[Philmont] The hare and the tortice

Mark Liechty writes...

One of those challenges is that we have a couple of people who want to go on trips but are dead slow. I don't mean they lag behind enough that they are stopping the rabbits. I mean that they stop and take pictures of everything on the trail and don't care that they are taking 2-3 times longer than the rest of the troop.
 
One of these young men is planning on going on a 5 mile backpack trip in four weeks. If he goes and we put him in front it is probable that we will not be setting up camp in daylight and since none of have been to the area his presence puts the entire troop in jeopardy. I am not kidding when I say there are boys who could carry this kid and his gear and still make better time.
 
The word "punish" is the correct word for what happens to the rest of the troop. They are forced to move at a pace that causes cramping and depletes water supplies. They are forced to do what should be a 2-3 hour hike in 5 hours and they lose the chance to enjoy resting and playing at camp.
 
So again, I ask the list, what do you do if you are me? If the problem is not fixed we will never get these guys to the ranch as the troop will quickly revert back to a car camping country club.
 
Comments...

This is where the second part of my response comes into play - the crew is a team. If you have such wide variations in ability or atitude ("don't care") you need to be looking at separating the groups in two distinct crews or cutting a member or two (for these trips, not the troop) if you don't have enough numbers for separate crews.

If you have the numbers for two smaller crews, you certainly can plan outings where the group camps at the same place at night after taking different routes (one long and challenging, one shorter).

- Al Thomson
Crews '99, '01 & '03; AA '00, '02, '04, '06 & '08

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Received on Sat Oct 20 07:02:19 2007