[Philmont] slow and fast hikers

No matter what method you use to achieve this end, the crew must ABSOLUTELY stay together. Allowing separation can cause a serious safety problem in the wrong circumstances, and not just of the "taking the wrong trail" variety.

A group in front striding forth, confident that the others are only 10 minutes behind, can have their calculations seriously upset by any delay in the rear group, whether to treat a blister, bathroom stop, broken shoelace or broken ankle. What if it is then discovered that the first aid kit or the trowel and TP is being carried by the first group?

A serious injury in the slower group is not just one problem, it is several. There is dealing with the injury PLUS the problem of attempting to overtake the faster crew ( a major problem, when you have, by definition, only the slowest hikers at hand). Now you've split 3 ways, leaving a greatly diminished crew to deal with the initial, serious problem. Even when you catch them, more time is lost coming back to the scene of the problem, particularly if they took off on a long downhill, and now must retrace their steps.

If can be no fun at all trying to catch up with guys who think they have a license to be out of touch and on their own. In the flat NJ Pinelands, I had to RUN to catch up with guys who would only stop when I got into hailing distance, but then would turn around and go again when I got closer, before I was close enough to be heard, even at a shout, because they decided on their own that being in sight of the next guy in line was good enough, even if everyone else was God knows how far further behind. ( I guess they thought STOP! meant stop only until I ceased yelling "stop!", then continue on).

I'm no greyhound, and RUNNING for the better part of an hour to catch up with some teenagers, when I expected a nice afternoon hike, was not my idea of a good time.

On a canoe trip, when "in sight" means you can see a red dot that is Johnnie's red shirt, at a distance where it would take a half hour to catch up to Johnnie, presuming he stops paddling, and Johnnie WON'T stop paddling and is out of earshot, it can be a real problem.

"It can't happen to us" is a hard assumption to break, especially in the youth. But it truly can. If you're separated when it "happens", things are much worse.

Bill Sheehan, ASM
Troop 55, Pitman, NJ
Philmont '70,'72, Autumn Adventure '01,'03,'05 and '07

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Received on Thu Oct 18 09:42:48 2007