SITE HAS MOVED

Go to www.scoutingclub.com 

This free wordpress site grew too large so I now have my own domain name. All updates (and there are many of them so far) will be on the new site.

Thanks!

Hike of the Knox Trail (F&I, American Revolution History)

knox-trail-proposal-v2.pdf

Major battles in the French & Indian war occured in this area and many soldiers endured extreme hardships here for the good of our nation. After the French set up shop, the British came, then the colonials (Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, Henry Knox to get the canons that ultimately forced the British out of Boston), then Burgoyne came through in 1777 on his way to a defeat at Saratoga. Ben Franklin, Jefferson, & Washington, later visited. Then we came.

Few of the scouts understood what the Council patch on their shoulder represented, so this was meant to bring meaning to it all.  Ft. Ticonderoga is between Lake Champlain & Lake George (on NY/Vermont border). Ft. William Henry nearby at the south end of Lake George, is the setting of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Last of the Mohicans.” A great book/movie to take in before visiting. 

There is a scout camp on one of the islands in Lake George that I hope to learn more about. Curtis Read Scout camp is about 30 mins. west in the Adirondacks.

Cedar Badge

The Grand Teton Council puts on this wonderful scout leadership program in June every year. It is at a beautiful location, the people are very nice, and they put a huge amount of effort into this. This is scouting the way you want it to be, at least it looked that way when I was there dropping off my son (but he told me he really enjoyed it). I had air-miles saved and vacation time, so I called and they welcomed my son’s attendance. I hiked all week while he was here. Very cool trip, we took in Yellowstone the next week. We also took interest in the whole Lewis and Clark expedition while we were out here and made our way to their route across Idaho. I’ll post photos once I figure out how to use wordpress better. See:

http://www.grandtetoncouncil.org/index.cfm?pageid=1492

(The scout camp is on the very back side of the Grand Teton, the centermost mountain on my webpage header. When seen from the scout camp, the back of the Grand Teton looks like the Matterhorn in Zermatt. The scout camp was also at the base of this large waterfall, it really was beautiful).

Personal Management Merit Badge

personal-management-final.pdf 

Investing Options

There was a great Far Side clip with two scientist who discover that time is actually equal to money. I wish I could have found it for this class. I will post a zipped file with all the training material I produced. So far I’ve managed to attach the introductory handout as well as a worksheet I did to help the kids understand investing options. I thought this class was particularly instructive. As I mentioned in the Energy MB, a big upside of scouting is it’s ability to introduce topics to kids at a very early age. They will hopefully always remember the messages in these classes and become just better equiped for life.

Kaaterskill Falls Hike (Hudson River School Art)

 

Besides suggesting someplace interesting to go, the secondary point of this presentation was to help the older venture crew understand that what we were collectively after was something very special. That when we did events, knowing that time was valuable, we really spent time considering and planning what were were going to do and what we wanted to accomplish.

kaaterskill-hike-latest.pdf

If you like the idea of this hike and want to go, let me mention just a few more things – when you drive up Rt.23A, you’ll know you’ve reached the trailhead when you do a sharp hairpin turn right at a beautiful waterfall (Bastion Falls). Park up the road a bit, there is a small parking lot on the right. You’ll have to be extremely careful walking down the road. When you walk up the trail after the first waterfall, don’t stop at the next one you see and think you’ve reached it. Keep going. The high falls are spectacular. If you feel so inclined, hike up the left side of the falls. If you look carefully, you’ll find some engravings chiseled in the wall. One is to Vite the wonder dog who tragically jumped to his death back in the 1800’s. At the top, there are hundreds of names and dates chiseled into the stone. No such thing as leave no trace back then, but you know what, it is really kind of cool to see.

A good book telling the story of the area is “The Catskill Mountain House” by Roland VanZandt.

Presidential Traverse Hike, Mt. Washington

This is a great overnight hike for the older scouts. Hike up above the treeline across the entire Presidential Range and up and over Mt. Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast (6288ft). It is quite a challenge and achievment. I wanted to revise this slightly but ran out of time. I’ve also attached a copy of a map we used when we first introduced the Whites and this hike to the scouts.

mt-washingtonv3.pdf

whitemtn1.jpg

AT “100 Mile Wilderness” 30 mile Hike

 

A great hike idea if you are looking for something the scouts can be quite proud of  -

From Monson, Maine, the Appalachian Trail begins its journey through the fabled 100 mile Wilderness. This is the longest stretch on the AT that doesn’t cross a paved road. Many of its best highlights are packed into the first 30 miles, including the Lower Wilson falls, rock strewn rivers, and great views. Campsites are abundant and there are 4 shelters along this route. The 27-mile Gulf Hagas hike starts on the gravel road to Katahdin Iron Works off ME 11, 5.5 miles north of Brownville Junction.  I’ll post more on this later.

Appalachian Trail Award

I had this idea for an award (patch, certificate) that the scouts could earn for hiking the Appalachian Trail in each of the 5 New England states (CT, MA, VT, NH, ME). The patch would look identical to the above (the classic trail marker symbol for the organization), with the state initials in it somewhere and maybe “5 stater” or something like that (in gold). I talked to the AT Conservancy and got permission to use the AT logo on a limited (troop) basis. Maybe we can do something council wide with permission.

