Scoutmaster Musings

We held our annual Scout-o-rama today - another perfect day with sun and rustling leaves. One of these days, we're going to get wiped out by a huge storm - all our outings this year have fallen on wonderful weather. It's just a matter of time and averages.

We had a new twist to the scout-o-rama this year. It was planned by a single patrol as a regular outing rather than by the troop at large and we invited the other four troops in town. Two said they would participate and one actually did. They did an excellent job running a CPR station and Emergency Carries. There were 10 skill stations all together and 25 Webelos, just as in past years.

Our goal is to ultimately make this day a community event where boys that are in 5th grade but have not been in Cubs get a chance to check out Boy Scouts along with the Webelos. It has a way to go, but having the other troops involved is the first step. Next year, we'll start the planning earlier so all the troops have ample time to join in if they want.

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2.5 years ago, I blogged about the silliest ScoutStuff products which included wooden forks, knives, and spoons.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one that thought they were silly and they are now cut in price to only 17 cents a set! For $2.00, you can get 12 forks, knives, and spoons. That's 68 cents per scout for a weekend of four meals.

Now, I still think it's silly, but they do make a fun prize for patrol competitions and that sort of thing. (I've actually used them for that and the scouts got a kick out of it.) How about you help out the ol' BSA and pick up a case or two of these things so ScoutStuff can make room for more fleur-de-lis cookie cutters or grandpa's fireforks.

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Followed eight scouts on a 5-mile hike yesterday around the town. Each one successfully oriented their map, showed our direction 3 times, and led the gang for over a half mile with at least 3 intersections and changes in direction.
We've got miles and miles of sidewalks, paved trail, and unpaved trail throughout our town and we used them all. We even had a short stretch along a road with no trail, so we use our hiking safety skills.
We also found some big, beautiful, red poison ivy as well as many other plants ranging from wild grape vines to red pine to still gree buckthorn. No one quite identified 10 plants, but some got close.
Animals were more scarce with just a squirrel, Canadian goose, blue jay, and red-wing blackbird being identified. We did see a flock of white pelicans floating high in the bright, clear blue sky but none of the scouts could identify what they were.
As the sun began to set, a couple scouts were getting concerned we wouldn't make it back in time since they hadn't brought flashlights, but they did a great job and we were only 4 minutes late on a 2 hour estimate.

After that, I got to attend a district committee meeting - not nearly as much fun. :-)

If you're in the NorthEast, batton down the hatches. The rest of you guys, get your scouts out to enjoy this great hiking time of year.

Scout On

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It's Fall! For the next few weeks, we've got perfect camping and scouting weather - at least up north here. In a couple weeks, we can have snow and that can really limit the opportunity for advancement for T-2-1 rank requirements.

Now is a perfect time for those 5-mile hikes and 1-mile orienteering activities - no bugs, cool weather, and beautiful colors. Well, no bugs here except those crazy boxelder bugs and an occasional suicidal mosquito.

Yesterday, I had four Tenderfoot scouts lead me around our town on a 5-mile hike. It was spectacular! We saw geese, a squished frog, squirrel, crows, birch, poplar, red oak, white oak, and other plants and animals. In a month, it will be a lot more difficult to identify those plants without their leafs and the animals will be less plentiful.

Try to get your scouts out for those few nature requirements now. The first aid, memorization, and 'explain' requirements can more easily be done indoors in the winter.

Scout On

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So, here's a trick question: What rank is required to attend Philmont, Northern Tier, or Sea Base?

You can find many troop websites listing a minimum rank requirement of First Class. You can even find council requirements listing First Class as a requirement. But, those are not BSA high adventure base requirements. They've been set up by that particular unit or council to help ensure the scouting skills of participants.

There actually is no rank requirement at all for any of the national high adventure bases. A 17.5 year old Boy Scout that has yet to earn Tenderfoot can be on your crew!

Would I recommend that? not normally, but if you have a boy experienced in the outdoors join your troop in 10th grade to do exciting camping with his buddies, you don't need to force him through months of sign-offs and three boards of review before doing the high adventures.

What, you still don't believe me? :-)

• Sea Base - Participants must be thirteen (13) and graduated from the 8th grade or fourteen (14) years old to participate in all programs.
• Northern Tier - Youth participants must have attained the age of 13 by the year that they attend.
• Philmont - Philmont participants must be 14 years of age OR completed 8th Grade and be at least 13 years of age prior to participation.

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Whre does all that popcorn come from that scouts sell?
Well, don't try finding it at any of these places - you'll most likely get lost in your efforts. There are corn mazes across the country this month and many of them have been designed with Boy Scout themes to commemorate the centennial.

There are way too many to list, but here's a few...

• Jonamac Orchard, Malta, IL
• Fender's Farm, Jonesborough, TN
• Alstede Farms, Chester, NJ
• Govin's Meats & Berries, Menomonie, WI
• Wild Adventure, Firth, ID
• Orchard, Deerfield, WI
• Apple Country Farm, Spring Valley, OH
• Cornbelly's, Lehi, UT
• Honeysuckle Hill Farm, Springfield, TN
• Mayfield Farm, Athens, TN
• Funtime Farms, Lowry City, MO

Scout On

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An exciting time for Scouting here in Minnesota. The Base Camp open house happens tomorrow (Oct. 2). If you're in the area, or traveling through soon, you really should check it out.

I got to tour the facility earlier this week and it is amazing! I expect it will be heavily used during the winter months when it's too cold for some folks to camp outside. Base Camp has lots of meeting spaces, a library, offices, plus a few real attention-grabbers:

• A space flight simulator - I didn't get to see this. It's just tugged into a corner room, compared to the vastness of the whole place.
• The indoor ampitheater is a cool, sunken seating area where there will probably be a propane fire or something similar. It even has a flag pole to the audience's left for scouts to use for ceremonies.
• The ropes course will be a real challenge for anyone. I mean the indoor ropes course, but there is also a massive outdoor double tower and high ropes cours!
• My favorite part - by far - is the climbing facility. In the photo you can only see the front view. But, there are climbing surfaces completely surrounding the structure and on the back wall behind it.

This climbing facility is just too cool for words - you've really got to see it to understand what I mean. There are manual and auto-belays as well as a great bouldering wall and the equipment is stored in a hidden area under the mountain.

The climbing surface is so realistic, you have to touch it. I bet most people that come to climb will say - "Where's the handholds?" - expecting a climbing wall with screwed in holds. This wall is a completely natural textured cliff with handholds whereever you can find purchase.

Even the floor will surprise you - it looks just like pea gravel, but when you walk on it you notice it is shredded, colored rubber.

The coolest thing about the climbing is right outside. Walk just south of the building and look at the rock beside the road - it is exactly like the artificial rockface inside! They've done a super job of making the wall match what you would climb if you were on the rive bluff faces.

If you've followed my blogging much, you've read me criticize some BSA things. I'm usually concerned with how our money gets spent. This Base Camp facility has been a big expense, but it appears to me to be a great investment for the future of scouting in the Northern Star Council. With our bitter cold winters, an indoor facility to practice scouting skills year-round has huge potential.

If you are not based in the area, but your troop makes plans to visit Northern Tier for canoeing, you should consider stopping at Base Camp. It is right at the MSP international airport so you might be able to do a lay-over night right here on your way 'Up North'.

Check out more at the official Base Camp site.

Scout On

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