Dear Pholks,
First, let me say this is my last post for a while. After many rounds of tests and awful tasting medication, surgery for thyroid cancer is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13. The prognosis is good, hopefully, all will go well. I will probably be down and out for 4-6 weeks. It will be just another adventure down life's road, and a good one I hope.
Now for the good stuff.
GPS.
I have been an ardent fan of GPS for many years. I just bought my third GPS unit. The first was a Magellan 4000XLS. Still works very well. Have mapped many backcountry expeditions with it. Eats batteries at the rate of 4-AA per five hours use.
The second was a Magellan GPS315. I like that unit and it's very conservative on battery use. With care it will go 15 hours on 2 AA alkaline batteries. Notice I said "with care". Evey time you press a button, that uses a significant amount of power and the battery life is shortened.
The 315 is always with me wherever I go. Have a snap in mount attached to the left side of my dashboard of my Chevy Truck. I just unsnap it and go.
The 4000 and 315 are just plain GPS units, no maps, no bells, no whistles. I download my data into a computer program and make all the maps I want and can upload, download waypoints as I need.
I still use paper maps and a compass.
The 315 is no longer made, but I liked it so much, that when I located a still new in the box unit at a local gun shop (Carters Country - Houston), I bought it just to have a spare. I'm still not a fan of ones with all the maps in them. I prefer paper maps.
I choose not to take a GPS to Philmont simply because the program at Philmont is should we say "action packed". I felt every minute devoted to the GPS would be a minute taken away from Philore. Sometimes just watching a sunset is more valuable.
It's a good thing to teach Scouts GPS use, but in my opinion that can be accomplished better at home and leave the Philmont stuff to the Philmont staff. Let the kids gain from the staff and others so to speak. When they are doing good, stay out of their way.
In selevting one for use at Philmont, remember that you have to carry all the batteries you need one way or another. Color on the display is power consumptive and maps on the display is power consumptive. The simpler the display, the easier it is on batteries.
And all alkaline batteries are heavy.
Lithium ion batteries tend to last longer ounce for ounce, pound for pound.
There are many who have a good grasp on GPS use and I don't begrudge them using it at Philmont.
Had I taken one, I'd have used it mostly to accurately track our path traveled and downloaded it into my mapping program upon return. Curosity would have mandated my using it atop Mt Phillips to "point me home" as Chas Clifton did. He and I talked about that one prior to us both going.
Anyway, "GPS-to take or not" is a personal choice for your crew to make and what is good for one crew may or may not be the answer for another crew.
Waypoint banks.
I admire those who share waypoints with others such as the recently posted Troop445 lists. However!.............
My only comment and I know nothing of the accuracy of their waypoints, is that many sharred waypoints in the past have been erronious. I have come to depend on collecting them from Topozone.com if I need a waypoint before a trip.
Another problem with shared waypoints is what does "Apachie Springs Camp" mean?. Is it the cabin you report to upon arrival? That troops campsite? The shower?
Then what is "Apache Springs Camp (2)" If you don't collect the waypoint, then you don't know. How about "Base Camp"? That's a pretty big place. How much value is an unknown waypoint? Is the proximity a mile or a few feet?
This is not condemation, just food for thought and an attempt to stimulate thinking on your part.
Sleeping pads.
My daughter choose the Z fold pad, loved it, still uses it. Taking it to a church sleep over tonight in fact.
I choose the 3/4 Thermarest. A good choice, would take it again. I also carried a Lazy Boy, I mean Crazy Creek chair. I put it folded at the foot end of my Thermarest for cushioning and insulation under my lower legs. Worked fine for me. Other adults choose to take the Thermarest pad and kit that converts into a chair. I choose not to. Experience has shown that is a good way to get holes in the Thermarest. Holes in an air matress equal a rough nights sleep. At my age, I don't need that. If going tomorrow, I'd carry the same combination.
Trekking poles.
I've used all sorts of walking staffs and still do. For Philmont I choose Lekki Makalu trekking poles. It was a good choice. They are supurb. The angled grips let my wrists remain at a more natural angle than straight grips do. Not all trekking poles are created equally, nor are they priced equally. You sometimes don't get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for. Cheap is the wrong way to go.
If you choose to use only one trekking pole, then it's a walking staff, not trekking poles and it's use is very different, although helpful just the same.
I'm in agreement with others in that no old codger should go to Philmont without some sort of staff/poles. However I wonder if the 8 pound fence posts I see some with are an asset or a burden.
I went to a memorial service for one of our Scouts just before Christmas. Had a good visit with a former Philmont Ranger who from the time he entered BSA in my patrol went to the extreme on lightweight packs. He told me when he returned to Philmont five years ago with his son, his pack weighed 11 pounds. The crew's ranger told him he needed more stuff. He asked him if Philmont trails had changed since he was a Ranger because that is what he carried back in the 70's there. After some discussion, he carried his 11 pound pack consisting of a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, raincoat, down jacket, water and a cup. He also carried a compass. No more, no less.
That is all that is really needed. All else is extra. I agree with him, but I also enjoy the extras and am willing to carry them..........well, some of them.
For those planning treks, do your homework, take advise, throw out the advise that won't work or isn't necessary for your crew and enjoy the planning process. Also be SURE to include the Scouts in that process. That is how they learn. Too many things are handed down to today's youth as canned packages. They learn nothing but consumption from that.
Enjoy the winter, go out and take a hike, come home and throw another log on the fire. Life is too precious to let it slip by.
Some of you have written me directly and offered prayers for my swift recovery and I appreciate that. However, I'd ask you to direct those efforts to two of our Venture crew members who are in Iraq with the U S Army. Those guys, and many more current Scouts and former Scouts there can use all the help they can get. From a veteran of a very unpopular war back in the 1960's I know that first hand.
I'm going to be OK, no matter the outcomme. They need it way more than I do.
Keep in mind that many of your current Scouts you take to Philmont will be members of the armed forces in just a few short years. Give them the s and experiences that will help them in their adventures. My Scoutmaster, A WWII an Island veteran shared many tools with use we found helpful around the world to this very day.
I hope to be up and at 'em before spring arrives.
I'll post a note as soon as I can to let you know how I made it through my latest adventure.
John LeBlanc
Philmont 1959 and 2002
My latest adventure was yesterday,
But today isn't over yet
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Received on Fri Jan 9 10:50:44 2004
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