If you are out of region, maybe you can just run with the idea for 100 mile AT/PCT hike or something…

Pinewood Derby Tips

 

Making a competitive car is very simple and you don’t need to be a physics teacher or engineer. All you need to do is get on the internet and search “pinewood derby”. It’s all there. This does take time and you do find that most sites are ones where you have to pay for a book to get anything useful, but if you sift through them, you’ll slowly find what you need. Better yet, read the attached. I may not have collected all the secrets, but I think I got most. Combined with what we learned on our own from experimentation and success (something like 5-6 first place pack awards between two kids), everything you likely need to know is right here. If you read the attached and apply the basics of weigh location & axle prep, you can probably win something in your pack. I’ve includes lot’s of design ideas as well.

pwd20071.pdf

Citizenship of the Community Merit Badge

 

This was a good program to introduce the scouts to how things worked locally and what it means to be a good citizen. I started the event with a slide presentation from our Historical Society. I really wanted them to get a sense of the long history, their connection to it, and their duty/obligation to make the community, and life, better for all. I printed this out 2 to a page, cut, then stapled down the side (something to keep as a reminder of key messages).

The requirements have changed slightly since I created this presentation, but hopefully it helps somehow.

citizen-of-communityv2.ppt

Fund Raiser Idea

This was my idea for our venture crew fundraiser (which was never followed up). I heard this story a from another venture advisor that they sold BSA mouse pads on ebay and made enough money to travel to Denali and to Morocco.

On this idea – I bought one of these antique repro maps for my house and had it framed. It is really beautiful. I purchased it from Zazzle.com (off ebay), but it is sourced from the LOC. Probably lots of other distributors (type in your home town on ebay and see what comes up – hopkinton, ma has a bunch of them now). The LOC has maps from all over the country.

You pay say $10 for the map, get a framing deal for say, $30 each (it has to be framed nicely), then sell for $125 around Christmas time. Good luck.

Berkshire Mountain Hikes

 

There are some great hikes out west. Mt. Greylock on the AT, Bash Bish Falls, Kent Falls, Snowhole (a cool cave where you’ll see snow in August). You won’t be disappointed in any trips to this area.

Start here to get some ideas:

http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/a2z.html

Best Mountain Bike for a Scout

This is it, the best Mountain Bike for the money – the Trek 3700. I was for a long time a Specialized bike guy. Then I purchased a used (pratically new) one of these off Craigslist for my son. It has everything you need, it looks cool and it has good components for the money. New ones are $300 (I just bought a second one for my other son). Above $300 is too much bike for a kid, below it is dept store level. Best bike store that I know of is Milford Bike off Rt. 16 in Milford. Very nice people, everyone I know is happy with them.  I don’t take spending $300 lightly, but I figured they can keep the bike through college and when out on semi-tough rides, they don’t have to worry about breakage. It’s like driving a Honda.

My view on bikes – don’t spend any money at all on a good bike until they move into a 26″ one. They grow too fast and at a young age, they are reckless.  Wait until you kid can hand a 16″ frame size bike, stay on the 24″ tire size bike until then. They will grow out of a 13″ frame.

Always carry an emergency kit that includes spare tube, pump, allen wrenches, an adjustable wrench, screwdriver, some wire, tape, and a chain repair tool. Put in a small seat bag. Makes for a worthwhile birthday or Christmas present.

Mountain Biking

 

There are quite a number of good extended bike trips in the area -Miles Standish State Forest, Cape Cod Canal, Nickerson State Park (Brewster, Cape Cod, right on the CC rail trail), Lexington/Concord RtT, Northampton RtT. I’ll post more on these later.

Here is a list of MA trails:

http://www.massbike.org/bikeways/

Here is a map of the local rail trail in Milford. It is meant to form a large loop through the surrounding towns. That will be a nice ride someday.

rail-trail.ppt

If you are interested in mountain biking, a good place to start is:

http://www.nemba.org/ridingzone/places.html

This is the trail section of the New England Mountain Biking Assoc. These guys do quite a lot to promote MB activity. They purchased 47 acres of property near our town and created one of the premier single track rides in the northeast – Vietnam.

Here is a link for the info available on that area: http://www.nemba.org/Articles/Vietnam/NEMBAsVietnamProperty.html

Located off 495 at the Rt. 85 exit, it is great ride for a number of reasons – it’s challenging, well maintain & planned, it’s diverse, it’s meant to be ridden, and it is easy to get to. What I also like that many people don’t know about is the ride across the street from this area. I’ll call it the Wildcat Pond area. I’ve attached a few topo maps for reference, but what you do is take the obvious trailhead into this area, maybe with compass or map in hand. Back here you’ll discover a number of old rock quarries. Some show signs of teenage abuse, but they are really quite interesting to search out and find. You can also pedal to Echo Lake, the source of the Charles River. These trails eventually come out on Lumber St. and Granite St. in Hopkinton. Another connected ride is to take the trails from Vietnam into the College Rock area. (Where we often start to enter the Vietnam area). College Rock is a beginner rock climbing opportunity if you want to do that with your troop. Right in front of the rock is a Kiosk built as an eagle scout project.

