figure out how the money is raised and budgeted. Even if your fundraisers are done together, do you split the the money evenly or do it based on who earned the money? The fair way, to me, is doing it based who raised how much. Our scouts earn "Scout Bucks" based on the hours they and the people they br