Scoutmaster Musings

You can win $1400 in backpacking gear by entering this giveaway by Friday. The sponsors include a dozen brands like Sawyer, Black Diamond, and Patagonia that I'm sure you know well.

Enter at this page and you just need to use an email and first name - no other info.

Prizes include sleeping bag, pad, backpack, hiking poles, headlamp, food, water treatment, and clothing - pretty much everything needed to be the envy of everyone on the trail, or at Philmont next summer!

Good Luck, and Scout On!

PS: You might as well enter MY monthly give-away before Friday, too. 3 winners every month.

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Well, this is big news!
Bear Grylls has been appointed as the Chief Ambassador of the World Scout Movement. Very cool for Bear, eh?
Not only that, he is the FIRST Chief Ambassador. I've not found much detail about the position yet, but it's a volunteer spot to promote Scouting worldwide.
Bear was in New York performing his first official act which was to launch Scouts for SDGs. Maybe he'll make more appearances in the USA in the coming year.

Scouts.org announcement

Scout On

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Jen is a friend of mine here in Minnesota. She is a super role model for scouts, and women interested in expanding their outdoor adventures. It is no wonder the BSA has done a Scout Me In video featuring her fun and positive persona!

I have had the privilege of hiking with Jen and her scouts, and I enjoy following her personal and scouting adventures through her social media: blog, instagram, and facebook. Her evolution from newbie backpacker to lightweight trekker is an interesting read on her blog.

Here is the BSA video about Super Jen...


Scout On, and Scout Me In!

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Looks like it is going to be a perfect fall evening here for a fun Halloween. Our maple tree is bright orange, I have a bucket of candy - the good stuff - and my magic campfire is ready to light. I have "stuff" to change the flame color and make flashes and sparks to make it a bit magical while I sit outside by the fire for a couple hours.

Here are a few Halloween Jokes to make your trick-or-treaters groan, or maybe you will be lucky and get a laugh or two.

Since this is the last day of the month, you only have a few hours to enter my Monthly Give-away - winners will be picked tomorrow morning.

Scout On!

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Do you wanna go back to Philmont? Or, go for the first time? I have enjoyed the Philmont experience twice, once with each of my sons. There is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into a trek. You have 1 month to get registered in the lottery drawing for crew slots in the 2020 season at Philmont. Start at Philmont.org where you can get the 2020 Registration packet and register for the lottery.

It is a completely random drawing and a registration request made on December 2 has just as much chance as being drawn as one made on October 30. But, if you put it off until December 3, you will probably not get to go. Details about the registration process and a useful worksheet to gather necessary registration information is here - there is quite a bit of data to collect, especially the 5 dates your crew is willing to go.

Did you know?

• The Philmont 12-day trek fee for 2020 is $1025.00 - it has steadily risen over the years. Here are some past fees: 2005=$495, 2008=$560, 2011=$725
• There are still openings for 57 crews at Philmont between July 30 and August 9 in 2019. I figured all slots would be filled from the fire closures this past summer causing roll-overs of treks. If your troop is looking for a high adventure for next summer, take a look at the openings on the Philmont website.
• Your troop CAN go to Philmont each year - it used to be only every other year.
• Each Philmont crew is required to have at least two members trained in Wilderness First Aid and CPR - do not wait until just before your trek to get this. This training is often difficult to find!
• There are over 2500 slots for 12-day trek crews at Philmont each summer. That is room for almost 31,000 trek participants. If all the slots were filled with the maximum 12-person crews, that would be over 381,000 peopledays.

Scout On!

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2019 will be a special year, actually an extraordinary year, for youth joining Scouts BSA.
With girls joining starting February 1, some folks have been concerned that they won't have time to work their way up to the Eagle rank. Since there are minimum timed requirements for some ranks, new members that are over 16 years and 7 months old will probably not have time to complete the trail to Eagle before their 18th birthday.

The BSA National organization has decided to make an extension to the 18th birthday time limit for this extraordinary circumstance of opening up Scouts BSA to female youth. To ensure every youth that is motivated and putting in the effort to reach Eagle has the opportunity to reach the goal, BSA is making this change:
Youth 16 years of age or older, but not yet 18, on February 1, 2019 who register as members of Scouts BSA on or before December 31, 2019, may request extensions to complete the Eagle Scout Award requirements after they turn 18 years of age.