I’ve attached maps of College Rock, Echo Lake, Wilcat Pond, and Vietnam. The Vietnam map is a bit useless except just to get a generally sense of the trail flow. NEMBA does not have a better map. The trails aren’t really marked so it won’t do too much good anyway. Furthermore, the sound of 495 always gives you a sense of SW. The topo maps attached show some trails, but there are a lot more trails out there. I used these to create maps of all the trails but I never transposed back to electronic format after surveying the area.

bikemap1.ppt

Appalachian Trail / Tyringham Shaker Village Hike

I intend to have an entire section on this website devoted to long distance hiking. For now, let me mention this great little hike in MA you might like if you are local. The AT passes through a historic village in western MA called Tyringham. It was one of the original Shaker Villages. I have an article I wrote on the hike, let me try to dig that up and post.

Here is a map that will help you find your way:

tyringham-map.ppt

 

Allagash Wilderness Canoe Trip

 

The attached is not mine, it was emailed to me a few years ago. The author (listed), gets full credit as well as an applaud from me for a) doing a great trip; and b) doing a followup trip report that is just incredible. The photography alone is outstanding. Have a read and I’m sure you’ll agree. I’ve never done the Allagash (a waterway across northern Maine), but hope to do so soon. This will help me trip plan with the kids.

allagash.pdf

Here is a decent NY Times article relating to the northern waterway:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/travel/10northcanoe.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1194671925-FJ/ioco4cIAYBmd1oTLYng

Best White Mountain Map

I’m of the opinion this is the best map to get if you are hiking in the Whites (NH). They probably make for other areas of the country as well. It is waterproof, colored well, and just plan easy to read.  The AMC Club maps are fine, but this one just has it all.

www.mapadventures.com 

(I bought my copy at EMS)

Board of Review Guidelines

 

This is a pretty useful document to help conduct boards of review. If anyone can find a better one, send across.

borguide.pdf

Monkey’s Fist Knot

A fun knot that takes just a little practice. If I can do it, anyone can. Here are instructions:

make-a-monkey.doc

Topo Maps

A good resource for free topo (topography) maps. Sometimes you have to piece sections together in powerpoint but it works.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4892560&e=287082&s=100&layer=DRG25&size=l&u=0

National Park Service maps can be found at:

http://home.nps.gov/applications/hafe/hfc/carto.cfm

Ice Climbing

 This is a program I’ve hoped to get our kids involved in.

http://www.wpcbsa.org/SummitBase/Activities/IceClimbing.asp

Hornaday Award

One of the most interesting and meaningful awards, I think, is one of the most overlooked. Not only could a scout learn about an environmental issue, he could take action, solve a problem, and just do the right thing. Furthermore, this is one of the few awards that I think could be mentioned on a college entrance application.

I’ve tried to introduce this to many scouts including my own son, but never got much traction at all. I even had the Environmental VP of my company on board to be an advisor. 

I am mentioning this to keep the spirit alive. Good luck taking this on.

http://www.scouting.org/awards/hornaday/

This council seems to have something going on this:                                     

http://www.hornadaybsa.org/  

Climbing Merit Badge

Two suggestions on this if you are in the northeast. In the “off-season” you can go to an indoor climbing gym such as Carabiner’s in New Bedford, MA or Boulder Morty’s in Nashua, NH. They provide a MB course to complete this badge as well an the opportunity to do an overnight stay which the scouts love. In Nov-Feb when the holidays dictate low logistic scout outings, this is a great time to put this on your schedule.

You can’t stop here however because the kids don’t really get that real sense of climbing. While there are a few good places to do some basic climbing in the Boston area, the Valhalla of hiking is not too far away – the ‘Gunks. “Gunks” is a shortening of the “Shawangunks” (Sha-WAN-gunks) Mountain Range which stretches over 50 miles in southwest NY (near the village of New Paltz), reaching some 260 feet in height (2,200′ above sea level). There are four most popular and prominent climbing cliffs: the Trapps, Near Trapps, Skytop and Millbrook.

This has been a climbing mecca since the 1930’s. The rock found here is exquisite in quality, quantity (some 1000 climbing routes), and beauty (the views are spectacular). Google Mohonk Preserve, Gunks, or Minnewaska Preserves and you’ll find more info. I’ve done many, many hikes, climbs, and rides in this area and just can’t get enough. Mountain biking in the spring when the mountain laurel blossoms is particularly enjoyable.

Wilderness First Aid

 

If you are looking for something special to do with the venture crew or the older scouts, this is a great program. You can combine with an overnight.

