LeCastor

A fellow Scouter friend of mine tells a story about a winter camping trip he took with his Troop many years ago. There was one Scout who showed up in jeans and a flannel shirt. My Scouter buddy had recommended no cotton since they would be sweating beneath the layers and getting snow on their clothing at the same time. So he asks the Scout, "is that shirt made of cotton?" The Scout replied, "No, it's flannel." Well, it was most certainly cotton and that young man learned rather quickly that he should have taken his Scoutmaster's advice and invested in some wool. JP, you can wear jeans if you want to. I'm not gonna.

Woodruff is an excellent camp for a few reasons: 1. It's in the North Georgia mountains and is quite lovely. 2. The staff members are all well-trained and friendly. 3. There's plenty to do on the waterfront in camp. An off-site adventure (horseback riding or whitewater rafting) is included in the basic fees. 4. The campsites are nice and wooded. If you like patrol cooking and having a little more autonomy for your Scouts it might not be the best choice. However, my guys were able to enjoy themselves and strengthen their patrols on the road down, in the rafts, and in camp. The food is what you'd expect from a dining hall. A lot of the programming is geared towards the younger set but they do provide a few off-site high adventure options for the older Scouts--this is week-long. I had three Scouts do this latter option and they loved it.

I think this article from Scouting magazine is best summed up with the last three sentences: "Advancement will follow if you do it right. If you’re having fun and you’re training and you’re outdoors and you use the patrol method, all those patches will come. When they do, it’s the icing on the cake!" [emphasis is mine] http://scoutingmagazine.org/2014/10/troop-78-focuses-adventure-advancement/

By all means! Please do.

Sure, Basement. But I still wouldn't recommend wearing blue jeans on a winter outing.

Freeland Leslie sounds right up my alley!

Awesome

Great info, O'Scouter. Thanks. I've heard some of those same things, too. I've heard good things about Tomahawk, though, as you mentioned above. Tesomas in WI is high on the list of recommendations. I'd like to give my Scouts an idea of what is around the area and some that are a little bit of a "hike" so to speak.

No, but I have heard good things from fellow Scouters. A lot of folks from my council tend to head up to Tesomas if they don't go to Ed Bryant Scout Reservation--in council summer camp. Another one I've heard is good around here is Bear Paw Scout Camp.

Of course, Barry. But I think it took a little convincing on Sentinel's part to even get the adults on-board in the first place. Once everyone learns it kind of chugs along with minor tweaks here and there, in my experience.

I'm so glad this is working well for your Troop! Though, as Stosh and the Gipper said above, the Scouts figure it out and work well together. It's the adults we need to convince to stay out of the way. Glad to hear that your adult volunteers swy the light, as it were, on this outing. Were there any specific moments you remember where the adults "got it"?

Yes, DuctTape! I also like how GBB's Scout Field Book finishes each Pow-Wow with a list of activities. That way you read about the skills and then put them into practice. It's one thing to read about lashing but it's another thing to actually lash something together. When I teach knots and rope work at IOLS, most of the adult volunteers (the "learners") haven't tied anything beyond a granny knot in their lives...much less executed a shear lashing. Some have already mentioned how many volunteers were never Scouts as youth and don't necessarily have the skills needed to guide their youth. These old handbooks and fieldbooks are vital to passing that info along and keeping it alive.

My bad, Master Yoda.

Well, that's certainly vague.

When I was a youth our Troop used to offer two summer camp options each year: Woodruff Scout Reservation in Blairsville, GA and Skymont Scout Reservation, Altamont, TN. My current Troop traveled down to Woodruff this summer from Wisconsin--definitely the greatest distance traveled of any other Troop there--and had a blast. I heard some not-so-flattering comments about Skymont from some of the adults volunteers I met this summer at Woodruff. As a Scout I remember Skymont as a nice place but that was 23 years ago so a lot could have changed. Does anyone have some recent experience with Skymont? If you have any specific details regarding this camp they would be much appreciated.

Unfortunately, jkm, this is an issue we see quite frequently on this forum. I think it comes down to exactly what everyone has said. 1. Have everyone trained in their respective positions. 2. Let the Patrol Leaders take care of their Scouts. 3. Leave discipline to the PLs and SPL. (Unless it's weed, which happens I guess .) 4. Keep the dang adults away from the Scouts as much as possible. 5. Don't be afraid of the CC. Reach out to him/her and keep that relationship positive. 6. Have fun with this! Welcome to the forum, jkm! Let us know how things progress in your Troop. Being a new Scoutmaster can be exciting and very rewarding. It can also be frustrating. But we who are SMs were all new at some point.

To a certain extent, I think we have a responsibility to keep Scouting on track. By that I mean keeping the outing in Scouting. We must keep the Patrol Method/system alive and well, too. However, we must follow the guidelines of safety as handed down from BSA. That doesn't mean we can't go camping and let the patrols camp apart from each other--and from adults. Common sense applies, of course. I personally use GBB's approach to Scouting whenever I can. STEM can be good for Scouting, as St0ut has suggested. But I know that you don't necessarily agree, BadenP. I'm all for STEM if we can keep it in the outdoors.

LOL...It took me a second too! Those voter ID bills are weird, IMHO. What's the real reason behind it?

One of my favorite get-away spots is Black River State Forest. Late at night you hear the wolves howling! There's a lot of open land where you can go backpacking/day hiking/minimalist camping. Only once was I ever disappointed there...some jerk was blasting Bon Jovi from his pick-up truck. Once he got drunk enough, though, he turned it off and passed out. Then all the wildlife picked up where he left off and began their night time symphony. Check into it here: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/StateForests/blackRiver/ As for Devil's Lake, it's pretty but very heavily used. I think I heard they get more traffic there per year than Joshua Tree National Park!

First, yes we have seen this migration from Cub Scouts to Navigators in my community, too. It's more about membership policy than religion, though. Personally, I think it's a bad idea to bail from Cubs because Navigators doesn't have the infrastructure, name recognition, etc that the BSA does. I guess they "voted with their feet" as I've seen on this forum. Second, your last paragraph is super depressing.

Yeah... You might think twice about that after watching this:

It's probably 1.5-2 hrs from most of the units in our council. Not too far for some but apparently too far for most.

Ok, what now? This needs an explanation. I'm pretty curious now... For a little humor, though, please enjoy this Chad Vader video: