MrGumby

I was an active Scout from 1990-2002 with my father as Cub/Scoutmaster most of the time. After 3 years as Den Leader, I will be crossing over to the Troop next year with my son. The Troop is small, but active, and functions pretty heavily with the Patrol Method...the problems I am seeing in the Troop seem to be resulting from the Patrol Method, unfortunately. There seems to be a minor culture of "earned prestige" wherein the older Scouts control everything and boss the younger kids around a bit. It doesn't seem to be mean-spirited, more like a "put in your dues" to get off dish duty kind of thing. They have traditionally only had 1 Patrol and I'm hoping with an influx of 10 or so Scouts between this year's crossover and ours next year that will change itself. Here's the even bigger issue I have with the Troop...in the last 5 years (+ next year) the Scouts have planned and executed 4 bigger, out of town trips. This is great, those are the trips that make memories that last a lifetime. The problem I have is that those trips are all town/civic/history trips with no serious outdoor activity. New York City x2, Gettysburg, and Niagara Falls. They camp on the trips, but obviously it's nothing like High Adventure. I've never heard of a backpacking trip, no canoe/kayak, biking, vertical sports, or fishing...we live 3-6 hours from the Appalachian mountains and some real fun adventure destinations like Seneca Rocks, Shenandoah, and the New River Gorge but I've never heard of a trip that didn't land in town. I don't know if that comes down from the Scoutmaster and his son or if it's just because that's just what they know how to plan. I have extensive High Adventure experience and would love to teach these youth how to put together a trip that really rocks... How should I go about guiding the Scouts into expanding their outdoor repertoire without taking over the Patrol Method and without ruffling feathers in the Troop leadership?