CA_Scouter

Barry is spot on!

re: "...he is telling us about ourselves and how we should act today. "

and everyday for that matter, good point BW.

"Physician, heal thyself!"

... and nary a gay penguin in sight I'd bet...

Hal,

That would be 'avowed gay penguins'.

Its chilling if you ask me..

Pack,

Think of it as a Scandanavian exclamation point.

OOFDA!

... at least that's how we use it..

Merlyn, that's too funny!

We have a lady friend who is Swedish and uses that term frequently enough that my wife and I have adopted it... dontcha know!

Dang. I watch a lot of 'Law and Order'. I thought that might help.

Wrong again. That's 2 times this year.

:-)

A few more tidbits...

Cotten is rotten.

Don't wear too much clothing in your sleeping or it won't warm up enough to let the insulation do its job.

Cotten is rotten

Hats/hats/hats. I've got a Mad Bomber from Cabelas.. warmest thing I've ever worn and the boys call me 'Sven'. ;-)

Cotton is rotten.

Boots in the tent at night, don't want them to fill with snow.

Boys love water. Yes, even in winter, keep 'em out of the creek.

Did I mention cotton is rotten?

Kathy is right on about the buddy system. We had a kid several years ago who didn't change before bed and was starting to show sighs of hypothermia. HIs buddy woke up the adults and we got him into the car to warm him up.

We've had a lot of fun doing it. First year I was with the troop we camped in a state park where a group had built 4 igloos. The scouts went nuts.. had a blast...

Its a good time. Be prepared!

Hey John... you gotta get out of the cities. All the traffic ( and most of the nuts ) are in major cities. I live in the Sierra Foothills and its gorgeous. btw - nowhere is the way it used to be, eh?

Used to have the city of Barstow as a client ( software ). Was down there one time and it was 103 at 10pm at night. yow!

Saw a joke in Readers' digest yesterday... what's the difference between CT and MA? The Kennedy's don't own CT. Maybe that's Least, er. sorry East Coast humor... ;-)

Ah yes, another snarky comment from the BW.

Wouldn't it be nice to get a post from this knowledgeable person without a putdown in every one?

It would seem a code of conduct might be helpful in this case.. oh wait.. we have one.. it includes words like 'courteous' and 'kind'.

Maybe you know it....

Why are we still there?

Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Devils Postpile, Lassen, Whitney, Point Reyes, the Mendocino Coast, Redwoods National Park, Lake Tahoe, Desolation Wilderness, Trinity Alps, Shasta, Big Sur, etc.

We've got roadside rest areas that are larger than CT. ;-)

Back to you.. ;-)

[ just so there is no doubt, this is just playful banter, no harm eh? ]

GW - call the 800 number. The stiffs in the store are clueless about this stuff...

I had one lady give me some guff about it and I told her I had an email response proving it. She wanted to see it so I got on her computer right in the store and pulled it up. Even after that I could tell she wasn't happy about it. I usually try to check out in her lane everytime I go there... ;-)

docbmac

REI will give any youth group a 10% discount if you call their 800 number and register with them. They tell you it only applies when you order over the phone, but I've gotten the discount several times by asking the manager in the store.

Also, the 10% is applied to sales, discount, closeout items ,etc... they are really good about it!

OR

No, we don't secure it to the ground, we try to locate a low lying area so it doesn't roll away should it get swatted around.

Depending on the length of the trip, yes, each scout needs his own.

Yosemite REQUIRES bear canisters in 90% of the park. Its illegal to hang food there now. Some backcountry campsites have steel lockers cemented into the ground. The NPS website has a list of approved containers.

Bears in CA are a nuisance, not really a danger issue. Yes, they are aggressive about trying to get your food, but if you follow the rules ( bear vault, no food in tents ) you won't have a problem.

We've found that bear activity is highest in the more popular backcountry campsites, which makes sense, so we tend to stay away from those locations and find more remote campsites. Coupla years ago we did a 6 day trek thru Yosemite and didn't see a single bear.

I have a Bear Vault, got it from REI. I like it because its clear and I can see what's there for easy hunting and pecking. They are a little larger than the Garcia and it doesn't have the sloped sides which I think helps when you are packing a weeks worth of food. ( The sloped sides keep the Garcia from rolling away if tipped over. )

I've had it for 5+ years now but its never been tested. ( At least not tested by a bear, its been tested by my son digging thru MY food because he saw something he liked - another disadvantage to the clear plastic ;-) )

I take it whether we go into bear country or not - it keeps the mini-bears ( squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons ) out of your food also.

GW... are you quoting from 'The Little Red Book' ?

"said she found it "creepy" that adult men and women who do not have kids in the unit are involved in Scouting at any level."

That STATEMENT is what is CREEPY.

They can earn them at any time. There is no requirement to earn them while at a specific rank.

OGE - That is hilarious!

