Home.2 March 2000
Newsletter #4, 2/29/00
Greetings to All. Much to Discuss.
1) General Crew Meeting #2 - Sunday, March 5th - 7:00 - 9:30pm, St. Agnes Parish Center. No Uniforms! This meeting is MANDATORY for all Scouts and Advisors. Parents are welcome, but do not have to attend. Do not be late; Do not come "on time;" COME AT LEAST 15 MINUTES EARLY!
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The basic Agenda is as follows (expansions follow!):
* Sign-ins; collection of paperwork, checks, permission slips, etc.
* Update on Crew Status
* Equipment Shakedown #1
* Review of Trek Selection Process
* Preliminary Division of Crews by Level of Trek Difficulty
* Selection of Geographical Features
* Selection of 5 Primary Programs
* Trek Selections
* Vote for Acting Crew Chiefs - NOTE - these individuals will be tasked with emergency secondary trek selections when the PEAKS books arrive, and are the Acting Crew Chiefs for the 50/20 Hike.
* Combined Crew Selection of Colorado Pre-Activities
* Comments on the 50/20 Hike
* Close
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Expansions:
** Sign-ins; collection of paperwork, checks, permission slips, etc.
Two Most Important: Payment #3 ($250, made out to "Troop 111" and listing "Philmont 2000" in the memo line), and the signed permission slip and check ($15, made out to "Troop 111" and listing "50/20" in the memo line), for the upcoming 50/20 Hike are due at this meeting. Other items are listed in the reminder notes at the end of this page. Click here for the 50/20 permission slip.
** Update on Crew Status
I sent our request for oversized Crews to Mark Anderson, Director of Program, Philmont Scout Ranch, Tuesday, Feb. 22, along with the full payment for the requested extra slots. I think I wrote a fairly persuasive letter, but the proof's in the pudding. As of today's date, I have not heard back from Mark. If I have to I will call him to personally plead our case. I will report the results at the meeting.
I also (twice) solicited for available slots in other local Troops going to Philmont in the District electronic Newsletter I generate each week; to date, I have received no responses to these inquiries.
Only one Scout has volunteered to be on the "first dropped" list. My previous comments on this issue, as laid out in Newsletter #3, remain in effect.
** Equipment Shakedown #1
As previously discussed, all trekkers (except Tim A. and Rick W.) are expected to bring the "best" current iteration of their ENTIRE Philmont kit, that is, everything on the "Addendum - Part II Weight Listings Guide" - and nothing else. I am not overly concerned that everything is already optimal; however, I do want to point out where you need help while you still have plenty of time to do something about it! Therefore, please bring the *best* of what you have in each category - even if you know it's not the best you could have (who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised!) Remember: THIN!, LIGHT!, SYNTHETIC!
In order to accomplish this task as quickly as possible, please have everything in meticulous order in your packs, matching the addendum listings - not just a hodgepodge that you'll need to spend 20 minutes sorting before you can begin. The first thing you should do after the initial sign-in is take all items out of your backpack and lay them out in the above noted order. Then get your addendum list copy and a pen ready to go.
Do not put this off til 5pm Sunday afternoon. You need several hours of careful selection and thought to do a decent job of this.
** Review of Trek Selection Process
I will give a brief overview of the process. Remember, this was laid out in detail in the "Rational Trek Selection" handout provided at the First Organizational Meeting. Each Scout is expected to be well familiar with the material in this handout!
** Preliminary Division of Crews by Level of Trek Difficulty
We have quite a spread in the physical sizes and ability levels of the Scouts signed up to go on this year's treks. I am assuming we will have one group of hard-chargers who will wish to do a killer trek, and another, more sane group, that will want to remain within their limits. Although both 1998 Crews combined and did the same trek, I do NOT recommend that course this year, because of the above noted disparities in sizes and abilities.
The categories are Typical, Rugged, Strenuous, and SuperStrenuous.
There is no room for machismo in this process. Remember my comments about "overtrekking" and "undertrekking." Do you want to have a truly horrible Philmont experience? Put yourself in a hard-charging group that you have no business being associated with, and you will die 250 deaths, one hour apiece. Want to be bored half to death? Put yourself on a trek that is vastly below your capabilities. Friendships are important, but matching up the Crew's average ability with the trek is far more important.
The Crews we organize Sunday night are provisional in nature; that is, exchanges can and likely will be made, through the course of the Springtime activities. If necessary, I will take a pro-active role in redistribution of Scouts, especially if I have one Crew of 18 Scouts and another of 6 Scouts. Each Crew must have 14 members - 12 Scouts and 2 Advisors. If Philmont denies our expansion request, that will drop to 10 Scouts and 2 Advisors each.
