RE: [Philmont]: Gear

Well, in 2004 our advisors (including 1 woman) all tented separately. My 2
man tent was only occupied by me, but weighed no more than about 1/2 of any
tents that the boys were carrying except 1. One of our adults had a 1 man
tent and said it was really too small for his taste (not a very large man
either). I have since changed to a 1.5 man tent (although I still haven't
met a .5 person) and it's large enough for me to be very comfortable (5'8"
175 lbs) and I think it would be good if my better half ever decided to go
camp with me (although I still have the 2 man).
 
Our boys cared not one wit as to how many people were in those tents. Our
normal campouts require that our boys share tents and the adults rarely do
it there either. It's really only a matter of what you are used to and what
you want to do and how many advisors snore heavily.
 
As to the crew gear, we started out carrying our share of crew gear but on
day 4 we were pretty much dressed down by a ranger watching 2 advisors and a
youth hanging bear bags. So we lightened our loads and let more of the
responsibilities fall to the boys. The boys didn't mind (they expected it
in the first place) and we were able to perform a little better, as well. I
believe I carried a bear rope and a stove throughout, but that was quite a
bit lighter than it was the first 3 days.
 
We were, parenthetically, fortunate not to have a dry camp, so there was no
requirement to haul huge amounts of water. Had we needed it, the advisors
would have had to carry some additional load to accommodate the extra
weight.
 
Joe
Wood Badge - Philmont 2000
'04 and returning in '06

   _____

From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Dave Smith
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 8:18 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: 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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