Scoutmaster Musings

A couple years ago, I built the North Country National Scenic Trail. Oh, it wasn't all me - I had some help. Actually, I helped build about 600 feet of the 4600 mile trail. Many sections of the trail still don't exist - but they will some day.

I acted. I did something. I put in some effort in my local community. And, I did it with the thought that it is a very small part of a much greater whole. Someone in New York and someone else in North Dakota also built a bit of trail. Their bits and pieces combine with mine to create something amazing. Now, one of my goals is to hike the entire trail in a couple years.

When we "Do a Good Turn Daily", we are making the world a bit more connected and a bit better. We are acting locally while we think globally. Good Turns are not heroic deeds. They are small things that, over time and repeated by many, can make a huge difference.

It's easy to think about what's wrong in the world and not do anything about the problems. The problems are so big, a single person can't change them. That is why each person needs to change his local world in whatever small way he can, while keeping in mind the good of the whole.

Walking or biking to work or the store, participating in a charity hike or run, volunteering for a CERT position, picking up trash along a trail - it doesn't matter so much what you do, as long as you do something.

Check this out about Making a Difference around you.

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Click this picture to see the whole thing. It is a sign describing what happens when someone drops litter - how long it takes to decompose. Someone designed and made that sign and it effects the decisions made by the people that visit the park where it is located.

How much impact does a single person really have on the world?
A few people become famous through athletic ability, acting, politics, or terrible acts of violence. But, the vast, vast majority of us are unknowns in a global sense. We exist, live, and die being known by a miniscule number of people. If there are 7 billion people on the planet and you interact with 7,000 of them, you've reached 1 out of a million. Even if you count all your Facebook friends, you probably don't really know or care about 7,000 people.

Since we have such small spheres of relationships, it can be difficult to think our actions have a global impact. But, every decision you make does ripple out to some extent, effecting people you don't even know and that have never heard of you. We DO need to think on a global scale when we live our lives.

Here's an example. I'm deciding if I should take an alcohol stove or a isobutane stove on the Arizona Trail next spring. The alcohol stove is just a couple pop cans, uses easy-to-find alcohol, but doesn't put out as much fast heat as the other. The isobutane uses canisters, took a lot of resources to manufacture, and does an excellent job.
Whichever I choose will consume resources and fuel and provide heat for my cooking. By choosing the alcohol stove, my environmental impact is much less because I'm recycling and creating less waste. By choosing the isobutane stove, I'm spreading my wealth to the companies that make the stove and the canisters and the stores that sell them in towns along the trail.

If we choose to walk or drive, leave the laptop on or turn it off, mow the yard every day or every week, keep the air conditioning at 72 or 78, we change our impact on the world. If we think globally, we try to minimize our negative impacts and maximize our positives. It's easy to convince ourselves that the decisions don't matter, but they do.

Ants are a good demonstration. In my yard, there is a little ant hill. If you look closely, an ant brings up one grain of sand at a time. One grain of sand is trivial, it doesn't make a difference. But over the course of a day or two, with everyone doing a small amount, there's a big pile of grains and a new community underground.

Thinking on a global scale helps me make better choices. A large group thinking globally and making their individual decisions with the good of others in mind, even people they don't know or possibly aren't even born yet, are bound to increase the overall good. I think that's what we should be about - trusting that others will do good and doing our best to do good and show others how it's done.

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The requirements for the chess merit badge are available on scouting.org and HERE.

Scouts get to use EDGE to teach other scouts Chess skills. I especially like requirement #5c where the board is set up and the scout needs to demonstrate how to force checkmate.

There's not a lot of 'doing' in the requirements, just play three games or a tournament, but understanding strategy, rules, and terminology is prominent.

Great timing for the release, I think. How many of you are going to have winter Chess tournaments in your troops this year? :-)

Now, who moves first? Black or White?