Solo puts on a Wilderness First Aid program that goes far beyond the scout first aid. This is information always good to know.

http://www.soloschools.com/wfa.html

Zealand Falls

 

This is another great White Mountain hike. We came the long way from Ethan Pond in Crawford Notch, but you can take a shorter way in from the Zealand Falls campground area. The falls are beautiful, there is an AMC hut there with spectacular views of the Zealand Gap and if you want to climb a little higher, there is the Zeacliff. You should also take in Thoreau Falls if you do this hike. I saw a moose on the Ethan Pond trail so they’re out there. Ethan Pond Shelter looks like a nice place for a scout overnight.

Mount Chocorua, Champney Brook Trail

More on this great hike later.

Campfire Tune Book

 

 As you would expect, there are many traditional boyscout tunes. Some are worth remembering, some are just really dumb. You’ll find many, many websites with all these tunes in it. Some kids (and adults) like they silly ones and that’s fine.

This website is actually pretty good for things traditional to boy scouts so if you are looking for those type of songs (as well as skits), try this out: http://macscouter.com/Songs/ScoutingSongs.asp

My preference has been to cover a few of these to keep the tradition alive, but I really wanted to introduce to the kids those great tunes we used to sing, like Clementine, Rosin the Bow, Jambalya, Home on the Range, Golden Slippers, Put Another Log on the Fire, etc. etc.  as well as a few old irish tunes I know and love.  A few of these are better sung with a guitar at the ready.

I can’t find the original so I scanned a hardcopy. We used these at summer camp so I am lucky to still have one left. It is meant to be copied two sided folded, and stapled. I was hoping to keep the spirit alive with the kids and do it year after year, but some of the parents in troop 4 were horrible people to deal with and we had to leave. Camp Wah-tut-ca up in NH was a wonderful, wonderful place. Best summer camp I’ve ever seen. Great memories for my son.

Funny how kids are. Some remain locked in their boyscout ‘john jacob jiggleheimer schmit’ silliness, others, well, you do make the connection with, and you can tell they appreciate learning something new, interesting, and meaningful. Its a matter of maturity of course and as a scout leader you have to smile and just be there for all.

[Technically, I mislabelled this book. A tune is a song without words.]

camp-tune-book.pdf

Survival Kits

I had this idea to have the kids make useful survival kits (that is of course if they ever really needed them). Those Johnny Rambo kits with the fishing hooks and the other misc they will never use just did not make sense. I wanted something as light weight as possible they could easily and always slip into their day pack and know they are hiking safely. Everything they needed to survive 48 hours in the woods and help themselves in getting un-lost.

I was contempting some type of orienteering scavenger hunt with a bit of wilderness survival MB work worked in as part of the building process. The troop committee decided they would rather have the adults assemble and give to the kids for Christmas, which we ended up doing. I’m hoping the troop continues to give out to the new scouts as soon as they make a meaningful achievement – such as the first good white mountain hike.

Logisitically, to do it right, it consumes quite a lot of material for a large troop (we made 45 in the first batch) – and there is cost involved – $16 each, and scouts had to put their own spare knife in (this was a very good discount price and well worth it, thanks to the Natick Outdoor Store for support). We had a very nice Christmas get-together and just worked for a few hours putting these together.  I wanted  a nice velco sleeve that went around the plastic bag holding all the material. I purchased some digital brown camo material cut it, sewed it including the velco, sewed the troop numeral on it, and had ready for this meeting. It took weeks. I don’t think anyone realized how much effort went into these. I hope the kids value and keep for a long time.

You have to do this right or what’s the point. I started with this vision of a small Altoid’s mint tin, but you can’t get anything inside that. I wanted the scouts to have a really useful kit. I did want the cost, weight, and size to be minimized as much as possible.

The survival kit comes up in the Wildnerness Survival MB requirements. I have not taught this again since, but hope to work it all in.

Here are two card I made up to include in the kit -

survival-card.ppt

still-need-to-include.ppt

Map and Compass

 

This is probably one of the best sites for map reading I have ever seen. Lots of downloadable powerpoints. The author also covers the use of the military compass (brings back old memories).

Scouting in my view does not adequately cover land navigation and compass work. Some time ago it was decided that scouting would cover orienteering, not map & compass. There is a distinct difference.  Orienteering is more map/terrain reading oriented. Orienteering itself is a spirited game where the objective is to get to relatively close control markers as fast as possible (compass work is not a big part of it). Orienteering is a lot of fun and there is challenge and map work involved, so I understand the switch. Furthermore, there really is very little time to cover map & compass in much more detail and by in large, most scouts don’t go out on remote, off trail, wilderness backcountry excursions. Those few that do have acquired these skills somehow. I’d like to see kids really learn about declination diagrams and the use of the protractor to develop azimuths and plot coordinates. Frankly, I think most scout want to be better at compass use then they are. 

 http://landnavigation.org/

I had posted this previously. I will keep it up as it covers the more familar plastic compass -

This is not mine, it came from someplace on the web. It is a start but not that good (yet). Take it and run with it if it helps. Send me back an improved version. I’m sure others can use.

map-and-compass.ppt

Mt. Lafayette Hike

 

Dubbed the best hike in the northeast by many guidebooks, I could easily agree. This is a great hike to take fresh scouts on and get them bitten by the scouting/outdoorsmen bug. Spectacular views, the ability to get above the tree line, a great hike up past numerous waterfalls (take the Falling Water Trail up). I love it.  It is also nice because from Boston, it is one of the closer hikes in the Whites. It is right up Rt.93 in Franconia Notch. 

