Re: [Philmont]: Gear

I can't resist. We did a trek July 31, 2005 with 9 boys and 3 adults. We
started out as equals, splitting food and crew gear. The scouts were
always ahead of the adults, though they waited when they got 1/4 mile or
so ahead of us. At day 4, at Ute Gulch, we watched the scouts from a
Texas crew load up all the food, as their advisors looked on. We talked
to the advisors, and they took the "vacation" part seriously; the scouts
carried all the food and most of the crew gear. The adults carried fuel,
stoves, and personal stuff.

So, around day 5 or 6, we instituted this policy, and the scouts
grumbled a little, but did not object. Wow, did that help the adults
keep up better! The adults were still behind the scouts, but not by
nearly as much.

We used to joke on our 50 milers that we would transfer weight from the
"tail end Charlie" into the "jackrabbits' " packs, but we never did.
After the experience at Philmont we may well carry through with the
"threat".

So, you might be able to get away with a 4200 ci pack, after all!

Oh, 2 adults shared a 2 man tent, the third adult slept alone in a 2 man
tent. Three of the scouts shared a 4 man tent.

Dave Smith
Troop 32
Redwood Empire Council
Santa Rosa, CA

Donald S. Roberts wrote:

>
> > Second, can advisors carry one man tents?
>> Are there any opinions on this as well?
> Can they? Yes. Should they? Maybe.
> Again, not to disagree too strongly with Coop, but the boys (and
> girls) know the difference between adults and youth. Simply lay
> down the law with the boys - 2 or 3 per tent. They won't be bothered
> by what the adults do, unless the adults get in the way :-). It should
> be noted that, even if the crew tries to treat the adults as "just one
> of the guys," Philmont does NOT. They set the tone right at the start,
> when you do your first food pickup, they have the adults come and stand
> at the adviser line, the kids go to get the pickup, and make it very
> clear
> the adviser is supposed to be on vacation. I don't quite agree with this,
> the adviser should bear his/her share of the burden, but there is a point
> to that as well.

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Received on Thu Jan 5 21:00:47 2006