Ohio_Scouter

Kudu, Great recruiting speech. How do I sign up? You may want to consider adding white-water rafting, kayaking, knife and tomahawk throwing, mountain climbing, rappelling into a 200 foot underground cave, etc., that is, if indeed your Scouts do these activities. Oh, at Philmont we now have to learn how to deal with mountain lions, too.

FYI...Here''s what it says in the beginning of Chapter 7, Belaying and Belay Signals, of Topping Out: A BSA Climbing/Rappelling Manual, 2006 printing. "Belaying in the BSA. BSA climbing/rappelling guidelines require that any climber or rappeller more than shoulder height above the ground must be protected by a belayer. Climbers and rappellers may be belayed either from the top of the climb or from the ground. Anyone who is bouldering--practicing climbing moves closer to the ground or beginning a climb--does not need to be tied into a belay rope, but should be protected by spotters positioned to lessen the impact of a short fall." "Safety on Edges. Cliff or rock edges can be hazardous because of the possibility of falling or of knocking stones loose and sending them down toward people below. Anyone standing or working within a body-length of the edge of a cliff (6 feet or less) must be tied in to a belay, an anchor, or a safety line. Before climbing/rappelling activities begin, instructors make sure cliff edges are clean, carefully removing as much loose material as is practical and providing some type of edge protection for the rope."

I think CA is right. I know at my age, the time just seems to fly by, and I haven''t found a better way to spend it anyway, so if I could find a way to give it all to the kids, I''m pretty sure I would.

ASM206, I''ve never met a 5th grader who could handle a 20 mile hike--even at sea level! Most of our experienced backpackers don''t hike more than about 12-15 miles in one day, max. You gotta assume the average speed will be somewhere between 1 - 3 miles per hour, and you have to allow additional time for meals, relaxation, and other activities. On the other hand, if you had about a week''s time available, you could probably do a 20-miler with 5th graders. We did 75 miles at Philmont over 10 days, but our boys ranged between 14-18 years of age. Good luck.

Hi Joe, SR540Beaver said it all. This will be a great lesson learned for the Scouts, too. The best ones, learned the hard way, are seldom forgotten.

Cokes are fine. Thank you, Scott!

ASM915, I can''t wait!

Right, OGE. Now that''s about as backward as Latin gets! Radically changes the pronunciation, too.

Hi folks, My son passed his Eagle Board of Review yesterday after 11 years in Scouting. Buy yourself a cup of coffee on me, and take it out of my Scout account.

FScouter, That was priceless!

I can recite it in Latin, but I never tried it backwards before. Let''s see... Amen, nostris mortis hora in et nunc...

I can relate, OGE! We were trained by the Jesuits, and when we got 5 demerits on our demerit card, we had to come into school on Saturday morning, memorize parts of Cicero''s essays in Latin, and recite them back correctly to the proctor before he would let us go home. Is this post punctuated correctly? I can''t seem to find the Scouter.com punctuation checker.

How are you doing, OGE/OGO? Hope all is well with you. I''m not diabetic, but I too have to watch what I eat on Scout campouts and high adventure trips because of coronary artery disease. I''m a 55 year-old grey Scouter, too, and about a year ago I had quadruple bypass open heart surgery and thought I wouldn''t be able to hike Philmont as planned this past summer (I had previously volunteered to be lead crew advisor for our Troop). Since I was determined not to let our guys down, I decided to undergo a serious cardiac rehabilitation program which got me in good enough shape to hike the 75+ mile, two week trek, including scaling Mt. Phillips and Urraca Mesa with a 50 pound pack, with my Scout son, who, I''m proud to say, hopes to pass his Eagle Board of Review this weekend after 11 years in Scouting. The problem with most Philmont trail food is that it''s loaded with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils--a no-no for heart disease patients and others because of the attendant artery-clogging trans-fats. If necessary, I know Philmont will let you take your own food on the treks. If properly packaged and labeled, they will even deliver it to you in the backcountry, but they don''t give you a break on the price. Oh well, hopefully they''ll improve their trail food menu some day soon when more folks speak out and demand healthier BSA high adventure base foods.

Ed, I''m pretty sure we''re talking about "He whose name rhymes with Rambo", but only John-in-KC knows for sure.