I highly recommend this hike to all scouts. You have to do this one.

I will post more on this later.

Tuckerman Ravine Hike, NH

This is a great hike, either in April to watch (or participate in) skiing, late July to still see snow, the fall to get the colors, or winter to take in a great winter hike. Views are great, it is a beautiful area, and if you plan properly, this is really a safe hike. Able bodied 7-8 year olds can handle the warm weather hike (all the way up the ravine to the top of Mt. Washington and back down to Pinkham Notch). In the summer, their is a large waterfall where the snow is.  You can do this hike, from the base up through the ravine, to the top of Mount Washington, and all the way back down, in one day (from Boston). Leave early (5am), start heading home around 4pm, stop for pizza with the kids (and feel your limbs aching), and be home by 8-9 or so.

 More on this hike when I have time.

Gettysburg Trip

This is a great trip. After we went, we found out there is a small scout camp nearby. Reservations are required by January I think and people compete for spaces. I will post some picks and provide more info soon.

Link to below: http://www.yaac-bsa.org/activities/gettysburg/gettysburg.htm

Gettysburg Heritage Trails Program

The York-Adams Area Council, the National Park Service, and the Gettysburg National Military Park/Eisenhower National Historic Site are proud to offer Scouting groups the opportunity to participate in the Gettysburg Heritage Trails program, which includes a stop at the Visitor Center/National Cemetery, two hiking trails through the battlefield at Gettysburg, a walking tour of historic downtown Gettysburg and a tour of the Eisenhower National Historic Site.

The National Park Service and the York-Adams Area Council have published a trail guide for each of these five trails and tours (the current edition was revised in June 2002, 14th edition).  Trail guides are available at the Gettysburg National Military Park or from the York-Adams Area Council Scout Shop and cost $1.00 per guide.  The five program elements are:  1)  The Visitor Center/National Cemetery; 2) The Billy Yank Trail; 3) The Johnny Reb trail; 4) The Eisenhower National Historic Site; 5) The Historic Gettysburg Trail.

The trail guides are designed to be quite comprehensive and provide all of the information you should need concerning the trails programs, maps, requirements, etc.  The trail guides are the primary source of information for participants in these programs, as the council does not make available any other printed or on-line materials regarding these programs.  Our Scout Shop can accept credit card orders for trail guides by calling 800-569-5197 (outside York) or you can now order these materials on-line.

Program Descriptions

The Visitor Center/National Cemetery and Eisenhower sections are question and answer exercises, as outlined in the trail guide.  The trail hikes through the battlefield are designed to give participants a soldier’s perspective on what happened on the battlefield.  

The Billy Yank trail is a nine-mile hike through the battlefield and takes approximately six hours to complete, while the Johnny Reb trail is a three-mile hike and takes approximately two hours to complete.

The Historic Gettysburg Trail is a walk through the downtown area to help visitors imagine what it was like to live in Gettysburg in July 1863.  This trail is approximately three miles and takes 2-3 hours to complete.

There are fees associated with the Electric Map and Cyclorama programs, which are included in the activities spelled out in the trail guide.  Please call the park at (717) 334-1124 for pricing and reservations.

Camping At Gettysburg National Military Park

Tent camping is available at the McMillan’s Woods area of the park and reservations can be made through the park service. For detailed information regarding the reservation procedures and site availability at McMillan’s Wood, please visit the Gettysburg National Military Park’s website using this link – http://www.nps.gov/gett/camp.htm.

Groups camping at McMillan’s Woods can arrange for showers at the Gettysburg YWCA, 909 Fairfield Road, for a nominal fee of $1 per person.  Groups need to call the YWCA at least one day in advance to make arrangements (717) 334-9171. 

Additional information about Gettysburg National Military Park is also available through the U.S. National Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/gett.  A terrific map of the battlefield and the town of Gettysburg is available on the National Park Service’s web site. More views of the Gettysburg Battlefield. 

At the site of Chamberlain’s bayonnet charge on Little Round top:

Orienteering

One of the best scouting activities in our area is Orienteering. One of the best local spots for anything scout related is Nobscot Scout Reservation. Below is a note to our kids on what to expect. I thought it might be useful if you need anything like this. I have also taken the scouts here and introduced them to Geocaching – a highly recommended activity that the kids really liked. I’ll spend more time on this later.

Here is a printout I made of the geocaches in Nobscot. nobscot-geocaches.doc

The local Orienteering club, NEOC, has a scout-o event here every October (you must register by August, watch the Council website to see when the invitations go out). NEOC also has a similar event in the spring at Hale Reservation in Westwood, MA, but it is signficiantly less challenging.

