Cub activities at the Grand Canyon / Petrified Forest / Carlsbad caverns

[mashmaster]

First time poster, (I'm a Bear den leader and proud dad/uncle)

 

This summer I'm taking my son and nephew on a vacation of a life time. We are tent camping at the grand canyon and Carlsbad caverns. We are also visited the Petrified forest, Roswell, and the Meteor strike in AZ.

 

I am trying to think of good activities to have my two Bears achieve while on the trip. They already have Hiking and Map & Compass (Pin and Loop). Are there any area specific patches that they can earn.

[King Ding Dong]

When you say "patches" do you mean official BSA awards or generic patches. Scouts earn awards and those awards may be in the form of a patch on a few occasions. If you are just looking for patches just google Cub Scout patches and there are companies that will sell you a patch for tying your shoe to visiting a museum. I am sure you can find a canyon patch somewhere and certainly there are lots of Rosewell patches. You could even get the the Citizen in the Universe Merit Badge. That's a big loophole in the program. Cubs can earn fake Merit Badges. If they attend a council day or resident camp they can work on the outdoor activity award. Practice LNT on the trip and work on that one. Maybe the world conservation award. Away from the city is also a good time to do astronomy. Make sure you look through the bear requirements and electives for activities. I do not think cubs have any awards that are tied to a certain geographic area, would not seem very fair to those far away.

[King Ding Dong]

When you say "patches" do you mean official BSA awards or generic patches. Scouts earn awards and those awards may be in the form of a patch on a few occasions. If you are just looking for patches just google Cub Scout patches and there are companies that will sell you a patch for tying your shoe to visiting a museum. I am sure you can find a canyon patch somewhere and certainly there are lots of Rosewell patches. You could even get the the Citizen in the Universe Merit Badge. That's a big loophole in the program. Cubs can earn fake Merit Badges. If they attend a council day or resident camp they can work on the outdoor activity award. Practice LNT on the trip and work on that one. Maybe the world conservation award. Away from the city is also a good time to do astronomy. Make sure you look through the bear requirements and electives for activities. I do not think cubs have any awards that are tied to a certain geographic area, would not seem very fair to those far away.

Sorry, paragraph codes seem to be broken for me.

[mashmaster]

I'm not looking for generic patches. I mis-worded my message. I'm trying to figure out what loops best fit the location, I figure geology and astronomy are a good fit. We willl have our trusty handbook with us for for achievements and electives, lots of good car conversations for sure. my son has LNT and World Conservation already.

[ScoutNut]

Not a Scout award, but The National Park Service has the Junior Ranger Program (Some state Parks have a similar program). It is a fun, age-appropriate program for kids to learn about the different National Parks they visit, and earn patches for their "Brag Vest"!

 

 

[dedkad]

There's the Family Travel belt loop.

 

The Grand Canyon is rich with Indian lore. Maybe there's a Bear elective for something Indian-related.

 

They can start a collection for their Collecting belt loop. Squashed pennies, arrowheads, interesting rocks, martian bones, etc.

 

Have them bring a camera and take pictures as part of their Photography belt loop.

 

Have them keep a daily diary of their adventures for one week as part of their Reading and Writing belt loop.

 

Remember that every Requirement you do in the Bear handbook that is not used towards earning the Bear badge can go towards earning arrow points. So look over every Achievement and elective in the Bear handbook to cover all your bases.

[mashmaster]

Thanks for the ideas. Of course he already has a bunch of these belt loops but his nephew only has a few. So he'll earn more. The adventure is something that they are really looking forward to and me too :-)

 

I'll check out the Jr Ranger program that sounds like a lot of fun for them.

 

Regarding brag vests, what patches do you put on them? So far we have just been putting either BSA patches or patches from scout places they have gone with their pack/den. I know there is no rule about it, just wondering what the common convention is for them.

[King Ding Dong]

Thanks for the ideas. Of course he already has a bunch of these belt loops but his nephew only has a few. So he'll earn more. The adventure is something that they are really looking forward to and me too :-)

 

I'll check out the Jr Ranger program that sounds like a lot of fun for them.