This extension will not apply to scouts younger than 16 years old on Feb. 1, 2019 and will not apply to youth older than 18 years on Feb. 1, 2019.

Th goal of this declaration is to ensure that older girls joining the program have at least 24 months to earn their Eagle which is long enough for the time constrained requirements. The extension also applies to older males joining, to be fair.

It is important that unit leaders are aware of, and understand, this extension. Please read details about it Here.

Scout On

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This event would be interesting to discuss at an Emergency Preparedness merit badge meeting, or as the topic of a Scoutmaster Minute about Being Prepared.

At 1:18pmCDT on Wednesday, Oct. 3, your cell phone will alarm with an emergency broadcast message from the President. Don't worry, it's just a Nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert Test, not a real emergency! Have you ever received an Amber Alert msg? It's similar to that, except for everyone in the country rather than a specific area.

It will be the first such test of this nationwide system, and is coordinated through FEMA, FCC, and your wireless providers. Since it's the first, I bet there are a lot of nervous people with their fingers crossed that it all goes well. :-)

Read more Here or Here.

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The BSA Scout Shop has issued a voluntary recall of some Cub Scout neckerchief slides:

On September 27, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America, announced a voluntary recall of certain units of the Wolf, Bear, Lion, and Webelos neckerchief slides sold between February 2018 and August 2018. The neckerchief slides affected by this recall are those associated with the following PO numbers, which are listed on a tag attached to the back of the slide:

• 200233281
• 200236630
• 200228276
• 200231755

The neckerchief slides may contain levels of lead that exceed federal limits. No other products are impacted by this issue. For more Questions & Answers about this recall, please read this PDF or go to ScoutShop.org page.

You may have removed the tag from the slides you purchased. The slides that were impacted are from this year (2018). If you purchased the slides this year, please go to the website page listed above for instructions or visit your local Scout Shop.

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Swedish Torch, Canadian Candle, or whatever you call it, burning an upright log or bundle of wood is a fun twist on your normal campfire. Instead of laying wood on the ground, lighting it, coaxing it to flame, and waiting for embers to cook on, this alternative fire style has some benefits.

By keeping the wood in a vertical stack, it lights easily and self-ventilates to burn hot faster with less smoke. Since the wood is not lying scattered around the firepit, less wood is consumed. You can start cooking faster.


The basic steps are to gather 6 to 8 split wood wedges of the same length. Split off an inch or so from the inner tip and save these small pieces for kindling. Bundle the pieces together with their bark sides facing outward and that split off angle in the center - this should create what looks something like a single large log with a hole in the center.


Place the split kindling in the hole and add tinder. When the center is lit, it creates an updraft which pulls fresh air in and quickly burns. The embers and coals that are formed fall into the protected center of your bundled log where their concentrated heat ignites the fuel wood.


The main challenge of this kind of fire is keeping the wood bundle standing vertically. You could wrap a rope or string around, but as soon as it burns, the whole pile falls apart. A better solution is the WilderSol Vertical Burn - a stout wire with compression spring to hold the wood together. This keeps pressure on the wood as it burns which keeps the whole bundle standing longer.

Here's a video showing the stages of burning. This was using just 5 pieces of dry pine and some pine needles. It stayed upright and burning for 45 minutes before the crumbling coals finally gave way. Using hardwood would create a longer lasting fire.



If you use wood that is cut straight and the same lengths, you can place a skillet or pot directly on the log and start cooking in just a few minutes rather than waiting for 20 or 30 minutes for a normal fire to have enough coals. A vertical fire also affects a smaller area of ground, keeping more of a campsite clean and living.

Has your scout group ever had a fire like this?

Scout On

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The title is the Philmont Ranger motto, and the way of life for everyone associated with Philmont this season. Whether Philmont staff, youth participant, or volunteer adult, many people have had their summer plans turned on end by the closure of the Philmont backcountry due to extreme wildfire danger. Some have tried to be flexible and scrambled to arrange replacement adventures, others have postponed their treks to next year or 2020, while a very few have just vented their frustration to the online abyss.