   Orienteering at Nobscot

MORE INFO:

To give you a little more information – this would be a 2 night campout (Fri/Sat) to Nobscot Scout Reservation (between Framingham and Sudbury). A very nice place to go, lots of interesting things to hike to (such as an overlook to see Boston, a sizable mountain that Thoreau, Longfellow and Emerson once hiked up, and an 18th century small-pox cemetery). We could do as either a large scale “troop campout,” cabins (if not too late to get one), or a backcountry experience (plenty of places to really get that sense of remoteness). You have to hike in all your camping gear, so we either put on wagons or on our backs.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

The orienteering training is very good. Trained leaders lead the boys through the use of a map and spend a day working with them. It is mainly land navigation as opposed to compass work, but it depends on the leader running it (last year as one of the leaders I spent a good part of the day on compass skills). Sunday is a competitive (but no pressure) orienteering course which is a lot of fun (scouts go off in small groups without adults). It snowed lightly last year, but it really was great being outside that weekend.

I have found that scouts really like orienteering but have limited opportunities to practice there skills. You can’t find better training for those that have never used a map/compass before, or for those that have, a better place to build confidence. 

Camping/Hiking/Backpacking/Wilderness Survival Merit Badges and LNT

 

We camp a fair amount and do a lot of activities. Even without thinking about it, we cover a lot of the MB material just in the natural course of having fun and talking about outdoor related subjects. All good stuff and often I wished I started the bluecards to give the kids credit. I’ve done a few things to facilitate this better for the troop.

1) With the approval of the Scoutmaster and Advancement Chairperson, I started a three ring binder with copied blue cards, three to a page (double sided just like the card), with all the scout’s names on them. The Scoutmaster has signed these (as he now does for all new scouts entering the troop), and we have officially enrolled the scouts in camping, hiking, backpacking, wilderness survival, and I threw in cycling as well. As you know, the scouts can not get credit for any work towards the meritbadges unless they have the blue cards signed first.

2) I carefully went through all of the above four books as well as all the LNT material, found the overlaps, common themes, natural progressions, and lesson objectives and created this book. The idea is to make it 1/3 the size of a standard piece of copy paper, spiral bind it (kinko’s does at a reduced rate of $3/book with plastic covers) down the side, put it in a waterproof sleeve, and have the scouts carry with them on all campouts.

Not only does this help the scout leader properly teach the kids about, say, stove or sleeping bags, but it also gives the kids something interesting to read while lying in their tents trying to sleep. The BSA book on backpacking is exceptionally good, but scouts don’t necessary read them and they don’t give some of the depth a good teacher would want to make the lesson as instructional as possible. The attached is a work-in-progress draft. I’m hoping a company like REI, EMS, Eureka, etc. see the virtue and benefit of this and sponsor the production of these large scale.

3) Finally, with the troop committee’s approval, I’ve endeavored to create a unique patch for the kids once they complete all the “book” work (most of which is outdoors work). Getting in all those long distance hikes is going to take some time. This rewards them with something very cool for their efforts and outdoorsmenship. This step is a still a work in progress. The scouts were very receptive and interested. I was hoping for feedback from them on patch design. If I had more support, I could pull it off. Frankly, this type of program is not a one man deal, it requires the commitment from everyone to support. You know how hard that can be in scouting. It might have to wait until my younger son gets into scouts. If anyone wants to help on this let me know!

The file is really large, let me figure out how to post it. I am running out of free space on this website!

Energy Merit Badge

Probably best suited for the older kids. After teaching this a few times, I am very convinced the kids get it and just want to learn more and more. They do need it spoon feed to them so it is easy to understand and it must include experiments so it is not a lecture. It is a fun few sessions and the kids feel quite accomplished learning all this new and different material.

I am also amazed that I didn’t start learning this kind of stuff until sophmore year of college and they are getting it now. Kids are staying up late in China and India to learn this and be good at it, we need our kids to be as prepared. The knowledge base has expanded exponentially since we were their age. This is an example of why I like scouting, it facilitates exposure to slices of life they normally just would not get.

energy-mb.pdf

Pioneering MB / Monkey Bridge

Pioneering in many places is not like it used to be. You can’t just go and cut down trees anymore. Furthermore, the risks and liabilities are threatening, as is the cost for all the rope needed. Nevertheless, there is a time and place for this great scout activity.

There are a few free scout books floating around the internet, here are two that are better than most (the color one is from the Irish scout association).

scoutengineering.pdf

pioneeringprojects.pdf

 

The monkey bridge is probably the most common and really the most interesting project to take on. The books above provide a good resource to help you build one. If I come across something better that is more specific I will post. One trick to a good bridge is getting the large X end supports to incorporate small Y splits near the tops to hold up the guide ropes.

Note the monkey bridge is covered in the Guide to Safe Scouting, specifically:

Rope Monkey Bridges

When constructing monkey bridges, observe the following safety rules:

1. Always follow the steps for constructing monkey bridges outlined in the Pioneering merit badge pamphlet.

2. Before beginning the project, inspect your rope, looking at both the inside fibers and inner strands. Know the size and strength of the type of rope you are using, and its safe working load.

3. Monkey bridges should not be constructed higher than 5 feet above flat-surfaced ground nor longer than 40 feet. Initially, beginnersshould not span more than 25 feet.