** Selection of Geographical Features
Each Crew needs to separately decide whether they wish to climb Baldy Mountain, Mt. Phillips, and or the Tooth of Time. Each Crew also needs to decide whether they'd prefer a more northern trek (more mountainous, cooler, wetter) or a more southern trek, or one that hits both sections.
** Selection of 5 Primary Programs
Again, review the Rational Trek Selection Handout, which included a list of all the available programs. Pick the 5 you want to do most. Remember that we will do some activities in Colorado that will duplicate programs offered at Philmont - no need to do them twice! Remember also that the programs at Philmont are short "tastes" of an activity - not extensive versions like we'll do in Colorado. Programs are the third leg of the selection triad, but they're the least important; don't overemphasize their importance!
** Trek Selections
We will have limited time at this point, and Rick and I will likely make some pointed suggestions based on the data the two Crews provide.
Remember, we will be making PRELIMINARY selections based on last year's PEAKS books; these will be laid out for the Scouts to peruse and discuss. However, we cannot make the final selections until the PEAKS Books actually arrive. This is because there will be 16 new Treks (out of 35) in this year's heavily revamped PEAKS Book. I will enlist the assistance of the Acting Crew Chiefs and the Adult Advisors (and anyone else who wishes to participate) in making the final selections the afternoon/evening the PEAKS Books arrive. If you wish to participate in the final selections, you must let me know at the meeting. Normally, I would be much more paranoid about getting our cards off to the Ranch the minute they arrive; however, with 35 treks and only 31 Crews signed up for our date, I am not as concerned (each Trek can take 2 Crews, too, unless they've changed that policy also, and if so I haven't heard about it.) Mega-Councils have traditionally been my biggest fear; if a Council has 16 - 20 Crews signed up for a single day (yes, many do, including Baltimore and Robert E. Lee (Richmond)), and they have someone like me in charge (ditto), they can "lock up" all the best treks almost immediately by making the selections the day the PEAKS books arrive (without any Scout input), and Express Mailing them back to the Ranch. Fortunately, we only have three small Councils attending on 6/29. I do not foresee us having problems getting the treks we want (however, nor do I wish to dawdle, either!)
The PEAKS Books are due here sometime next week.
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** Vote for Acting Crew Chiefs - NOTE - these individuals will be tasked with emergency secondary trek selections when the PEAKS books arrive, and are the Acting Crew Chiefs for the 50/20 Hike.
We will have two Acting Crew Chiefs for each of our three shakedown events. The positions will rotate event by event. If no one volunteers, Senior Scouts in all three Troops will be "volunteered."
** Combined Crew Selection of Colorado Pre-Activities
I believe everyone already has a copy of the possible activities we could do in Colorado, but I will duplicate it here anyway (just in case); pick your 5 top activities! We'll collate everything, and develop a program that will incorporate as many of your choices as possible. Obviously, we cannot do all of the activities - that would take about five days and raise the cost about another two to three hundred dollars per participant. Each event is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 based on how the Scouts on my previous treks enjoyed them. The events are listed in random order.
Visit Royal Gorge (tallest suspension bridge in the U.S. - 1100 foot deep, very impressive place); may include Go-Carts or other local attractions - 3.5
Cave of the Winds (commercial cave similar to Luray Caverns); Standard Tour - 3; Discovery Tour - 4
Visit U.S. Air Force Academy (standard tourist tour) - 2
Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum (genuine Anasazi Indian dwellings from the 1200's, plus Native American Dancing, plus museum tour) - 3
Visit the Garden of the Gods (extraordinary rock formations, like nothing else you've ever seen); walk-around tour, plus tour the Visitor's Center - 3
Rock Climbing in the Garden of the Gods (the very real deal!) - 5
COG Railway tour of Pike's Peak (incredible views, 14,100 feet) - 4
La Junta Koshare Indian Kiva (Boy Scout Troop and Explorer Post do Native American Dancing; very, very impressive - better than the Manitou Cliff Dwelling and light years better than any O/A Dance Team you've ever seen. If visit, usually stay overnight in their kiva) - 3
Whitewater Rafting on the Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon (again, the very real deal) - 5
Mountain Biking in Buena Vista - 3.5
Visit Old Bent's Fort (replication of original frontier fort/trading post in this area, dating to the 1830's, interesting; usually combined with La Junta Koshare Indian Kiva) - 2
Visit Capulin Volcano - Tour a dormant volcano between La Junta and Philmont - 1
Visit Flying W Ranch - Tourist Trap tour of a quasi-authentic cattle ranch; waste of time except for a pretty decent chuck wagon dinner served every night with live music from a truly excellent Country Western Band - 1.5
Go bowling - 3.5
Do a miniature golf course (or a driving range) - 4
Go to a movie - 3
Other possibilities which we have never tried:
Attend a Colorado Rockies baseball game in Denver (if we can get tickets)
Visit Florrisant Fossil Beds/National Petrified Forest
Visit Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Horseback Riding in Cave of the Winds Area
Visit a local Ghost town (the real deal, not a tourist trap; abandoned over 50 years ago)
Visit the Denver Mint
Do a rail tour of some of the mountainous regions west of Colorado Springs or Denver
Visit and tour a Gold Mine
Go Trout Fishing
** Comments on the 50/20 Hike
Our first major event is scheduled for Saturday, March 11th (Rain Date March 18th) - the 50/20 Hike. This event is mandatory for all Scouts and Adult Advisors. The permission slip and check for this event are due at the Sunday night meeting. As noted in Newsletter #3, all Philmont Scouts must hike at least 20 miles, in order to pre-qualify for the Hiking Merit Badge (now an optional Eagle-Required Merit Badge.) Scouts wishing to attend the Chain Bridge District Aquatics Event at Yorktown H.S. should be able to do so, as I expect all attendees to finish 20 miles by 3pm at the latest. However, these Scouts WILL be tired and sore! - and they should inform the instructors of that fact, as they will be more prone to cramps.
Scouts who finish 25 miles will be treated to a pizza dinner at Joe's Place, and will receive a special certificate honoring their accomplishment at a future Court of Honor. Scouts who finish 50 miles will receive the coveted and prestigious Alonzo-Stagg Medal (which yes, can be worn on the Scout Uniform.) For the record, three Alonzo-Stagg medals have been awarded in the past 5 years.
The intent of this hike is threefold: First, to kick off every trekker's hard-core conditioning; Second, to qualify for the Hiking Merit Badge 20-mile hike; and Third and most importantly, to begin developing Crew camaraderie. To aid this latter aspect, I want the two provisional Crews that will be developed at the Sunday night meeting to hike AS A CREW for AT LEAST 10 miles. Actually, I'd prefer all 20 miles, but I'll accept 10 in the interests of letting the hard-chargers forge ahead. (10 miles marks the first rest/first aid point.) The intent of having everyone hike together is to get the Scouts from the three different Troops to start to know each other. (This is one of the more difficult aspects of forming Crews from multiple Units.) Even after 10 miles, I'd still like to see Scouts who DO NOT know each other very well stick together and establish some personal liaisons. What should NOT happen is anyone hiking alone, or individual groups made up exclusively of 111, 149 or 647 Scouts, respectively, hiking together to the exclusion of Scouts from the other Troops.
As previously noted, the time to start getting ready for this strenuous event - is now. The only way to get ready - is to do some serious walking on practice hikes. I have done practice hikes of 3, 5, 7, 1 and 1 miles over the past five days. What have you done?
** Some pointers and classical errors:
(A) Wear STIFF hiking shoes or boots that are already broken in on your feet; soft, flexible sneakers will turn your feet to hamburger in 10 miles flat.
(B) Wear polypropylene liners under thick cotton or hiking socks - DO NOT wear one set of socks for your practice hikes, then a much thicker set for the actual event; the abrasion points will be quite different, and you will rapidly develop blisters *despite* the much softer padding.
(C) Clip your toenails as close as you can. Also, DO NOT wear tight-fitting shoes or boots, because your feet will swell somewhat during the hike - the longer you hike, the more the swelling. If your feet swell too much, you will start pushing your toenails against the inside tops of the boots, causing blister development under the toenails (and eventually loss of the toenails if you keep it up past about 25 miles); you can take my word for it, this is not a real pleasant experience.
(D) Bring extra pairs of dry socks to change into at the rest points; wearing the same pair of socks all day will definitely result in blister formation. Some long-hikers even bring a spare pair of shoes or boots to change the abrasion points on their feet (I will probably do this myself); wear the lighter pair second, not first. (E) For those who wish to push on past 20 miles, it is important to take minimal rest breaks. You can walk yourself into a routine that eats the miles - if you don't stop. Once you do about 30 - 35 miles, however, stopping for more than a minute or two will result in frozen muscles, and you will be flat out unable to continue. (F) Finally, if you have known blister problems, use of vaseline in the affected areas will reduce abrasion and help prevent friction-blisters; the downside on this method is having to clean vaseline off your socks afterwards (not exactly easy!)
