BSA designates Philmont as a "No Adventure Base"

[John-in-KC]

They’re still gonna eat Philmont food ... just sayin’

[Cburkhardt]

You bet.  And no room service!

 

 

[John-in-KC]

@WAKWIB Don’t get me started about the excrement HRB Reservation serves for “food”. 

[HelpfulTracks]

This is actually a selling point for my family. 

I have two teen scouts, who had 10 weeks of Summer break (71 nights x 2). They had 68 scheduled nights camping between WSJ, high adventure, unit outings, NYLT, summer camp and staff. They were home all of 2 weeks at the same time. That’s more nights than an average Summer but not by much. They already have over 200 nights Scout camping between them and my youngest has been in Scouting less than 18 months.

They already have 38 nights scheduled for next Summer and they aren’t done (pending how much money the raise).

Throw in that I average 12-18 nights per summer, (33 nights a couple years back).

Mom does NOT camp anymore and has never more than a few nights per year ever.

For the last few Summers I’ve tried to figure out how to combine going to PTC with my kids doing a Philmont trek or OATC. 

That would take the family away from mom for another 2-3 weeks. Well, let’s just say I want to stay married, so I’ve never figured out how to pull off the PTC/Trek combo.

With the glamping option I might be able to talk the wife into going out with us. The kids trek for a couple weeks, I get to PTC for one. Then the wife and I spend a week in the area sight seeing and add a few extra days on the trip back to do some things with the whole family.

In our case that means a net plus of high adventure.

 

[HelpfulTracks]

On 8/22/2019 at 11:28 AM, mrkstvns said:

In its quest to emasculate scouting completely, Philmont now offers a glamping option that completely removes the possibility that participants might actually experience outdoor life.

The new tents have permanent, full floors, electricity, queen size tempurpedic mattresses with Egyptian 800-thread count sheets, in-tent maid service, in-tent massage, and big screen canvas wall mount televisions with your choice of Netflix or Hulu. Covered parking is provided with valet service available on demand.

The story:
https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2019/08/16/with-new-deluxe-tents-philmont-training-center-broadens-appeal-to-more-families/ 

 

I continue to hold that if you believe Scouting is emasculating our youth, it’s your own fault and you are doing it wrong. 

The opportunities for a great Scouting outdoors experience are there if Scouts want to take them. 

A friend of mine just took his Crew on a 4day/3 night 30 plus mile AT trek over the long weekend.

Both of my kids are likely to earn the OAHA Triple Crown and have more than enough camping for the silver National Outdoor Award and enough high adventure  for National High Adventure Award gold x 2. 

But they work their tails off to make it happen.

 

[69RoadRunner]

We did a trek this summer. We saw some families at Ponil and later noticed the tents across the street from base camp.

It's a separate program from the treks, not replacing the treks. It appears to be an attempt to get younger kids interested in the BSA program.

I have disagreements with some of the things BSA has done, but this isn't a hill to die on. 

[WAKWIB]

On 9/2/2019 at 8:02 AM, John-in-KC said:

@WAKWIB Don’t get me started about the excrement HRB Reservation serves for “food”. 

@John-in-KC  When was the last time you were at camp Brother John?  True, there have been good times and bad times when it comes to food at Bartle-Land, but this year there were few complaints.  Neither you or I can fully comprehend the challenge of keeping the cost low and the quality acceptable.