Ipods, Cupcakes, & the Great Green Swamp

[Kudu]

 

I said I'd report back on our first electronics backcountry trip:

 

At 40+ Scouts, the unit down the street from my house is a "mega-Troop" by rural southern standards. It is the largest Troop in the county, completely adult-run, and focused like a laser-beam on advancement to Eagle.

 

Some of the Life Scouts do not own packs and arrive at campouts with wheeled suitcases: Literally the classic "Eagle Scouts who have never walked into the woods with a pack on their backs" (as is their right under the BSA's "ethical choices" mission for the 21st century)!

 

In other words, the opposite of everything I stood for back in my Scoutmaster days.

 

However in my retirement I decided to let go of the Patrol Method and see how the "other half" (90%?) lives.

 

As it turns out the Troop was glad to have me. The Scoutmaster allowed me to establish an ad hoc group of "backcountry trekkers" (I never call it "backpacking"), over which I have complete control.

 

None of the Scouts in the Troop had ever camped away from the Troop trailer so I started with 1/2 mile treks open to everybody in the Troop, with mixed results. On one trip someone slashed open half of the water jugs with his knife, but for some of the Scouts the ability to camp using only the things they carry on their backs was a life-changing event.

 

After the very first 1/2 mile "backcountry fishing trek," one of the two "natural leaders" signed up for Philmont (his dad says he now loves the 20+ mile Philmont conditioning treks, except for the adults who won't allow them to listen to mp3 players on the trail).

 

The other natural leader bought a small backpacking tent and started making small treks from his family's cabin on the Appalachian Trail. He even refused to buy candy at summer camp because he was saving for a backpacking stove!

 

This weekend I introduced electronics. My only rule was that iPods were only to be used on the trail and in their tents at night.

 

It turned out to be a non-issue.

 

Most of the Scouts listened to their mp3 players on the drive to "The Green Swamp," but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the videos that I noticed that only one of the 14 Scouts was listening to his mp3 as they departed Saturday morning from the McNeil campground to Gator Hole (see YouTube URLs, below).

 

The two natural leaders put together a Patrol of the six oldest outdoor Scouts (plus the Troop's smallest Scout who wanted to hike the longer route so he could look for snakes). The distance was to be determined in stages as they progressed. Because of the heat and mosquitoes they decided on a seven-mile route.

 

 

They had no adult supervision, so the only record we have of their trek is the photographs they posted to Facebook along the way with their camera phones. These received positive comments and "Likes" from their friends back home. One of Scouts even made his self-portrait at the top of a sandy hill his profile picture

 

The seven younger Scouts took a short, direct route of less than three miles. The four adults attempted to walk at least a couple hundred yards behind them to get them used to following trail markers rather than adults, but two of them were so slow that they ended up hiking with us.

 

 

The adults claimed the picnic table at Gator Hole and we set up our tents there. The small snake expert joined the younger Patrol, and the eight of them set up on the other side of a small creek, about 400 feet from the adults' camp.

 

I visited the "Long Trekkers" campsite (about a quarter-mile away) only once to take some photographs. The Troop's most addicted texter was laying down in the middle of camp with his phone on his chest (see the "At300Feet" YouTube profile photo), but my guess is that the only difference in his texting on this backcountry trek as compared to regular campouts was not how much he texted, but the fact that he did not have to hide it.

 

That was the only electronics I saw around Gator Hole all weekend, but whenever we asked the younger crew members where a missing Scout was, they always knew his exact location because he or "His buddy just texted me."

 

It should be noted that our Backcountry Treks are now by invitation only, so the two Patrols were not a typical cross-section of the Troop:

 

1) The older Scouts went through the Troop Roster and excluded two problematic older Scouts (whom even their parents can not control). Likewise for a half-dozen small, loud, and disruptive Scouts.

 

2) Since the mostly older "Long Trekkers" would be hiking and camping separately from the "Direct Trekkers Patrol" I did over-ride their roster of younger Scouts to invite two "annoying" 12-year-olds in whom I saw potential. One of them (the 6'2" --yes, he is 12 years old-- Scout in the video wearing the straw hat who tells the trailing Scout to "Catch up a little bit") filled the leadership vacuum in the younger Patrol, but the other was just plain annoying. At "Thorns & Roses" his reply to the standard "What will you do differently on the next backcountry trek," was "Stay home and watch video games."

 

3) Although invited, all the Troop's cupcakes stayed home.

 

4) Perhaps significantly, the "Meds" column on the SPL's sign-in clipboard was completely empty for the first time in the Troop's history. Maybe because we had weeded out all of the out-of-control boys, we did not have any ADD meds on this outing!

 

In summary, although many of the boys in the Troop are Boy Scouts because their parents want "Eagle" on their business resume, these 14 Scouts attended because they all like walking miles into the backcountry with everything they need on their backs.

 

So the use of electronics on this backcountry trip was completely transparent, as might be expected with the kind of boys for whom Baden-Powell designed Scouting.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

Sad. But all too common.

 

 

Still, a troop like that can be converted to regular Scouting when a motivated leader comes, along, as you demonstrated at least in part.

 

I'm sorta surprised the other adults let a subversive influence like Kudu get his nose in their tents, or whatever they camp in.

 

Congratulations on a noble effort, Kudu!

[Scoutfish]

" The Green Swamp" of brunswick and Columbus Counties NC?

 

Cool! Sounds like a great time and that some people are getting connected to nature.

 

But isn't that the mosquito Mecca of the eastern seaboard?

[desertrat77]

Kudu, congrats on a great trek and the after action report!

 

Interesting how the scouts responded to adventure and leadership challenges. Those that desire adventure thrive, and those that don't, stay home or will stay home next time.

 

A trek like this will be remembered, and valued, much longer than any adult-run trip.

