[Philmont] Training Treks

I'm in the St Louis area and we're getting ready for Philmont this
summer. This isn't a great place to train for something like Philmont
because of the flat farm land. I was also Scout Master out in Colorado
Springs several years ago when we lived there. Great location for
preparing for Philmont.

In any case it is my experience with teenagers that it is more of a
mental preparation than physical. Physically, almost all could complete
a trek like Philmont regardless of the shape they are in because their
bodies are still young and strong. In my experience there isn't a lot
you can do to prepare them physically. You can give them suggestions, a
training plan, do some activities with them but in the end they have to
do it. What you can do for them is take them on what I call confidence
building activities.

 From their perspective they see something like Philmont which most have
never done before and are intimidated. To prepare for Philmont this
summer we are going on five 10 mile hikes with the last two also being
over night campouts. Each time we hike we will increase our back pack
load up to 40lbs. The point of doing this is for them to see that they
can do something difficult so you're not just throwing them into an 11
day back pack trip. I have done these confidence building activities
many times with youth in the past for such activities and have had good
success. When it comes time to do the event there is little fear or
intimidation because they know what to expect.

In addition, on these hikes/camp outs we use these opportunities to
teach out door skills such as fire building, camp stove use, water
purification, etc... it breaks up the monotony of the hikes and they
really like doing the activities.

Hope this gives you some ideas. This is just my point of view and I'm
sure there are many other just as good or better.

David Barkdull
Troop 555, O'Fallon, IL

-----Original Message-----
From: Philmont@troop47.com [mailto:Philmont@troop47.com] On Behalf Of
scott vivian
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 8:24 AM
To: Philmont List Member
Subject: [Philmont] Training Treks

I'm looking for suggestions for training treks for our troop. We are
located in the DFW metroplex area (Little Elm). We are not a backpacking
troop (yet) so we need to focus on some of the basics first. I'd like
to start with a couple of overnight treks building to multi-night treks.
Treks with reliable water supply are preferred. For the overnight treks
- we want to stay within a 4-hour radius (ideally) of the metro area.

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

Scott Vivian - Scoutmaster, Trek Advisor
Troop 45 - Little Elm, TX
2008 - 721-H

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