NSP hike / "tenderfoot hike"

[Brewmeister]

Somewhere in these forums I recall reading about doing a hike for the NSP to work on basic skills...maybe it was called a tenderfoot hike. Either I'm dreaming or the search function in this forum is failing me.

 

Can someone refresh my memory on this and describe any practices/program you might have in this regard for the NSP?

[SeattlePioneer]

Personally, I'd be putting together a program designed for the needs of your new Scouts and New Scout patrol.

 

That might include practicing some of the Boy Scout requirements plus learning hiking skills such as equipment to take, clothing and rain gear, map and compass skills, and perhaps stopping at an athletic field along the way to run through the physical fitness skill requirements to either start, practice or finish the thirty day improvement trial.

 

If someone can find a "canned" program of the kind you are asking about, I'd certainly look it over, but with an eye towards customizing it rather than copying it.

[Brewmeister]

I'm not asking about a whole program year, just one specific activity I recall seeing here...I think.

 

A search for "NSP hike" yields only one result, in passing.

[qwazse]

I've posted several replies about orienteering hikes or navigation hikes. Try those keywords.

 

I don't think in terms of NSP's. A five mile day hike on medium terrain is well within the reach of the average 11 yo. So most of what folks have suggested with regard to first class requirements should apply.

 

I would never call anything a tenderfoot hike. I've seen older kids have tremendous fun on the simplest jaunts. I've also seen eight year old girls climb a mile up to the continental divide, leaving older sisters back at 9000'.

[Brewmeister]

I don't mean tenderfoot as in easy, I mean tenderfoot as in work on tenderfoot requirements.

 

I'm starting to think I dreamed this somehow

[qwazse]

No hiking required for tenderfoot, although a hike is a great way to gain a few of those skills. (E.g., poisonous plant identification.) Lots of our parks actually have fitness trails with stops where they do particular exercises.

[JMHawkins]

We don't do NSPs, but the general idea of a hike to work on scoutcraft works for any program.

 

Something we did last year was "The Amazing Race" hike. Patrols started out in different directions with their first clue, which led them to a Scouter waiting somewhere in the trail complex. Once they got there, they'd have some sort of scoutcraft tests (tie several knots, identify plants, etc), plus they had to navigate the trials to get there. After finishing the skills at that station, they got their next clue, which took them to another Scouter running a different skill station.

 

If you have older scouts, you could of course run it with the older Scouts doing the stations/instruction rather than adults. Alternately, you could divide up your NSP among your existing patrols for the hike. At each station, the older scouts in the patrol have to instruct their new scouts on the skill, then the new scouts have to pass the skill test there before moving on. It becomes a patrol competition for how well the patrols can teach skills, as well as giving the older scouts and the new scouts a chance to get to know one another and interact as scouts.

[Eagle92]

Why don't you ask your older scouts how they would do it, and then let them run it?