[moosetracker]

Kudu - Sounds like a great trip.. I agree, you gave those scouts something special, that their Adult run troop never let them expirience..

 

And you even found a way to appreciate the cupcakes, for a few things.

 

You may have planted a seed for which that unit will benefit from.

[Oak Tree]

Kudu, Great job with the trek and the report.

 

"sorta surprised the other adults let a subversive influence like Kudu get his nose in their tents" - I'm not as surprised - I know many troops that would welcome another volunteer who plans optional events that enhance the program. I do give a thumbs-up to the Scoutmaster for encouraging this.

 

Also a big thumbs up to Kudu for how he went about it. He doesn't say so here, but I'm getting the impression he didn't go in there and say "You're doing this all wrong. Let me establish a sub-group within your troop that does things the right way." Looks like a great job of managing the troop's adults as well as the Scouts.

[Kudu]

SeattlePioneer writes:

 

I'm sorta surprised the other adults let a subversive influence like Kudu get his nose in their tents, or whatever they camp in.

 

In "real life" I keep my opinions to myself and so (believe it or not) I'm very easy to get along with.

 

SeattlePioneer writes:

 

Congratulations on a noble effort, Kudu!

 

Thank you SeattlePioneer!

 

Scoutfish writes:

 

"The Green Swamp" of Brunswick and Columbus Counties NC?

 

No, the 110,000 acre "Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve" of Florida:

 

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/greenswamp.html

 

Scoutfish writes:

 

"But isn't that the mosquito Mecca of the eastern seaboard?

 

In addition to the common mosquito, there was a very large, dark brown species that left a significant blood spatter when hit. They were a "thorn" for many of the younger Scouts' in Sunday's "Thorns & Roses" session, until one of the natural leaders bragged that he was born and raised in Florida so he was used to them and would have been swatting them that weekend no matter where he was.

 

moosetracker writes:

 

You may have planted a seed for which that unit will benefit from.

 

Nah, "seed" is the wrong metaphor, Moosetracker. It implies a slow, nurturing process.

 

When you pick the natural leaders, ditch the indoor boys, and present Scouting as physical distance, the boy-led process "mushrooms" overnight. It's obvious. They understand it right away. That is why before 1972, "leadership" training was all about hands-on, how-to-lead-your-Patrol-into-the-woods Scoutcraft:

 

http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

 

http://inquiry.net/traditional/wood_badge/index.htm

 

Recently my two "natural leaders" (now the SPL & ASPL) took it upon themselves to plan a weekend 50 mile bike trip. First thing they did was leave the Troop trailer home! They separated the Patrols as far as the campground would allow, and (despite some initial adult objections), they used our "backcountry" model to form their own faster, higher-mileage crew based on ability, overthrowing last year's Cub Scout rule that they had to wait at every intersection for the very slowest Scouts (and I do mean slow) to catch up.

 

Oak Tree writes:

 

I'm getting the impression he didn't go in there and say "You're doing this all wrong. Let me establish a sub-group within your troop that does things the right way."

 

First thing I did when I moved to town was join the local training committee with the intention of taking over all the Patrol and Troop presentations of Scoutmaster specific training.

 

When this Troop's former Scoutmaster moved on, and the current Scoutmaster (and his influential wife) came in for training, my surprise "E" for "Enable" ending of the notorious EDGE Patrol Method presentation was to hand a copy of the Patrol Leader Handbook, Senior Patrol Leader Handbook, Scoutmaster Handbook, and Guide to Safe Scouting to the participants and have each in turn read the same, exact, (at the time) identical passage: "Most patrol activities take place within the framework of the troop. However, patrols also may set out on day hikes, service projects, and overnighters independent of the troop and free of adult leadership...."

 

That was the first time the participants from my unit had heard me talk about the Patrol Method.

 

It made for a very animated discussion

 

Oak Tree writes:

 

Looks like a great job of managing the troop's adults as well as the Scouts.

 

I have always found that if you plan true adventure, the outdoor dads (who consider Scouting to be the mom's job) come out of the woodwork. The adults who like our backcountry treks, the 50 and 80 mile bike trips, the SCUBA dives, and (hopefully soon) the canoe trips are not the same parents who show up every month for regular campouts.

 

True Boy Scout Adventure is all about physical distance. The pure physics of moving outdoor boys through physical distance has its own logic which in turn usually syncs the practical mindset of those adults and older Scouts without a whole lot of discussion.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

[Oak Tree]

Scoutfish, the written description doesn't give away the location, but if you look at the video, it's pretty clear that they aren't in North Carolina, unless there is some tropical part of NC that I'm unfamiliar with. I do think I hear a mosquito on one of them.

[SeattlePioneer]

Kudu's recent success with the Eagle Mill troop illustrates why I don't condemn such programs too harshly. They may be all a certain group of parents can do or understand. And they can be taken over and converted into a better Scouting program when the right leadership comes along.

 

Personally I consider that adequate justification for such programs.

 

I've already described that in 2004 I volunteered with a Scout troop that had been to summer camp but had done no other camping by November, when several boys who'd crossed over from Cub Scouts left for a troop that did more camping.

 

The Scoutmaster was a nice guy, but simply wasn't a leader who could plan things. I was new to the troop, but the departure of those Scouts caused me to realize what was happening and the Scoutmaster was happy to have me start organizing monthly camping trips.

 

That kicked off a history of a pretty good outdoor program.

 

Boy Scout training (and the Boy Scout Journey to Excellence and such) provides a clear emphasis on a good outdoor program. If a troop isn't doing that, in most cases an outdoor program can be started up as soon as someone has the gumption to get it started.

[packsaddle]

Yes, outstanding story! There's still a boy inside me saying, "ME! ME! I wanna go too!"

Thanks, Kudu