Parents in Troop 149 and 647 who can assist with this event: please email Ted and Ann G. Yes, we still need help.
** Closing Remarks
Again, I hope to have all this done by 9:30pm. We WILL run over if the Scouts are poorly prepared, disorganized or argumentative in their selection efforts, or have a lot of questions. Be fully prepared to stay later. However, I will end at 10pm regardless of whether we are finished or not, since it is a school night. In such a case, we will attempt to continue the selection processes via mass emails.
2) Airfares and Vans - Fortunately, no new airfares have cropped up since the last Newsletter. I say "fortunately" because I don't want to have to buy until the Crew size situation is resolved. We are still pointing towards Colorado Springs. On the vans, Rick Wolff has replaced our mini-vans with mega-vans, thereby compensating for our shortfall of drivers (since we're now minus even the possibility of a third Crew.)
3) Lodging in Colorado - March 1st is the first day I am allowed to call to reserve the Air Force Academy Scout Huts. I will report on my success level at the Sunday night meeting.
4) Finally, the following was posted to the Bowline.org Philmont listserver this past Saturday. It was one of the final submissions to an extended discussion of what makes good versus bad treks. For those who wonder why I am so hard core in my demands, this might be an enlightening read....
There has been a lot of discussion on the quality of Philmont experiences. I would suggest that the quality of the experience depends on the quality of the preparation. In '97 I took a Crew - and for many many months before we went, we spent many days/weekends hiking long distances and backpacking up and down hills. When the Crew got there, they were physically and mentally ready for the physical challenges and were able to enjoy their experiences. The boys remained in Scouting and of the 8 boys who went, 6 later became Eagles, and #7 is just about done.We had another Crew from our Unit go in '98 of which I was not part. They chose not to use the previous year's training plan, as they felt it was "too intense". Their trip turned into the trek from Hell. There was a lot of conflict on the trail and the Adult Advisors completely withdrew from the Crew. It was such a [horrible] experience that when they returned, all of the boys never returned to Scouting. They all quit, even though several were within spitting distance of Eagle.
Here we go again in 2000. We have two crews going. I will be advising one and we are already into our physical conditioning. The other crew has chosen to head down the "easy trail." They have opted not to train with us as our plan is 'too intense' for them. Most of that crew have yet to do any conditioning. Their Advisors state that 'it can't be that tough'. They base that on the fact that I am old enough to be the Scouts' grandfather and if I can make it... ...anyone can make it.
I've talked, persuaded, cajoled, and invited them to train with us for their own good. Most still refuse to come. I've decided to let that Crew go their own way. Some folks have to learn the hard way. The only reservation I have is that their trek will certainly turn into another 'trek from Hell' and we will lose another group of boys to Scouting.
I just rely on the lesson of life that the quality of the experience is dependent upon the quality of the preparation.
Stephen M. Hoar
Licking District
Simon Kenton Council, Ohio
See you at this Sunday's Crew meeting or at the 50/20 hike.
Parents, please share and discuss this letter with your sons. Scouts, please share and discuss this letter with your parents. Four months to go! See Reminder Lists Below!
- Dr. Bob
A) A Thin Notebook Dedicated to Philmont, and a Pen
B) Their complete "best" equipment kit, organized in accordance with the "Dr. Bob's Philmont List, Addendum, Part II - Weight Listings," provided at the First Organizational Meeting.
C) Their Third Payment Check, for $250, made out to "Troop 111" and listing "Philmont 2000" on the memo line.
D) Their signed Permission Slip for the 50/20 Hike, with an attached check for $15 made out to "Troop 111" and listing "50/20" on the memo line.
E) A revised Troop 111 medical form, if necessary.
F) Their Trek Selection Sheets, which were provided at the First Organizational Meeting
G) Their Colorado Pre-Activities Selection Sheet (this page).
H) Their hard copy of "Dr. Bob's Philmont List, Addendum, Part II - Weight Listings" - with their name on it!
I) Any forms not brought to Meeting #1.
A) Re-Read Newsletters #1, 2 and 3, carefully.
B) Re-read the Handouts given out at the first Organizational Meeting, especially the "Rational Trek Selection" Handout, carefully.
C) Complete their Trek Selection Sheets.
D) Complete their Colorado Pre-Activities Selection Sheet (this page)
D) Do the best job they can in putting their "best" personal kit together, well before the meeting.
Home.