Hey HiLo, We allow our adult leaders to carry cell phones at Troop meetings and at campouts and enroute to long-distance campouts in case someone gets lost or injured along the way. We normally don''t allow younger scouts to use cell phones or other electronic items at scout functions. But, in December of each year, we conduct a Troop electronics weekend winter campout where scouts/scouters are permitted to bring any and all types of electronic items they can carry to the campout at a local Council indoor cabin "campout". Examples of items brought are televisions, gameboxes or equivalent, microwave ovens, electric guitars, and other interesting items. This is the only Troop activity of the year where the boys can use their latest and greatest electronic toys--and they do have fun. They are also permitted and encouraged to eat pizza all weekend long if they wish in honor of the pizza-loving scout who originated the idea years ago.

Hi Eagledad, FYI.....Here is an average per person cost breakdown from our trip in the summer of 2007. We took 2 crews of 11 scouts and scouters from Dayton, Ohio to Philmont and back via AMTRAK: Transportation - $ 271.00 Expedition - $ 540.00 Meals - $ 135.00 Souvenirs - $ 18.00 Crew Equipment - $ 26.00 Other - $ 13.00 Total - $1,003.00

Sorry about that, Kurt. The calendar function on my watch is broken (1 day into the future), and I haven''t figured out how to fix it yet. Upside is I guess I shouldn''t be late for anything.

Welcome back, Scouter Terry! Looks like the recovery is working as of 9/27/07, 12:30 P.M. Eastern.

Our guys are trying to design their own high adventure trip for the summer of 2008. The last 4 years we did Yellowstone-Grand Tetons National Park, Northern Tier, Florida Sea Base, and Philmont--each high adventure was progressively more expensive than the previous one. This year they wanted to do a less-expensive trip so that no Scout would be excluded due to cost. They also want to get in shape for a return to Philmont sometime soon. Right now they think they want to do an extended bicycle high adventure trip, and they are looking into a 400-500 mile trek perhaps along the Underground Railroad bicycle trail from Cincinnati, OH to Erie, PA, or some part of the Northern Tier bicycle trail that runs from Bar Harbor, ME to Seattle, WA. They are also trying to plan several side trips to break up the pedaling along the way.

No, John. Actually, I meant like me!

Quite right, Oak Tree! Those of us who did figure it out are probably dyslexic and don''t even know it. By the way, stick around, I enjoy hearing from you!

Hi John, If you write a few words in German, he''ll probably respond. Verstehen ze?

Yeah, Gern, After all I''ve read here, I think $1,000 per crew member from Dayton was pretty good, too. Since we had a group of more than 20 scouts and scouters, AMTRAK gave us a group discount rate. I think the round-trip train ticket was only about $232.00 per person. We traveled from Indianapolis, IN to Raton, NM and back.

Hi scoutldr, We took 2 crews to Philmont in June of 2007. We live in the greater Dayton, Ohio area, and it cost each crew member $1,000 to make the trip which included expenses for transportation via AMTRAK and Philmont bus, meals and incidentals enroute, expedition costs, crew gear, and crew souvenir T-Shirts and 50-miler and Duty to God patches. Before we left, we thought the price was pretty steep, but after the treks, every one of our guys believes that it was worth every penny! Philmont is truly an awesome place, and our guys will never forget the experience (we also have over 1,000 photographs and 2 crew journals to remember the trip). Find a way to do Philmont; you won''t be disappointed.

Hi Doug, Just saw your post. I''m on the way home and I''m checking my email right now at the Sullivan, MO public library. I took Interstate Route (IR) 70 West from Dayton to Indianapolis, and then IR 55 South to IR 44 West from St. Louis to Oklahoma City. I stayed at Meramec State Park on the way out in Missouri. The park was great and the price was quite reasonable ($9.00 per night). I got a great wooded campsite since I arrived on a Monday night, and there was hardly anyone in the park. On Wednesday evening on the return trip, I decided to stop at Bennett Spring State Park located about 12 miles West of Lebanon, MO. The campsite was OK, but the park was a bit more crowded that evening, and unfortunately, the campsite I was given was pretty well trashed from previous campers. Before I left, I cleaned it up (my scouts and scoutmaster would be proud!). Thanks for all your help, guys. Missouri is a beautiful state.