There is more to High Adventure than Philmont, SeaBase and Northern Tier!

[qwazse]

... We have two high adventure trips a year. One is allowed to be expensive (~Philmont cost) and one must be inexpensive ($200 - $300). Scouts can easily raise that much in a year.

 

Matt, is this in addition to summer camp? Are you the adult leader for every trip? I'm wondering because for me, the hardest part of being a crew advisor (and I think my co-advisor would agree) is setting aside those vacation days when we also have to support kids in college. Working extra to balance budgets is a bit of an issue, but the family is expecting to be home during breaks, older kids are getting married, etc ...

[MattR]

 

Matt, is this in addition to summer camp? Are you the adult leader for every trip? I'm wondering because for me, the hardest part of being a crew advisor (and I think my co-advisor would agree) is setting aside those vacation days when we also have to support kids in college. Working extra to balance budgets is a bit of an issue, but the family is expecting to be home during breaks, older kids are getting married, etc ...

 

Yes, we also have summer camp, but no, I don't go on everything. I usually pick one event. While I'd love to go on every trip, and make every campout a 3 day weekend, it ain't so. I have a big troop and dads that like the outdoors. We have two HA trips because most are limited to 12 people and we have more than 12 that want to go. If we have two inexpensive trips then a lot of scouts want to go on both. There's an age, around 16, where there are scouts that go on everything. They really enjoy the week long trips. That's the hook that keeps kids in my troop. When I talk to scouts that age out about good memories, most of them are high adventure, so I push high adventure.

[baggss]

Porcupines eh? the wifes family is from harrisburg, There is a few Suggestions I never considered, It seems that quite a few crew leaders are to myopic to see past the HA brochures and discover whats around them. Also councel seems to quietly dicourage independance. I Guess i'm just discouraged every time I go to one of those and its the same old same old... .... yeah, I know, just don't go... but Maybe the next one...

[TAHAWK]

Units I have been commissioned in have gone to the Sea Base and Philmont multiple times. They have also done troop high adventures to Canada, White Mountains, Rockies, Isle Royale, and several long trails in western PA. All good. The troop adventures, as noted, were much more economical and required more Scout planning. (Porkies? That makes me recall the camp raiders banging the pots and pans every half hour at one of our campsites on the Mattawa - where I finally met No-See-Ems.)