Being in the Woods

I recently got back from a two week backpacking trip with Aaron and some of the guys from his scout troop. Hence the complete lack of blog posts for so long. When I got back to work I made a comment to a friend that It was taking me quite a while to remember how to do my job after being in the woods for so long. He responded, “Isn’t it interesting how little time it take you to get used to being out in the woods?” I couldn’t agree more.
Here are a few pictures from the trip.

More on Logical Fallacies: Begging the Question

A few weeks ago I witnessed a wonderful demonstration of this logical fallacy at our weekly Boy Scout troop meeting. Our Senior Patrol Leader wanted to remind the older scouts about the importance of wearing our uniforms. It was also a good opportunity to inform the newer scouts how we do things. So at the end of the meeting he asked the entire group of boys and the adults as well, “When do we wear our class-A scout uniform?” I was very proud of him for taking the time to do a little educating and reinforming. But I share his frustration over what came next.
One after the other the boys and even a few adults started giving the vaguest answers possible.
“We are to wear our class-A uniform whenever you tell it is appropriate.”
“Wear it unless our leadership tells us it is inappropriate.”
“ The uniform is to be worn according to local troop policy.”
All of these answers are technically correct but can you see the frustration our Senior Patrol Leader must have faced? It’s as if each person was so worried about getting the answer wrong that they didn’t provide any information at all. They just restated the question in fancier language. None of the responses actually provided an answer. The question started with the word “when” and none of the responses gave a specific time or event. This is the logical fallacy know as begging the question. If the question itself is the only source you have for your response you are likely just begging the question.
Another quick example:
“How do we know if psychics can talk to dead people?”
“Because they are psychic.”
Finally the patrol leader restated the question in such a way that didn’t allow for any non-answer responses, “Give several specific examples of times when, according to troop policy and what our leaders have told us, we should be wearing our full class-A uniform”. At last he got some responses that actually educated the newer boys and reminded the older boys. “At all Troop meetings and Courts of Honor.” “While travelling to and from any campout.” “At evening assemblies during summer camp.” etc.

On a side note: Most people misuse the phrase begging the question. Rather than use it in the context I’ve just described they use it as if it is synonymous with “brings up the question” . If my daughter says “Noah won’t let me play with the snake.” That brings up a bunch of questions but it doesn’t beg any.

Future pilots?

Yesterday a friend of mine took us down to tour his office. Jeff is a Delta mechanic. Aaron is working on his aviation merit badge and has been talking a lot lately about becoming a pilot. We invited all the kids to come along but Eve was the only one who took us up on the offer. We got to go all over inside several different airplanes and the they kids both had a great time.

Get Outta Town

I need to get out and backpack more often. It just really felt good to get several miles away from the car and well into the backcountry. The air just tasted different than it does around here.
Last Friday was a teacher work day for our county. In spite of the fact that I had passed a kidney stone the week before I really needed to “get outta Dodge” just to return to sanity. Aaron still needed to hike one 20 mile hike in a day in order to earn his Hiking Merit Badge. Most boys just do this as a day hike and don’t carry a pack. It didn’t take much convincing and Aaron agreed that we should do something bigger than that.
We broke out the maps and found several nice loop trails that would accomplish his goal. We eventually choose a 24 mile loop in the Smokies that covered about 6 miles of the Appalachian Trail on a very pretty section that I did in 1992.
We got an early start on Friday and made it up to the trail head around 10:00am. We started out at Smokemont Campground at about 2400’. The first 4 miles of the trail ascended gradually and hiked along the Bradley Fork River. The trail was wide and the river gave us constant great views of rapids and waterfalls.
A little after the 4 mile mark the trail left the river started climbing steeply for the next 4 miles ‘til it reached the Appalachian Trail at around 5700’. We weren’t quite making as good a time as we had planned but were still going pretty fast considering the terrain. In spite of the constant drizzle and overcast skies this was the prettiest section of the trail. The AT walks right along the Tennessee and North Carolina border on a knife edge ridge. At times you have drops of several hundred feet on each side of you. Yet the ridge itself doesn’t gain or loose much altitude. When the clouds would break Aaron would stop for several minutes just to admire the view.
Since we were going as little slower than we expected we stopped and made camp at Peck’s Corner shelter. The shelter was full so we set up our tent a little ways away. We had to put the food in a bear bag and it rained pretty hard on us all night. We stayed pretty dry but the gear was wet so our packs weighed a few pounds more than when we started.
We got up pretty early on Saturday and started hiking out in the dark. We wanted to make sure that we got to the 20 mile make before 10:00am so we could honestly say that we did 20 miles in one 24 hour period. Considering that the whole day was pretty much down hill we were able to get that done in spades. We were back at the car around 1:00pm and had 24 tough miles in the Smokies under our belts.
I really enjoyed just spending time with Aaron. At times when the trail was wide enough we were able to have some deep philosophical discussions. He’s a good kid and I can’t express how proud I was of him for sticking it out and finishing this merit badge the way he did. Most scouts do their 20 miler on much easier terrain and they do it without a backpack. I did mine in 8 hours just walking from my house to Stone Mountain and back.
The whole event inspired me to get outside with my family more often. Eve has been really bugging me to go camping too. I need to make this more of a priority than I have been. I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoyed just being around the mountains and the trees.