 

Regarding brag vests, what patches do you put on them? So far we have just been putting either BSA patches or patches from scout places they have gone with their pack/den. I know there is no rule about it, just wondering what the common convention is for them.

Most boys will put anything and everything on them. That said, a couple of years ago I saw a full page ad in Boys Life pushing an "official patch only" pledge. Scouts who pledged to only collect officially licensed BSA patches got a special patch showing their pledge.

 

I have not seen to many of those patches.

 

You could also take a look at the Webelos Traveler requirements and have them "practice" some of those map and distance skills. They will have to do them again, but my parents always armed me with a map on road trips so I could track of where we were and what was coming up next. Beats playing Minecraft on the iPod.

[ScoutNut]

Son put on all BSA related patches that did not go on the front of his uniform shirt, all participation patches he got for attending Girl Scout events (he was a Girl Scout before he was a Tiger!), and all patches he got/earned (like the Jr Ranger) while doing family stuff.

 

He had specific spots on his vest for each kind of patch.

 

My daughter did the same with the back of her Girl Scout vest. She had a spot for BSA participation patches, a spot for the Academic/Sport pins she helped her brother earn (That shows how long ago it was!), and a spot for family activity patches. All along with her Girl Scout participation/special patches.

[Fehler]

My daughter has her Pinewood Derby patch on the back of her Daisy uniform, and no one said anything about it. Of course, its in the closet now that she's a Brownie.

[packsaddle]

I took my daughter on a similar trip (6 weeks, whole continent) but since she's not a boy scout, what I did was to stop by some road construction on the northern CA coast, found a nice redwood sapling that they had cut for the construction and trimmed it to make a hiking staff. Then every place we stopped, I purchased those little hiking medallions as mementos of the trip. When we got back, I carefully carved recessed spots for all of the medallions, mounted them in chronological order, and then carved an inscription commemorating our trip. Years later she still hauls that thing out, looks at it and comments, "Wow, we really did go a lot of places didn't we". Then we take them in order and talk about each place, what we saw, how hot it was, our favorite things, what we ate, how much I snored, and basically relive the whole trip together. It's a great memory stick.

 

 

 

If you want to do something absolutely amazing at Carlsbad, take them to the bat emergence in the evening. And THEN, get them up at 4 am and go sit at the entrance to listen to them coming back. While they emerge as a mass, they return all through the wee hours of the morning but just before sunrise they return in greater numbers. You'll likely be absolutely alone. Silence, except for the sound of the bats.

 

Thing is, owls and hawks lurk at the cave entrance to pick off returning bats. So the bats, while they are way high over the entrance, fold their wings and drop like rocks. They are going so fast as they approach the entrance that the trailing edges of the wings vibrate giving of a buzzing sound like little buzz bombs. Then when they are safely past the predators and in the entrance they spread their wings and fly back in.

 

 

 

So you will sit there, listening to hundreds of little bat-meteorites buzzing down out of the sky. The knowledge of that natural drama, combined with the redness of dawn way off in the east...is an experience of a lifetime, a way to know true grace, a gift from nature.

[Khaliela]

I took my troop on a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon over Spring Break and had a blast--your cubs will love it.

 

I guess the big question is: which rim are you on? We were on the South Rim and visited a geology museum/visitor center. Also, near the center is a "geology walkway" along the rim with some great vistas. It includes information on how old each type of rock is and viewing stations to show where each type of rock is found in the canyon. It's been awhile since I worked with cubs, but I'm betting they have a geology beltloop.

[mashmaster]

I took my troop on a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon over Spring Break and had a blast--your cubs will love it.

 

I guess the big question is: which rim are you on? We were on the South Rim and visited a geology museum/visitor center. Also, near the center is a "geology walkway" along the rim with some great vistas. It includes information on how old each type of rock is and viewing stations to show where each type of rock is found in the canyon. It's been awhile since I worked with cubs, but I'm betting they have a geology beltloop.

We are on the South Rim. Yeah, probably the Geology loop and pin.