From: Joe Dorsey (jd713@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Jul 16 2002 - 16:11:03 CDT
I'm reading this from the viewpoint of someone who went on a trek in June
but the way you describe the food they were given doesn't seem to follow
what you would normally think about a overnight backpacking trip. They were
trying to give them an idea of what a trek is like and one of the ways to do
that is to give them the food you would normally eat on a Philmont trek. All
11 days I was on the trail I didn't see a single salad. And I find it hard
to believe that out of 30 boys only one person liked it because that was one
of the meals my crew liked the most. Also, I'm almost positive that dinner
came with corn to go with it (I have a very good memory of the night we ate
that because we were in upper sawmill which has to be the worst campsite
ever). So there were vegetables but they were probably mixed into the chili.
WWW
Joe Dorsey
VC of Program
Bob White Lodge #87
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald S. Roberts" <don@hummellawfirm.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 12:11 PM
Subject: [Philmont]: PTC Experience - Part IV, Boy Scout Program
> In addition to my 8 year old daughter, I brought my 11 year old Star scout
> son. The program at PTC for boys age 11-13 is "boy scouts". When a kid
> hits 14, its Los Jovenes, Mountain Men or Mountain Women. The boy scouts
> are divided into age groups, 11, 12, or 13. no consideration is made
> regarding ability or attitude. Thus, though my son is a Star scout, has
> climbed Mt. San Gorgonio and hiked across the Grand Canyon, his ability
and
> attitude counted for nothing and he was placed with 11 year olds who had
far
> less experience. I suppose this is as close to a rant as I'll come in
this
> series, as I have this same complaint about ability and attitude for treks
> as well. I'm 10 pounds over my weight limit on the Philmont chart, so I
> can't go on a trek without losing weight, yet I can go a week in the
> Sierras, climb Mt. Whitney and hike across the Grand Canyon with no
problem.
> Ah well.
>
> Anyway, the boy scout program, as it says in the guidebook, includes
> archery, rifle (bb air gun), horse riding (unless the boy is too small),
day
> hikes, tours of Villa Philmonte, Rayado, etc. The boy scouts go on an
> overnight hike to the stockade. The stockade is located in the valley to
> the south side of the tooth of time, so the boys get a spectacular view
> during their hike. The 13 year olds get to hike over the tooth of time.
> When I picked up my son each day, I had difficulty getting him away from
the
> group, so it is clear he really enjoyed it.
>
> The guidebook is not clear what is needed for the boys for their
> overnighter. There were about thirty boy scouts (all ages), and about 25
of
> them brought their backpacking packs. I thought the instructions were
> ambiguous so I called ahead and my son brought a duffle. Their overnight
> gear is trucked to the stockade and they need only carry a day pack with
> water and rain gear. The boy scouts had no opportunity to use their
> backpacking packs. The guidebook is also ambiguous regarding sleeping
gear.
> The list in the box for the overnighter only mentions a sleeping bag. The
> text above it mentions a ground cloth. Unless you read it carefully, you
> don't realize the scout will need a ground cloth. No mention is made of
> needing a pillow or pad. The boys sleep on the ground, and they don't
have
> to carry their bedding, so you figure out what they should bring.
>
> Food on the overnighter was a major sore point for the boys. The staff
made
> it very clear that the boys were to bring *no* food, not even trail
snacks.
> Thus, the boys were limited to what the PTC supplied. The boys were given
> three bean chili and soda crackers for dinner, with nothing else, no
> vegetables, no salad, nothing. I was informed by the boys I talked to
that
> only one of the thirty boys found the chili palatable. I was also told
that
> one boy was throwing up while eating it, and the staff still made him keep
> eating the chili. The chili was mentioned in the boy scout skit :-).
>
> For lunch, the boys were given a PhilMeal, the same luch given to crews.
> Thus, a boy had to share with one other boy the two person meal, and the
> boys had to carry it for their hike to the stockade. This was true for
the
> other all day outings for other groups, such as my daughter in Chicas and
my
> wife in Senores. My son took a camelback for his daypack, so the PhilMeal
> was a tight squeeze. The boys were also to carry THREE quarts of water on
> this outing. That also made his camelback a tight squeeze (I tried to
talk
> him into a regular day pack).
>
> Having gone through national gatherings myself as a scout, I knew that
patch
> trading would be occurring. So before I came to PTC, I made a point of
> visiting our scout shop and stocking up on CSP's. I also got a few OA
> flaps. Since the boys were 11-13, very few of them are OA, so there was
> very little interest in the flaps. I gave my son, who had *no* patch
> trading experience, some guidance and the CSP's and OA Flaps, and he got
> rather enthusiastically into it. He was quite thrilled to acquire patches
> such as the one from New York that had the WTC on it, or other impressive
> patches. He started just trading for anything (and he was taken in his
> first couple trades, fortunately he came to me before he did more and I
> helped him understand that he was not getting value for his trades so that
> didn't happen again). There were some great adults there who made sure
the
> boys got a little extra when they saw them interested in patches. Since
boy
> scout age is the age when this interest starts to hit, don't forget to
make
> sure your son is stocked up for trades. Even boys whose parents said
they'd
> never been interested before were very interested in trading. There were
a
> few who took the CSP's off their uniforms to make a trade.
>
> There was another adult who was making woggles and giving them to any
scout
> who could answer a scouting question. My son (and my daughter) really
> enjoyed that little challenge. One of the neat things about national
> gatherings of scouts and scouters are the people you meet and the
> interesting things some of them come up with. It really enhances the
> experience.
>
> Just like with Chicas, a lot of the fun was having kids of similar
> age/gender to bond with, and much of the free time was spent playing with
> the other kids in the group.
>
> I believe this is the group that Philmont really fails to take advantage
of.
> These are the boys that will be going on treks shortly, and Philmont
should
> be making a point of taking these boys to meet the crews, see the opening
> and closing ceremonies for crews, seeing a few more of the interpretive
> camps on treks and other things to let them know what they can look
forward
> to. They did go over to CHQ and look around, but it really could have
been
> done with a bit more of what they can look forward to in mind.
>
> My son had a lot of fun, but he is probably the least enthusiastic of my
> family about going back. I believe this was because of a combination of
the
> failure mentioned above, the inability of Philmont to take into account
> ability and attitude as well as age, and a general lack of foresight of
what
> these boys can represent to Philmont's future. If there is an area in
need
> of improvement in the PTC program, I believe this is it.
>
> Unlike my daughter, my son has just reached the age where he is starting
to
> appreciate having things like Philmont souveniers. A Philmont belt, other
> things with a Philmont label on them, Philmont patches, etc. I think PTC
> could benefit from giving this group a special souvenir to remind them
what
> they have to look forward to.
>
> Despite my criticisms above, I will say that this was still a great
program,
> even if it is the one with the most room for improvement (IMNSHO).
>
> Regards
> Don
>
> Donald S. Roberts
> Law Offices of Philip L. Hummel, IV
> 500 N. State College Blvd., Suite 1200
> Orange, CA 92868
> 714-978-6771 Fax: 714-634-3869
> don@hummellawfirm.com
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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.
-------------------------------------------------------
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