This is an historic event, being the first time Philmont has closed its backcountry. So, how do you handle a catastrophy that completely shuts down your $20million/year business for an entire season? Philmont appears to be doing everything the best way possible, and making the vast majority of effected clients as happy as possible.

By making the decision to cancel their entire season, Philmont put the safety of participants and the quality of their experience far above the sunk costs by participants and loss of revenue to their business. Once that decision came about, figuring out who would bear the financial burdens was needed. Philmont offered refunds, alternate treks at other BSA high adventure bases, or replacement treks in 2020. Some cancelled crews are also able to slip a year to open 2019 dates, but only if there are open treks. Those options really should cover nearly everyone and demonstrate a high sense of responsibility on behalf of Philmont.

Depending on where the crew resides, the actual Philmont fee of a trek can be just half (or less) of the total cost. Many cancelled crews are on the hook for payments made to transportation companies, whether airlines, trains, buses, or shuttles. Many people are happily reporting that SouthWest Airlines and Frontier Airlines have been great about refunding fees. Leading the Way Tours appears to be refunding nicely, while BlueSky Adventures is getting some bad online exposure from folks saying they will not refund, or have given 50% refunds. Hopefully, that will change.

Some things to learn from this situation:

• Understand that, as a leader, your highest priority is safety of participants. The decision to cancel or alter an event due to any perceived danger is the right choice, whether it is a fire, blizzard, flood warning, high winds, or any other potential situation.
• Know the refund policy of companies you deal with for transportation or recreation, especially with regards to natural events.
• Consider travel cancellation insurance - and know what it really covers and how to file a claim.

Read the official Philmont Announcement about their closure.

If you're looking for an alternate High Adventure for this summer (or just to consider for future treks), here is a List of some cool adventures.


Many scouts and adults will probably be reciting the famous Philmont saying "I Wanna Go Back To Philmont" for the next year, just without the "Back" part.
Were you scheduled for Philmont this summer? What did your crew decide to do instead?

Scout On

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Due to fire, many Philmont treks have been cancelled and the crew advisors contacted. In case you're still thinking of alternative adventures, or just to be aware for future treks, here's some other cool places to Scout around the country. Most of these have expressly mentioned they have room to take on cancelled Philmont trek participants. Scout On!

• Purchase surplus Philmont meals so your entire troop can experience Phil-food on any upcoming campout - Video
• Some of the Philmont staff have been dispersed to the other BSA national high adventure bases - Northern Tier, Sea Base, Summit - and all those locations might have openings for your trek.
• MOHAB (Montana High Adventure Base) - wilderness expeditions including backpacking and packrafting in wild habitat for elk, deer, bear, and cougar.
• Tahosah High Adventure Base - Denver area
• Texas High Adventure Base - Chisholm Trail, canoeing, kayaking
• High Knoll - Philmont of the East? in Virginia on Blue Ridge Scout Reservation with backpacking, horseback, rock climbing, ...
• SwampBase - Atchafalaya swamp in Louisiana
• Adirondack Trek Center - Seneca Waterways council
• Lost Pines - Capitol area council in Texas
• Yellowstone High Adventure Base - Camp Buffalo Bill in Casper, WY

If your council has a high adventure base, feel free to add it in the comments.

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In an official statement released today, the BSA and LDS announce a dissolution of their relationship. LDS will "discontinue its role as a chartered partner with BSA" effective at the end of 2019. A layperson's interpretation of that is "Game Over" between LDS and BSA.

On top of the other major changes to the BSA this year, this is yet another disruptor for us all to prepare for. In my small part of the world, it will have no impact at the unit level, little at the district level, but some at the council level. After all, of the religious in Minnesota, they are about 35% Lutheran and .35% LDS.
Other councils will certainly find significant membership drops.

At the national level, I expect there to be a major drop in membership and philanthropic income which will trickle down through the councils. Maybe opening the membership requirements will help counter the effects. Maybe there are other plans being made at the top. The next year will be interesting to discover how it plays out.

How do you expect this split to affect Scouting where you live? What steps are you taking to prepare for it?

Read the announcement HERE.

Scout On!

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