On My Honor: a review

Suppose you were in mood to watch a movie about bowling. You go to netflicks and find a movie that you suspect is about bowling based on the title. When it shows up in the mail you attempt to watch it and the whole movie is about school shootings and how conservatives and the NRA are making the world more dangerous. The movie repeats many of the tired old mantras of the fanatical left and just really doesn’t seem to have anything at all to do with bowling. Halfway through the movie, when it still hasn’t said anything about bowling you pop the movie out of the DVD player and return it to netflicks in disgust. I imagine this is just the way I would have felt had I rented Michael Moore’s propaganda movie “Bowling for Columbine” expecting a movie about bowling.

I had pretty much the same experience recently, but on the opposite end of the political spectrum, when I tried to read a book that was recommended to me about Boy Scouts. When I picked up On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For I was expecting a little bit of a conservative slant. I can accept that. The book was written by the republican Governor of Texas, Rick Perry with a forward by Ross Perot. I don’t share the idea that you have to be a Republican to be a good Boy Scout, but I recognize that many people do feel that way. So I gave the book a chance.

I was expecting several chapters of Perry describing his personal experiences and then detailed accounts of how the principles of Scouting had improved his life and the lives of others. If I were to write a book about Scouting and my personal experiences I would likely title a chapter about each point of the Scout Law and then tell personal stories of how Scouting has made me more trustworthy, loyal, helpful, etc, and then extrapolate on Scouting's potential future impacts.

Perry decided to take a much different strategy and it really disappointed me. It had an obligatory paragraph about the founding of Scouting and the eventual founding of BSA, but all too quickly the book took on the Coke v. Pepsi theme. Rather than tell what was good about Scouting he criticized those who do not share the same values. In only a few paragraphs the book took the tone of something written by Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. He even made sure to include all the buzz words and phrases that readers of those types of books already accept without challenging. The “so called mainstream media”, “yellow dog Democrats”, “counter-culture perversions of the sixties”, “the onslaught of secularism” etc, etc ad nausea. Perry spent about 100 pages of the book going case by case describing the law suits that have been brought against BSA by the ACLU, Atheists, girls and homosexuals. This section felt like I had just been hired as BSA’s chief council and had to familiarize myself for an upcoming trial. It was very tedious.
Finally towards the last chapters Perry gives some statistics and examples of how boy scouts have grown up to be prominent and successful leaders in politics, business and philanthropy, but this was too little too late. Perry did not strike me as a leader with whom I would enjoy sitting down at a campfire with. Instead he came across as a bitter, defensive lawyer. I understand the point of his message and I have little criticism of his position only his strategy. The Boy Scouts of America is a private organization entitled to set their on requirements for membership. Hey, if Hooters can consistently have cases against them overturned for their strict hiring policy then all the more reason that BSA should have their requirements upheld as well.

My biggest complaint with the book is that it didn’t really live up to the title. It said substantially more about Scouting’s opponents. A better title would have been something like “Defending Scouting’s Values: A History of the Attacks Against the Boy Scouts of America”.

A quick note: Nothing in the previous review should be interpreted as support for those who would have Scouting change its policies. I see no conflict in simultaneously believing that values of Scouting should be unchanged and also that this was not a very good book. My words are critical of Perry and his strategy, but should in no way be taken as criticism of the Scouting program. I am currently jointly enrolled in two troops in two different councils as well as serving on the Adult Leader Training staff. I am currently working my Wood badge ticket and I will likely be donating several hours a week and a good portion of my vacation hours in support of BSA for the rest of my life. The two items on my resume that I am most proud of are the fact that I am a happily married father of four and that I am and Eagle Scout.

