[Philmont] Water, etc.

Well, as the unfortunate soul who started the discussion about hauling water, I must say that I am relieved and pleased that Dan Preston has put this all in perspective for us. This discussion reminds me a bit of the heated discussion that took place back in the spring regarding hiking in Crocs. I learned a little from both discussions but wish that in both cases the level of intensity could have been reduced. Of course, in order to cement my position as the king of controversy, I could go on to point out that in our recent Philmont trek one of our Scouts hiked the last two miles in a pair of Crocs just to prove it could be done, and my own son hiked the entire 80 miles in a pair of trail running shoes (after having a heated debate with the ranger about his footwear), but if I were to mention such things, we might devolve back into a footwear discussion, and we have "been there, done that".

I genuinely appreciate the effort of all of you who take the time to share your wisdom on this list. Your collective recommendations added immeasurably to our trek, and our boys and I will be forever grateful.

YiS,

George Taylor, ASM
Troop 28
Birmingham, Alabama

.. old and feeble ..

Daniel Preston <prestonar@bellsouth.net> wrote: John makes a very good point. The question is, how do we apply this
wisdom.

We will not see Jim Moss on the trail, stopping every 20 minutes to
drink from his Nalgene. Likewise, we will not see John LeBlanc or Pete
Swiggum strolling through camp in their Crocs. We have all read
contributors' preferences about tents, stoves, raingear and long
underwear. We have all gained substantial backpacking knowledge
through this list and our own experiences. It is our responsibility as
advisors to pass on as much of this knowledge to our Scouts as
possible. The question for me is: How many decisions do we dictate to
the crew. If you have a Scout who drinks more water than everyone
else, who will drink all of his Nalgenes and borrow water from everyone
around him, do you tell him that it is your policy that hydration packs
will not be used? Maybe a strict policy on water containers is unwise.
  If you have a 100 lb. Scout who is trying to limit his pack weight,
are you going to tell him that he needs to take his basketball shoes
instead of his lightweight Crocs or no camp shoes at all? Maybe a
strict policy on camp shoes is unwise. If you have a Scout who's
family has financial difficulty sending their Scout to Philmont, are
you going to insist that he can't wear cotton T-shirts or Frog Togg
raingear?

Philmont is a learning, life changing experience. Advisors should
advise the Scouts, but decisions that do not affect the welfare of the
entire crew should be left to the individual Scouts. We all learn more
from our mistakes than our successes and we gain confidence when the
decisions we have made on our own turn out well.

As John said, "The purpose of Scouting is to prepare boys to become
men". You must be prepared to allow your Scouts to skin that cat their
own way, sometimes making mistakes, sometimes surprising you with a
better way to skin the cat.

Dan Preston
Scoutmaster, Troop 319
Louisville, KY

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
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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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Received on Fri Jul 20 11:17:41 2007