From: Calvin H. Gray (405geezer@igg-tx.net)
Date: Thu Feb 13 2003 - 13:44:16 CST
Diane Mikulis wrote:
>
> Chip and others who have responded,
>
> Thanks. Good things to think about. These are actually boys from the
> same troop. Both crews are similar in age (14-16) and hiking abilities,
> although I suspect that one will break camp quicker than the other. I
> also have concerns about "visiting" and camp chores not getting done as
> a result. Also that some may want to jump ship after a few days and
> transfer to the other crew if things aren't going well. We have 4 adults
> in each crew, so 2-deep should not be an issue.
>
That's easy to solve. Make it clear that no crew members can change
crews, and do this "up front" several months prior to the trip.
Realistically, the crews may not even see each other at the larger camps
(Beaubien, Cimarroncito and Ponil come to mind) as the camping areas are
huge.
In 1989, we had two crews taking the same trek with each crew having an
odd number of boys. To cut down on the number of tents, two boys (one
in each crew) decided they would share a tent. They actually had
trouble finding each other a couple of times and that was when Philmont
had about 14,000 campers each summer rather than the 19,000+ that now
attend the ranch in a typical summer.
> Our plan is to let the boys make their trek decisions first and then see
> how similar the two crews are. I just wanted to get some input from
> those with experience to share with the boys as they make their
> decision.
>
Typically, with sister crews from the same troop, a degree of
competition will develop. Usually, one crew will start out being
quicker to be ready for the trail each morning. As the trek progresses,
this may even result in the members of the slower crew developing the
teamwork necessary to alter this situation. I saw that in 1989 when the
crew my wife and I were with was the slower crew almost every day.
During our next to last night on the trail, I watched the boys gather
and make plans to do what it took to be at our final camp before the
other crew. We were camped at Aqua Fria, a trail camp in the south
country. Well, we were up early the next morning and made it to Abreu
by noon. When our "faster" crew arrived, our guys had their tents set
up and were making sure their sister crew members knew they had already
been to the cantina for several pitchers of root beer. I seem to
remember that we beat the "faster" crew to the bus pick-up at Zastrow
Turnaround the next morning.
All those boys are in their late 20s now and they still talk about that
Philmont trek over 13 years ago. And the members of the "slower" crew
sometimes let their "faster" brethren know that all of them made Eagle
while two of their more aggressive friends didn't. Philmont memories
are great!
YiS,
-- Calvin H. Gray Scoutmaster, Troop 405 Associate Advisor, Venturing Crew 405 Georgetown, Texas I used to be an Owl (WM-62-2-98 @ Philmont) http://www.troop405.org/ ------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Thu Mar 13 2003 - 10:37:51 CST