Re: [Philmont]: Caterpillaring

In 02 I had a dehydrated Scout. We were on trek 32NFM2. What we did was to
put him at the front of the line, we stopped every 15 minutes for him to
drink 8 oz of water, the go for another 15 minutes. He was playing cards
and laughing at camp that night. When this decision was made several of the
older Scouts grunted. At the end of the day we had covered more ground
quicker and with less problems than the days before. What the sick Scout
did was to keep us at a even pace and we did not stop as much and no one was
tired when we were going up hill. Some times the turtle does win the race.
This Scout learned to drink water even though he though he, we us, was
drinking enough. He needed more than the rest of the kids on that trek. I
remember a post the other day that had a saying at the bottom, it said,
"your mileage may vary". This is so true to everything.
Steve MacIntyre
Philmont Advisor, 02, 03, 05
Troop 777, Hermitage, TN

----- Original Message -----
From: <ps-johnson@comcast.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 10:58
Subject: Re: [Philmont]: Caterpillaring

As I know it, sprinting and drifting is when the crew walks for a
predetermined time (I think we did 15 min.) and then takes a rest break (say
5 min). This is what we did on my first trek. It works just fine, but
having heard everyone extoll the virtues of catapilaring, I decided that
might be a more efficient way to cover ground. Thanks for your reply Dave!

> Pete Johnson:
> I'm unfamiliar with the "sprint and drift technique", and so cannot say
what
> the difference is - could you explain it?
> Or how's this: I'll explain caterpillar, and you explain sprint and drift,
> and then eveyone will know the difference.
> We may discover that they are the same thing, by two differernt names....
>
> To caterpillar: the lead person, after having had the lead for a while,
> stops, takes a step off of the trail, and lets everyone else pass by.
They
> then fall in at the end of the line. The new lead person does the same:
> after having the lead for a while, they stop, let everyone pass, and drop
> back to the end. There is always someone stopped waiting for the rest of
> the crew to pass, and the lead person continually changes.
> One key to good caterpillaring is deciding how long each person is to have
> the lead. We tried time, and distance, but found that those were too hard
to
> measure, and we finally decided the best way to measure how long you have
> the lead was by counting steps. We let the Crew leader decide how many
> steps you would go as lead before stopping: 100 was good for flat
stretches,
> uphill would become as few as 50, 75 was our norm. Another key to
> caterpillaring is to teach everyone that the lead *must* stop when their
> time as lead is up - its not a matter of how tired you are, but how tired
> your crewmate is - s/he doesn't get their break until after you have taken
> yours. And another: when you are stopped, be sure to count bodies going
by
> before falling in to be sure you really are at the end - the tail end
> charlie may be a way farther back.
>
> Advantages to caterpillaring: It keeps the crew together. Everyone
> periodically gets a short break. Everyone gets a turn at being lead, thus
> not having to see the back of someone else's backpack and also, being able
> to go as fast as they want (for 75 steps) - this can be important - the
> speedy ones do get a chance to go fast. It keeps the crew together.
> Everyone (esp Crew Leader and Advisors) get two times to see everyone else
> and how they're doing (one time is when you are stopped and everyone else
> hikes past, the other time is when someone else is stopped and you hike
past
> them). And, did I mention? - it keeps the crew together.
>
> Dave Martin
> '63,'91,'00,'04
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ps-johnson@comcast.net>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <c>
> Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2005 2:25 AM
> Subject: [Philmont]: Catapillaring
>
>
> >I have heard about this technique (catapillaring), but am completely
> >unfamiliar with it. How
> > does it differ from the sprint and drift technique?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Pete
> >
> > Trek 21 '99
> > ???? ?? '05
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
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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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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.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Mon May 2 23:17:43 2005