Ch-Ch-Changes

This Sunday they released me as Scoutmaster for troop 519 and called Bill Tayler to take my spot. They didn’t kick me out of the program all together though. I’ve been asked to serve as Committee Chairman for the troop. I’ve got some mixed emotions about the changes. First of all I think I’ll enjoy being committee chairman. It’ll give me a chance to work on my Woodbadge ticket from a slightly different perspective than I’d originally planned. I also know that a fully functioning committee can really take the boys’ plans and turn them into reality. I’m looking forward to doing just that.

On the other side I will miss dealing directly with the boys. I’ve been working with this same group of young men since they were all about eight and I was their primary teacher, then their Cubmaster and then later on when I was their Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster. It’ll feel kinda different just working with the leaders than the boys. Don’t get me wrong I’m still going to invite myself on plenty of campouts. It’ll actually be nice to go out and just enjoy the campout and let somebody else stress the details.

As I was growing up and my folks were pretty active in scouting I noticed a large group of leaders who seemed to be just in the program for the adult camaraderie. They went to roundtables and training sessions to hang out with the other adults. It was their own little cliché. I kinda felt like they were missing the point. All the training and support mean little if they don’t actually apply it to the programs and ultimately the boys. I made a promise to myself that I’d never forget what Scouting was all about and I’d strive to stay as close to the boys as I could. My job as committee chair now takes me a step further up the ladder than I’d have chosen, but I’m still close enough to really make a measurable difference in the lives of these guys.

We had our first committee meeting last night with me as chairman. I was pleasantly surprised by the participation. We had about ten parents and leaders there and I feel like we got off to a good start. As I was writing my Woodbadge ticket I noticed that it would be really easy to become one of those who became too separated from the boys. I made a conscious effort to word my ticket in such a way that I was only doing things that I felt would directly improve the quality of the program for the boys.

Busy busy busy cont..

It's been another very busy week. Friday after work I grabbed the scouts and headed off for a weekend canoe trip. We just camped locally at troop 129's scout hut in Tucker. It was nice to just go somewhere really close and not have to drive for two hours and then set up camp in the dark. I practiced my guitar while the guys all played capture the flag.
Saturday morning We broke camp and headed for the 'Hooch, AKA the Chattahoochee River that runs through Atlanta. After a little bit of car shuffling to make sure we had a way back home we put in at Johnson Ferry Landing. For the first mile or so the river was pretty much flat-water. I think it bored some of the guys but I think they needed the flat-water time to practice for what was coming up.
After we crossed under I-285 the river got a little bumpier. I was probably not even class 2 rapids but with the complete novices I had it turned out to be more than a little adventuresome. Just about everybody capsized, including me. Another boat broadsided us during a rapid and pushed our gunwale underwater. Everybody made it back just fine and had some great stories to tell of the trip.
I was very disappointed in how dirty the river has gotten since the last time I canoed it. It wasn't so much the garbage and junk, that's actually improved lately, but the goose droppings just everywhere. It was disgusting. I'll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say there was goose crap everywhere. I wonder if this is what the DNR envisioned when they thought it would be a good idea to introduce a non-native species to Georgia.

Sunday I got a little surprise from our High Council representative that was quickly followed by a talk with the Bishopric. I can't reveal any specifics just yet but there are gonna be a few changes in the next week or so.
After church I had to run down to the Varsity for our last patrol meeting before the weekends Woodbadge course. I was already a little behind in what I had to do to prepare and not with the news of what the Bishopric told me I had to spend the rest of the day on Sunday re-writing my ticket. We spent the rest of the day Sunday just hanging out at Jim and Sue's watching the Olympics.

Monday wasn't too bad at work. I got quite a bit accomplished and the phone didn't seem to ring too much. After work Victoria and I had to run to a PTA/curriculum night at the elementary school.

It's my lunch hour now on Tuesday and I'm just going over the list of stuff that I have to finish before I leave on Friday morning and I'm a little bit overwhelmed. In addition to still having a scout activity tonight and Wednesday night I have to prepare a display on the Heimlich Maneuver, pack my pack, purchase all the food for my patrol and finish preparing my sermon for the interfaith service next Sunday. I know I'll make it somehow but I'm really looking forward to a nice long nap. I think I'll pencil it in for Sunday the 31st. That's probably the next time I can slot it in.

