Spelunking Merit Badge?

[Irish squirrel]

I was wondering if there was a Spelunking Merit Badge offered in the past, or maybe in the future? Our Troop lives in an area where there is quite a few cave systems around including some that are tour guided down and dirty. We have some of our Scouts in our Troop that inquired about this.

[gwd-scouter]

There is not a spelunking merit badge now and I don't know if there ever was. Geology is a merit badge that fits in nicely with spelunking. There is a commercial operation our guys went to last year - Raccoon Mountain. They have an on staff geologist and offer to work on Geology merit badge with Scout groups. Our guys did not take this option, but it was there. Perhaps you will find the same is true in your area.

[shortridge]

Cave Exploring is an elective for the Venturing Ranger Award:

 

http://www.usscouts.org/advance/venturing/Electives/Caves.asp

 

[Beavah]

Yah, it fits more with older scout / Venturing programs, eh? Wild caves are very fragile environments. Kids can be hard on 'em. That (plus the difficulty in evacuating a lad who breaks an ankle jumpin' around in a cave) is why the BSA limits wild cavin' to age 14 and up.

 

That havin' been said, your local NSS grotto is likely to have a few fellows who do outreach and know of safe caves to take kids into (safe for the cave, at least!). And there's nuthin' stopping you from coming up with the requirements and offerin' your own merit-badge-like award. I knew a few troops doin' their own SCUBA MB before it became an official badge this year, usin' the patches available from Streamwood.

 

Beavah

 

[packsaddle]

Wow, Beavah. Making your own merit badge, nice. You turnin' into a hippy radical on us in your later years?

 

The Raccoon Mountain experience is a guided semi-wild experience so it is allowed for all the boys. If you have something like that available, it will offer the excitement of a truly wild cave experience with the safety of a guide and plan. I'd say take Beavah's advice and go for it! (might want to leave that one off the Eagle application though)

[Eamonn]

We live close to Laurel Caverns, which offers some Boy Scout Merit Badge Programs.

Jerry Clark works there at weekends.

Jerry is the guy who is in charge of the Action Center D rappelling wall at the National Boy Scout Jamboree. (Some of you may know him from that "Other Forum")

http://www.laurelcaverns.com/BoyScouts.htm

 

The Ship has visited the caves. Jerry put in a word for us and the Guide took us on a "Special Tour". To places that the public are not normally allowed to visit.

Being the idiot that I am, I went with the Scouts, while the other adults went and found a place to drink coffee and shoot the breeze.

I had fun, but did have a hard time keeping up with the group.

I got covered in dirt, was very wet, got stuck a few times, even though I'm a skinny little fellow!

We made several detours to avoid disturbing the local bats. (Some of the dirt I was covered in was from the local bats!!)

I was happy when we came out into the sunlight.(Even if it was in November)

But for the next week I was really sore and ached in places where I didn't know I had places!!

Next time I visit, I'll go with a group of Cub Scouts!!

Ea.

[OldGreyEagle]

The Guide to Safe Scouting mentions Caving

 

http://www.scouting.org/healthandsafety/gss/gss09.aspx#b

 

 

Sounds like fun, if you are not claustrophobic...

[GKlose]

When I was a scout, growing up in SW Ohio, we made an annual trip to Carter Caves S.P. in Kentucky. It was one of the best-loved trips for the entire troop. We'd go every March, when the outdoors weather might be quite unpredictable. Inside a cave, things were always nice and cozy, and often muddy.

 

Another highlight of that same trip -- we'd leave Friday afternoon, after school was out, arrive and set up camp in the S.P. We'd always have some kind of a special event -- one year, we had a Friday night campfire in a cave (I'm assuming that we had permission from the S.P.). Most other years, we'd go on a night hike, to see a natural bridge. Our SM took great pains to teach us how to hike, quietly, without flashlights. And he was right -- the whole experience was better that way.

 

Anyway, Carter Caves S.P. was a lot of fun. There are all types of caves there, from fully-lit, and guided, to guided-wild, to unguided-wild, historical and otherwise. We'd also often go to a relatively challenging cave outside the park, on private property.

 

Guy

[Irish squirrel]

I've been to several caves including Carter,Mammouth, and a few here in the Hoosier Natl Forest. Getting down into the tight tunnels is the best. But not this year as I found out that almost all caves are closed due to a problem with the bats getting some kind of disease. I might look into maybe doing my own Spelunking Merit badge program. Sounds interesting. Thanks!