4. Know the effect the knots will have in reducing rope strength and the proper care that rope requires.

5. Rope, especially rope carrying a load, should be checked each day before using. Rope carrying a load and left in place tends tobecome slack from fatigue and will break under stress. Tighten rope as necessary to maintain the integrity of the original construction.

6. Exercise special care when members of the public are allowed to use these monkey bridges. Establish controls when monkey bridgesare constructed outside the camp environment. Station Scouts at each end to control access to the bridge. Allow only one adult at atime on the bridge. Never allow unaccompanied children on the bridge. Shut down the bridge when any repairs are being made and donot reopen until the adult leader has approved the repairs.

7. Any activity on rope swings, monkey bridges, slide-for- life, or similar devices that are located over water must comply with SafeSwim Defense.

Space Exploration MB

This website is dedicated to helping scouts answer the questions properly -

http://my.execpc.com/~culp/space/space.html

Electricity Merit Badge

Here is a collection of files the IEEE put together to teach this course.

http://www.emeritbadges.org/instructional_material.htm

Bugling Merit Badge

I always thought that this would be a cool MB for the kids to get. The merit badge goes hand in hand with the Bugler position in the troop. Of all the positions, I thought this one was a real badge of honor as it took some skill to achieve. All the other positions require just time in service and a willingness to do one’s best. I bought a bugle off ebay to try to get the boy’s inspired to play. ($35 or so - $20 for the bugle, $15 for shipping direct from India). I brought the bugle, music, and cassette tape to meetings, and with my musical background, I thought I could connect with a few kids and teach them.

Unfortunately, the bugle is a very difficult instrument to play and few kids really want to spend the time learning this from scratch. Seriously, don’t kid yourself, it is not the same thing as playing a finely tuned valved trumpet. Those kids who take trumpet in the school band are probably the only kids who will want to take on this challenge.   I would seek these kids out and talk to them about the special opportunity here they may be interested in.  Encourage them to pursue this on their trumpets. You may want to find an old beatup trumpet on Craigslist or ebay (or a cheapy new) for scout camp. My thought was to have the bugler do some leatherwork on it and make it old-school looking.

Here is a ppt file of all the music for you to download. This came from USScouts.org, probably the best scouting support web site I know of. There site also contains mid andi mp3 files for the music. It clearly states for these files they are not for redistribution, so while I am trying to stay away from links (they need mantaining), I have to give you this one.

bugle-calls.ppt

http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb032.asp

Woodcarving MB – Camp Stool

 

I taught this a few times. Kids love this one. Seriously – make sure you have bandaids when you teach. Even though you talk about knife safety and first aid, at least 2 end up cutting themselves.

My recommendations when teaching:

1. Buy those bags of small basswood carving blocks from AC Moore (local craft store), they work well for the relief carving. Estimate 2 blocks for each kid.

2. If yellow or white pine trees are in your area, cut a few dead branches (the ones an inch or thicker). These are perfect for the final carving.

3. Stay away from those cheapy carving knifes in the scout store. You will need several real carving gouges and some sharp narrow chisels.

4. What I did at summer camp two years ago was go to the local lumber mill (we fortunately have one in town – Gardner Brothers) and bought several 16 or 18″ wide planks (they actually donated them to the scouts, very nice people). I pre- cut the boards to parts that when assembled, they created a very useful camp stool.  (There is a 4th piece, a brace in the middle, you can’t see in this photo.)

I borrowed the branding irons from the pioneering MB station one night and we had lots of fun woodburning designs into the sides & tops. The scouts had to cut the v-notch in the legs, predrill (why do kids love hand drills so much?), hand plane the top, and then assemble. When done, they had to carve a relief drawing in the top. Some came out really nice. The photo below was my example, I never had time to finish it. I think the kids really enjoyed doing this. The photo does not do it justice, they did come out really nice and hopefully they give the kids fond memories of camp and the night we had working on these.

Music

 

As a parent, you want to balance your kid’s development across many areas. Local sports fill one space, scouting another, education is in the middle, I’m sure you have them volunteering and doing something for the community and you’re probably traveling and exposing them to new people & places. Something else to consider carefully that is equally as important is music. If you have not gone down this path already with your kids, you really should do so. This is great right-side-of-brain stimulus and who knows, maybe it will even help them with their math.

It is not good enough to have your kid participate in the school band. The way they run the music programs in the schools now is shameful (but they are doing the best they can with the little they have). Compounding the lack of quality music training offered is the uninspiration tune selection I’ve heard over the years. Some of my kid’s concerts were just difficult to listen to. They can’t be much fun to practice and perform. There are options.

Let me suggest this great music school that is inexpensive and top quality -

 

The Boston Comhaltas Irish Music School

http://www.cceboston.org/p9index.html

Taught in the fall at Harvard University and in the Spring at Boston College, top quality instructors instruct on a variety of traditional instruments.  Kids really like to practice because the music makes senses and it sounds good. I highly recommend. They take all range of experience and welcome beginners. Local ’sessions’ also provide members to jam together weekly.  