My daughter previewed her Sarah Palin outfit last night. She looked fabulous and has the 'accent' down just right. I think her boyfriend is doing Joe Biden but I can't imagine how he's going to pull that off ( he is dark haired and Puerto Rican descent).

OK have to do it...

Why couldn't the 12 year old see the Pirate movie?

Because it was rated aaarrrrrrr!

How much does it cost for a Pirate's earrings?

A Buck an Ear!

:-)

I think Pollock just wants somebody on the premises to keep watch over your equipment. I hope they aren't implying a 'night watch' because we've never been told that and have camped there a couple of times with no problems. The bike trail runs by the side of the camp and its a public trail, so that's why they are probably warning you about posting a watch.

No, haven't done the historic rail hikes. We've done about 15 miles on the bike trail and that was enough.. ;-)

Oh sorry, I misspoke about Budget.. we had a 12 passenger van from them, Enterprise had the 15 passenger ( both gave us a discount. ) There were no issues with commercial licenses in either case and we identified ourselves as BSA both times.

I think we paid around $90/day for the 15 passenger van ( not including insurance ). I think two mini's might do you for roughly the same price.

Looks like you've got it pretty much worked out... but feel free to PM if you need more info or assistance.

btw - I met another forum member a couple of years back in Yosemite - 'Scoutmaster Ron' I think... My troop was hiking Half Dome and he was there with his son... we were shootin' the breeze watching the kids swim in the river and discovered who each other was... really fun... be fun to meet another forum member as well...

Liz,

I'm about 40 miles outside of Sacramento and have been to Camp Pollock. Its right along the American river and has a bike trail which we used several times for outings.

We recently rented vans from Budget for a trip to Yellowstone. They had no restrictions on not-for-profit groups ( they did for school groups however ) and though the G2SS says there is a 10 passenger limit in CA I've been told by a parent in my troop that the law was changed recently so that 15 passenger vans are acceptable ( she just got her Class-whatever license for driving school buses ). Budget rents vans at the airport only though, and that's a drive from Pollock.

I should note that Sacramento is not akin to Beirut or Baghdad. Though Pollock is not in a great area of town its not a war zone either. Depending on what time of the year you go, you could leave a little earlier and walk to the Amtrak station and hang out in the general area for a couple of hours. The Amtrak station is within walking distance to Old Sacramento which is a historical district and the train musueum is right in that general area.

BadenP's idea for renting a smaller van is good also. Its a short distance, rent one and you could just make several trips. Probably cost you less than $50.

If you want more info or get really stuck on something I'd be happy to help. When we went to Yellowstone we stayed at the local council's day camp in Idaho Falls and they were happy to help also. I'd like to return the favor.

PM me if you would like more info/help.

oh,.. and Calavaras Big Trees is probably a 3 hour drive one way from Sacto...

Ya. GWD... point taken.

I only think they are a 'raving lunatic' in the cases where they are, in fact, 'raving'. I have had many conversations with my extremely left leaning ASM ( he had the 'right' turn signal removed from his car ) and I value him as a good friend and confidante. He and I respectfully disagree on some issues but never argue. That's not always been the case with other liberal persons I've had discussions with... however that's just my experience.

I hate to generalize but everyone does it. uh.. ;-)

Now I'll agree with you as I think most talk show hosts are raving lunatics which is why I won't listen to them. I also think all news media is entertainment, which is why I dont' much listen to them not neither... ;-)

OK how about this one: disagree with a liberal, and its 'hate' speech.

I have to agree with GoldWingers statement about having conversations with liberals. I never discuss politics with my brother because he shouts down any conservative views that I may espouse. Raising ones voices does not lend more strength to ones argument, dontchathink?

My CC came in to the meeting a few weeks ago and was saying how Sarah Palin was a 'stupid woman'. I'm sorry, but if you have to resort to name calling then your just a kid in the playground and your argument has no status with me.

If you cannot consider another persons point of view, no matter that you disagree with it, then you simply are not open minded nor tolerant.

I see this stuff every day. I work in San Francisco... that's where if you are white, you're wrong and if you're 'Right' you're wrong.

We just had our last COH at a family campout in September. HUGE success! We live in a rural area so it was only a 20 minute drive to the lake for the campout, so we had about 1/3 stay overnight and 2/3 just come up for the evening. We did a potluck, some of us cooked dutch oven dishes, others brought salads, etc. One of the scouts planned a campfire program and two other scouts planned the entire COH. We did everything by the light of a campfire and a few headlamps. We even had a surprise visit by our former SM who hadn't attended a COH in at least 3 years!

Such fun! During the day, we setup a compass course and had the parents walk through it with the scouts being the 'teachers'. Woo hoo!

Can't wait to do it again!

"Water Cascading from my cieling"

Dude, saw them in concert last night. They was RAD!

;-)