Climbing

Several years ago I had a realization. As much as I enjoyed rock climbing I was never going to be a world class climber. I also found that even though I really enjoyed the sport what I loved more was exposing others to it for the first time. So with that goal in mind I really had a good time this weekend.
Friday after work five of our best scouts got together with me and another leader and we headed up to Mount Yonah. Our goal was to hike up to the base of the main face and camp for the night. Then on Saturday we'd climb as much as we could until the heat took over.
We got up to the boulder and camped there. The weather was clear so we just pulled out our sleeping bags and slept under the stars.
Saturday morning after a light breakfast we finished our trip up to the main face. I went up and set top ropes on a few of the easier routes. They were probably 5.6 or 5.7 but no harder than that. We got lucky and all of the guys were able to fit into some of my hand me down shoes. That made a big difference. All five of our guys were able to make it to the top of each of the routes that we set up on.
Once the sun started coming around onto the face we decided to go work on something else in the shade. In retrospect we should have just stayed there and toughed out the heat.
As we started walking back to the boulder and the lowers area we passed a huge group of kids who were part of an "at risk" youth group. They were pretty much infesting the lower half of the rock. They had as much right to be there as we did. I just wish they'd have split the group into smaller more manageable numbers, so they could have shared the rock with others.
So we bailed out a little earlier than I'd planned but the guys all got a great chance to look at the world from a new perspective.

Tough Decisions

I'd like to share a rather bittersweet event that happened last night.

Aaron and I attended the scout meeting for another troop. Troop 129 has been chartered for over 50 years and is a very well run program. We showed up last night primarily as observers. They introduced us both and then just went about their normal meeting. I was impressed at how little the adults did. The boys were clearly in charge. And it wasn't just token leadership for a few minutes until they turned the time over to an adult. Besides about 5 minutes worth of announcements the adults were not involved at all.
They guys had just gotten back from Summer camp and they also had another group off at Florida Sea base so there was only about 20 scouts there. The patrols are not sorted by age. I really like that. The younger guys can learn a lot from their elder scouts in the same patrol. It also makes inter-patrol activities a lot more level than having all the 12-13 year-olds in one patrol, the 14-15 year-olds in another and the 16-17 year-olds in a third. Yes, you heard that correctly. They have boys active in the program right up until their 18th birthday. Last night they even had an 18 year old alumni visit from college. He was looking for some assistance to go help do some up keep on his Eagle project.
I spent about 30 minutes talking with their scoutmaster about the troop and the boys' plan for the the next couple of years. It was refreshing to hear him frequently refrain from telling me what they were going to be doing just yet. You see they have a PLC, a boy lead planning meeting, on Thursday and until then he doesn't really know what the boys will be planning for next year. It really is up to them. After that meeting he will take their plans to the committee and see what assistance they may need from the adults. This is how the program is supposed to work. And it has been working very well at this troop for decades.
So by now you may be wondering why I said it was a bittersweet event for me. You see part of me feels like switching to a clearly superior troop would be throwing in the towel on my current troop. Aaron and I have had several conflicts recently with the way the LDS church administers the scouting program. Far too much of the program is dictated from the top down. The SPL must be the deacons' quorum president which means it's an appointed position rather than an elected one. I ask you, whom do you respect more, the leader you elected or the the one that was appointed to govern over you? We've also had a few instances where the boys' plan was deliberately overridden for no real reason at all. We were just told to follow the directives of our Stake leaders. This is fine in any other situation, but it simply isn't the scouting program. These issues would be bearable if it were not for the fact that the church has turned a voluntary organization into a compulsory activity. Some of the boys Aaron's age would never have any interest in Scouting were it not for the church requiring it. There's nothing wrong with that at all. They may fit in just fine in school sports programs or other activities. Many of the same leadership and teamwork skills taught in scouting are also taught equally well in these other venues. Not coincidentally, these are the very same boys with whom we have the hardest problems. They simply are attending because the church and their parent make them. Personally, I think it's a waste of their time and it degrades the program for those that really want to attend because the enjoy Scouting.
Another part of me really hates to give up on the other boys in the troop who are enjoying Scouting. There are about five that would continue to attend and enjoy it even if the church stopped making it compulsory. I've grown to love them all, even the ones that don't want to be there. I've just grown weary of the constant struggle to do it the way Baden Powell set it out and the way the church wants us to do it. There are just too many conflicts.
Fortunately, the other troop meets on Tuesdays and my troop on Wednesdays. I will likely bring Aaron to 129 on Tuesdays and work behind the scenes at that troop, while still maintaining my Scoutmaster position at 519. That is at least until the church decides that somebody else needs to take the reigns for a while. As difficult as it is to work with, I've made a commitment to these boys in 519. I'll continue to struggle to make it work for those few boys that still want it to work.

Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is a great organization. When Baden Powell first printed his “Guide to Scouting” boys began taking the book, creating patrols and troops and going out and enjoying the woods. They did this with NO adult leaders. Powell realized that if he wanted to expand what he had created he would have to make a few changes. There had to be some adult guidance. However, the leadership, planning and organization had to stay with the boys. I am tired of dealing with people, boys and adults, who do not have the courage to let these boys lead.
Yesterday after a training session on how the program was supposed to be run I had several confrontations with boys who would not accept the decisions and authority of their youth leaders and also with adults who would not surrender their illusion of control. As typical in these confrontations the manner in which I confronted the offenders became the topic of conversation. It’s a valid discussion and something I’m consciously working to improve. However, I will not let the authority of these boys be usurped. I did find it interesting that in both instances yesterday the youth leadership got what they had planned from the beginning anyway. Once the adults were pulled aside to talk about “my” behavior, the youth did just fine.
I love the Scouting program. Accept for a few years as an adult I have been involved in the program continuously since I was 8-years old. I have supported the program financially and given thousands of hours to the program. I will continue to support the program as long as I am physically and financially able. But right now I’m just exhausted. Not from the seven days at camp, but from the constant struggle to get people to listen to and obey their youth leaders.

“If they are not utilizing the Patrol Method it is not Scouting”
Baden Powell

Half Mast

Several times in my life I have seen the American flag flown at half mast. Never before have I watched a flag be lowered to half mast and it has had such an impact on me. Yesterday a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in Iowa killing four. This morning for our opening ceremony at camp the flags were all lowered to half mast in memory of those fellow scouts who lost their lives yesterday. When I was a boy I had a terrifying night at a scout camp when a tornado was sighted in the area. I can only imagine how these scouts must have felt yesterday. My heart goes out to the families of all involved in yesterday's tragedy.

Tuesday at camp

Well, as I expected, Victoria has already started to scrapbook pictures that she hasn't even seen and in most cases I haven't even taken. So I've been given a detailed list of subjects, camera angles, exposures and f-stops. I'll do my best to get her order filled. I'm sure she already has the pages already laid out and just needs to plug in the pictures.
The boys are getting into the routine and things are going smoothly. Most of the troop is training for the mile swim. They're all great swimmers so they'll do just fine. the catch is the staff makes them get up every morning at 6:00am to train for 45 minutes before they go to breakfast. The big plus to this is that, unlike Saturday night, they all turn in around 10:00pm and don't make too much noise at night.
We got a pleasant surprise before dinner last night. Terry Heaton showed up to spend the night with us. He made quick friends of the troop due his his pan of home-made brownies. It was good to have some parent support for a night. His work schedule would only let him come up for a few hours, but his timing was perfect. Bill had forgotten some of his alergy medication and had to run into town. Terry was able to help me maintain two-deep leadership while he was gone. And Terry and I got to reminisce about the "good old days" when he was a newlywed in the Tucker Ward and I was just a deacon. Thank you Terry.
I'm sitting here right now waiting for my clothes to finish drying at the laundry. I could go back to camp and come back later but my hat in in the dryer and the sun is pretty bright right now.
Stay tuned for further adventures...

Monday at camp

Well the first day and a half was a little awkward for some of the boys but now that classes have started up things are settling down a little bit. This just reinforces my opinion that more structure is better; they actually enjoy it.
The camp is much better than last year. The cabins have been rebuilt and they didn't over-book it like last year either.
Aaron is doing a great job in his role as Senior Patrol Leader. It's hard in a situation that just involves the troop to inphasize that the boys are truly in charge. Up here at camp they totally rely on the boys to handle things. I went to a Senior Patrol Leaders Meeting and I was told that I could observe but that adults were not to participate. It's really good to see it run like it's supposed to be.
One of the jobs of an SPL is to assign duties for various camp tasks. One of the tasks is waiter. YOu have to set the tables up and help get the dining hall ready. Aaron always assigns himself to help as a waiter. First, because he thinks it'll be easier to ask other folks to do it if he's shown that he's willing to "mop up after them", literally. But it's not all self sacrifice. While they're setting the table and cleaning up, the waiters get to spend 15 to 20 minutes extra in the air-conditioning while the rest are just waiting in line outside.
One of the older boys who came to camp this year is very close to his Eagle. He just needs to finish a few merit badges and then a project. I could easily see him finishing by next summer. Walking home from the campfire last night, another leader and I gave him a lot of ideas. It turns out he hasn't had any real support from his official Varsity Team leaders. He didn't have even a basic idea of what the Eagle project was about. I made sure that this young man knew that I would always be willing to assist him towards his Eagle. He's going to be coming up to our campsite for one of his class hours just to discuss and plan his project and the write up. He's a good kid and I really enjoy helping him through the process.
When everything is flowing properly, I have a fair amount of free time. I've been catching up on my reading and practicing my guitar. In spite of the extra stress of having responsibility over 13 boys, most of my day has been rather relaxing.
I miss my wife and the three of my kids that didn't come up with me. She's holding down the fort pretty well while I keep track of these guys.
I'll blog again when I get a chance. Here are a few pictures of the guys.

