RE: [Philmont]: caterpiller

When I first showed my crew the caterpillar early this spring, they didn't
"get it" at first. The next day we tackled a long, steep trail and you could
see the light bulbs come on. They embraced it as their own, and the crew
leader invoked it anytime anyone became winded and the group didn't want to
stop. Although we don't have a tradition of backpacking in our troop (yet),
these guys became proficient hikers when they were moving. (As soon as they
stopped to rest all bets were off, but that's another story.) They also used
it on the downhill stretches to regroup when they got spaced out along the
trail. Not my preference, but it was their choice and it achieved the
desired goal - to hike together. (I'd growl at my crew leader anytime the
line got too gappy, which wasn't often, and he was good about keeping the
slower hikers up front.)

At Philmont it was interesting to see that as the trek wore on they opted to
use the caterpillar less and less. The crew only used it the second half of
the trek when we were ascending at higher elevations and everyone was out of
breath. My co-advisor and I were able to keep up with the crew pretty
easily, but the caterpillar was still a welcome respite on some of those
climbs. By Day 12 we chugged up from Ponderosa Park to Schaefer's Peak with
only two or three 30-second nav breaks and no caterpillar.

>Ched Hudson
ASM, Troop 994
Fairfax Station VA
Philmont 67, 04
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com]On
Behalf Of Jackson Morris
  Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 6:27 PM
  To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
  Subject: [Philmont]: caterpiller

  i guess i am a little confused. i and my crew are from florida, so i
guess it is to be expected. i had read about caterpillaring for several
years, but always figured it was an old technique for the old trails now
filled in with brush and not the new ones at about 7 percent grade. i had
never actually seen it done, after 2 treks. this year, we passed a crew
between aspen springs and cito doing the caterpillar (as we returned to cito
from a resupply at ute gulch in a little more than 2 hours round trip), but
the crew advisers were really old (older than my 60 years) so i figured they
were entitled. my florida crews have always streaked up and down the hills.
i and at least one other crew adviser are usually a little slower, but not
so slow as to be very far behind. so what's the need to caterpillar with
the new trails? maybe up the west side of phillips or over black mountain,
but otherwise i don't see the need. is everyone doing it everywhere anyway?
or is it really uncommon? jackson morris, contingent leader, 608-k, gulf
ridge council, florida

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Subscribe/Unsubscribe at http://usscouts.org/lists/
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Tue Aug 10 19:34:20 2004