If you like or want to learn about Bluegrass music, consider going the to GreyFox festival in July. They offer a “kids academy” where your kids can go for free and get lessons. We have ‘old-time’ fiddling groups in our areas that are good places to jam often.

If you are local to the Boston area, you may want to consider getting them involved in a fife and drum band. The William Diamond F&D band in Lexington is a great start. (William Diamond was the kid drummer who, on April 19, 1774, sounded the first alarm on the green). You don’t have to live in Lexington to join. What is nice about this is 1) they learn to read sheet music which is important, 2) they get in with a nice crowd of kids, 3) they perform in interesting places, 4) when the time comes, this activity (or where it takes your child musically) may warrant being mentioned on a college entrance application, 5) the music is all mainly celtic in origin an many of these tunes have great connections to other music forms. It is really a great learning experience.

One the subject of musical instruments. I know people won’t agree with my opinion here, but here goes -  4 instruments really percolate up to the top in being worth learning. Everything else is backup. Here they are:

1. Piano (including accordion and maybe harp)

2. Guitar (including banjo)

3. Fiddle/Violin

4. Whistle/flute

Being good at these instruments will put your kid in a position someday to be the figurative life of the party. These instruments are all melody instruments, meaning they take the charactertistic tune on. When you practice, you feel the tune. When you play, people like to listen. People don’t generally want to hear the oboe, clarinet, french horn or trombone. I know, I know – your kid expresses a desire to say, play the sax. You think, let the juices flow, let me fan the fire. But do they really know what they want? Do they know enough about music to make this type of life choice? I concede that maybe there’s a chance they got a spark from somewhere and they could take off to great heights. And yes, I know, where would the world be if people only played the four instruments I mention. I am merely bringing this up as a discussion point for you to stop and reflect on it for a moment.  Minimally, you should take time to expose your child to all the instruments’ sounds and consider how learning any particular one will help him find happiness and success in life.

I will post more on this topic later.

One of my favorite classical bands is The Musicians of the Old Post Road. You’ll love their concerts. Great to include in the Music Merit Badge Program.

http://www.oldpostroad.org/

Here is something else fun for teaching the blues -

www.desktopblues.lichtlabor.ch/

Computer Merit Badge webpage design

Item 7d in the computer MB requirements is to build a webpage. I thought I would take a minute to let you know about this website. Just about everything you see here (other than the content posted) was put together in one weekend by someone who knows very very little about computers. Someone mentioned to me wordpress.com – so I surfed over, found it, followed the very easy instructions and built everything you see here. Webpage design has become very simple – and totally free. (I do need to purchase some more memory if I want to move ahead building this website and add more content.)

Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge

A flyer for the kids to get interested in the Citizenship in the Nation MB, American Hertiage MB, and Freedom Trail. I will post my CITN merit badge notes when I can find them. Hope this at least is a start -

freedom-trail.doc

Powderhorn

A decent course if you’ve gone through all the training as an adult and want to be a better leader for the kids (as they say, every scout deserves a well trained leader).

Start at: http://www.powderhorn-bsa.org/

Quick synopsis: Some people call it high adventure training, but it really is an introduction to the Venture Program. In two weekends, you go through an abbreviated Venture “Ranger” award course so you will be able to help venture crew members get the most out of that program. I’ll post more on venturing later.

Philmont Prep

This was sent to me last year. If you need something like this, here is a pretty good example -

t-minus-275-days.ppt

The Scout Beatitudes

From The Scout Association of Ireland

Blessed are the Scouts who are taught to see beauty
in all things around them…
for their world will be a place of grace and wonder.

Blessed are the Scouts who are led with patience and understanding…
for they will learn the strength of endurance and the
gift of tolerance.

Blessed are the Scouts who are provided a home
where family members dwell in harmony and close
communion…
for they shall become the peacemakers of the world.

Blessed are the Scouts who are taught the value and
power of truth… for they shall search for knowledge and use it with wisdom and discernment.

Blessed are the Scouts who are guided by those with
faith in a loving Supreme Being…
for they will find Him early and will walk with Him through life.

Blessed are the Scouts who are loved and know that
they are loved…
for they shall sow seeds of love in the world and reap joy for themselves and others.

Recruitment Brochure

Maybe you can use something like this…

brochure.ppt

Venture Crew (and Troop) Ideas

 

See attached, used during a kickoff meeting for a local crew. Maybe you can find your own use for something like this. Venture crews are kid run, but they need help realizing all there is to do out there.

The third doc is not my work, but I found useful. The question comes up always, what is the difference between a venture patrol and venture crew? Well briefly, a venture patrol is a way to single out ‘better’ scouts and make an elitist organization within your troop (not recommended; I don’t know any scoutmaster who does not try to balance the troop). Venture Crew is the organization that is for kids over 14, separate from the troop, no uniforms (but the green shirt is optional), less big production car-camping, you CAN earn your eagle award as a member of a crew, and it is co-ed and predominantly kid run.

 crew-ideas.ppt

troop-ideas.ppt

venture-patrol-v-venture-crew.pdf