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The sumac is changing colors. The last few chilly mornings have convinced them it's time to start the show. The maples and oaks take a little more convincing, but they'll come around soon. It's been below freezing up North, but just 50 here. Is that snow I smell? :-)

A lot changes this time of year. School just started back up, the air is cooling off, the mosquitos have vanished, and it's the perfect time to hike and camp. It's also the perfect time to remind your scouts to look around their classroom and see who might want to join their Pack or Troop.

It's 11 miles to the end of the trail and back from my house. I'm doing that route each morning this week so I can see how my legs feel after 5 days in a row. So far, no problem.

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Met two scouts for a 10 mile hike this morning and pounded it out in 2 hours 50 minutes - that's 17 minute miles. It was a great hike and I didn't notice the pace or the time. The scout leading the hike kept us on route and moving along.

Both these guys are doing the Hiking merit badge and just started First Aid with me as counselor. Since there is a lot of ovelap in the first aid requirements of Hiking and some 'explain' requirements in First Aid, we just talked about those for about 90 minutes.
We also discussed Leave No Trace and hiking safety, finishing off the Hiking discussion requirements.

Doesn't make sense to me to have them repeat everything again, so they got twofers. It makes sense to me if a scout looks over requirements and notices that there is overlap and plans to cover requirements for two badges at the same time. I think that's different than coming up to a counselor and saying, "Hey, I did this requirement a few months ago for that other merit badge."

Tomorrow, they've corraled me into a First Aid session around noon, so I've got to clean off the CPR manikins and fake wounds and see what they can do.

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Lion Cubs are alive in Northern Star Council!

Lion Cubs are kindergarten boys just starting on the Boy Scout Trail. A boy and his adult partner get to do fun, age-appropriate activities - sounding much like the original Tiger program. By adding this program, the BSA provides a K-12 experience, dropping the entry age a bit more.
You can read more about the new program at this council page. There is information for Pack Lion Cub Coordinator and a Program Kickoff Flyer.

I look forward to this program expanding nationally since I often receive emails asking about getting kindergarten boys signed up. Then, I won't have to say, "Wait a year or move to Minnesota."


Read the Flyer

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Just a quick reminder that today's the last chance to enter to win the monthly prizes - $25 Scout Shop gift card or $50 Class B coupon.
Tomorrow morning, two random winners will be selected, maybe it will be you.

In other exciting news, I got three volunteers to help with next month's Intro to Outdoor Leader Skills training.

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If you go to the Northern Tier homepage at ntier.org you are redirected to http://www.scouting.org/northerntier.aspx

Now, Northern Tier, Philmont, and Sea Base all have similar sites - but I bet Sea Base will be redone soon to match the other two more closely.

Summer, Fall, or dead of Winter, the north woods of Minnesota are a place of adventure. Canoe treks or Okpik winter camping, it's up to you.

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On my hike this morning, I saw my first goose formation practicing for migration. It's still early, but I guess the cool morning got them thinking it's time to start preparing. They know that they don't just take off one day and head South. They build their skills and muscles and then, when the time is right, they go for it.

Being able to look ahead and prepare now for a future challenge is a great skill for scouts and one that tends to be lacking in guys their age. If a Philmont trek is scheduled for 2012, making a gear list now in time for Christmas :-) is a good idea. Planning out a few merit badges to do over the winter, figuring when to tackle First Class cooking, camping enough nights for OA are all examples of looking past today and planning. There are many such opportunities in Scouting.

Just like geese and other animals plan ahead for winter, we need to prepare now for adventures later. Here's a few scoutmaster minutes, games, and skits that have to do with geese (at least a little):

• Goose Sense minute
• Drafting minute
• Duck Duck Goose game
• Feather Toss game
• Oh What a Goose skit

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In 2005, Northern Star council was created by merging Indianhead council and Viking council. There have been many other council mergers over the past decade and the trend to restructure due to economics, member levels, and demographics continues.

Knowing what your neighbors are doing is usually a good way to be prepared for change. In Michigan, the 11 councils in Area 2 are on the brink of a complete overhaul which I find interesting to read about at their Area Project website. They've posted tons of information and data that should certainly be useful for any other councils facing restructuring in the future.

I appreciate their volunteers for putting in the extra effort to share their process with the rest of us and wish them the best of luck with implementing their changes to improve Scouting in Michigan.

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Did you get your Sept/Oct Scouting magazine yet?
Take a look at page 24! We don't always stop at Dairy Queen on our hikes, but we do use gmap-pedometer.com a lot and it works pretty slick. That page is a good indication of what I plan to do for the next few years now that I'm not wearing the Scoutmaster patch.

I'm going to tackle the National Scenic Trails system - click the image for a larger map view. There are eleven of them:

1. Arizona NST - 800 miles
2. Ice Age NST - 1200 miles
3. Appalachian NST - 2200 miles
4. Pacific Crest NST - 2600 miles
5. Continental Divide NST - 3100 miles
6. Pacific Northwest NST - 1200 miles
7. North Country NST - 4600 miles
8. Florida NST - 1400 miles
9. Natchez Trace NST - 700 miles
10. Potomac Heritage NST - 700 miles
11. New England NST - 220 miles

From the initial research I've done, there's no camping nor connecting routes for the last three and thru-hiking them isn't really a probability. I plan to hike the first 8 in the order listed, starting in Spring, 2012. If I'm wrong about the others, I'll add them.

The AZT is shorter and requires hiking early in the season since water is scarce and heat is intense as summer approaches. It will give me a great opportunity to test out my equipment, abilities, endurance, and processes. If it goes well, then I'll do the IAT in late summer, 2012. This lets me be home for my last son's high school graduation and shipping off to college.

After that, it'll be a trail a year. As an initial plan, I'll do the Appalachian Trail in 2013, hopefully working it so I can drop in at the Jamboree at the Summit - it's only 50 miles off the AT in West Virginia. But, at this point, I'm not set on the order of the trails.

I do have some goals for doing this, not just to burn through a few pairs of shoes. I'm hoping to:

• Connect with scouts - I'll invite scout troops along my treks to come out and hike with me for a couple hours or days. I'll have a tracking device so folks can see where I am.
• Promote lighter-weight trekking. When we try to "Be Prepared" I think we overpack and make life more difficult than needed on the trail. I'll be an example of how to be light and safe.
• Promote Scouting - I'd like to represent the BSA on the hikes and talk it up to folks I meet.
• Record the Fun - through blogs, reports, stories, and journals I'll track and share the experience, hopefully providing a resource to help others.

I've gotten the Atlas and Guide for the Ice Age Trail and have developed an itinerary. The Arizona Trail books are in the mail so I'm really excited to start planning that one out. I'm walking about 8 or 10 miles each morning to keep the joints moving. My next part of the project is acquiring and testing gear.

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Next week will be my first free Monday night in over six years - no PLC meeting, no troop meeting, no committee meeting, no merit badges or patrols to visit. Now that the new Scoutmaster is trained and guiding the troop, I'm on my own. I've got some big plans, but first I'm curious to hear from you guys.

What role does the past Scoutmaster play in your troop? - leave a comment about how your troop puts the ex-SM 'out to pasture'. Is it a clean break, becomes an ASM, joins the committee, or something else?

We've decided that it would be best for the scouts to have me away from meetings and campouts for at least six months. This is to engrain in them that I'm not the scoutmaster now. My transition falls in nicely with a new SPL election this coming month so the entire troop leadership will start anew over this next month.

My plans for the next nine months are:

• Merit badge counselor for anyone in the council, including the troop.
• District training volunteer for SM Specific, IOLS, and Youth Protection.
• High Adventure planning resource to all troops in the community that need advice on their treks.
• Complete two website projects I've neglected for the past few years.
• Present Red Cross CPR/AED and WRFA training, mostly to scout units.
• Support my last son through his final year of high school and get him out of the house. :-)

I figure that should keep me pretty busy and active enough in the Scouting community. But, it doesn't really get me out into the wilds as much as I'm used to and as much as I'd like. I've got a plan for that part of my life that I think will keep me busy for the next six years. Stop by tomorrow if you're curious. Here's a clue - I hiked 11 miles this morning.

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