Busy busy busy

I opened up Firefox yesterday and it opened up to my blog, which hadn't been updated since Tuesday. At first I was a little discouraged that I hadn't done a better job of keeping it updated. I've had an awful lot of things happen in my life in the last week that I needed to blog about. But that is also the reason I hadn't gotten around to blogging. On Wednesday I had to take Rachel to Activitiy Days at church before I taught the scouts CPR. Which wasn't so bad except that Victoria had run off to the zoo with Noah on an overnight field trip. So I had to keep track of the girls while I was teaching scouts as well. Fortunately Rachel and Eve tagged up with Sadie Tayler and Mackenzie Beach and played clue.
Thursday I had to run Eve over to Granny Sue's so she could take her to school. I took a half a day off of work since I had to continue gathering materials and preparing for my Wilderness Survival course. Victoria got home just in time to start packing to go away again on Friday. It was her Birthday but we really didn't have time to celebrate.
Friday I took the day off again to finish all the preparations for my class and to just take it easy before my weekend adventure. I had to assist Aaron with his studies. After that we ran to Bass Pro shops and the fire marshalls to pickup a few last items and to get permission for our fire at the church. We bumped into Jeff Foxworthy at Bass Pro.
Victoria left around 2:00 to pick up a bunch of girl scouts and take them away for the weekend. So again I was going to be a single parent for a few days. I finished packing the car and as soon as Noah got off the bus we headed over to start setting up for my merit badge class. Granny Sue came by around 6:30 to again help out with the kids while I did what I had on my schedule.
The merit badge clinic went very well. I didn't have too many boys show up. I was worried that the group would be so large that it'd be unmanagable. I got a little bit of push back for limiting the class size but in the end nobody challenged it and - was even complimented for doing it. My biggest suprise of the day was during our fire making class. Two of the boys were very deticated to the idea of making fire with two sticks using the bow and spindle method. After about a half an hour of experimentation they actually made it work.
Victoria will be home in a few hours. I really miss her. The kids have actually been very well behaved, but it's just a busy schedule. I always knew that she worked hard and that just being a mom was a big duty. It's humbling to have to do her job and mine every now and then just to get a perspective change.
I got an email while I was camping with the scouts. Aparently there has been a little bit of a shake up at work and I will have a different boss when I show up tomorrow. Ch-ch-changes.

Man v. Nature

There are a couple of shows with kind of the same "man v nature" theme on TV right now; one which I really enjoy and one that really disturbs me. First the good news: I really enjoy the show Survivorman. Les Stroud is the host, photographer and the only person in front of and behind the camera. The idea of the show is that Les puts himself in serious life threatening situations and then films his own struggle to find water, food, shelter and just stay alive. Many of his adventures don't go off quite as he had planned. Nevertheless, he continues to film and document what can happen if you were to make the same mistakes. While hiking in the snow he makes the mistake of sweating and getting wet. He then realizes that if he stops he'll get cold and hypothermic very quickly, so he walks all through the night rather than risk death. The show never takes a "Hey look at me" tone. It always takes a very humble and respectful view of the natural world. He's quick to point at that nature is simultaneously beautiful and deadly. I'd recommend this program to anybody.
Now for the bad news; Man v. Wild is one of the stupidest, most artificial programs that I've ever seen. The host Bear Grills is this cocky little punk who walks around bragging about all the adventures he's done. It's obvious he has multiple cameramen following him. He also flat out lies and tells people to do dangerous things. The most grievous of these lies was when he tells people that the best way to go downstream along a river is to "inflate" your pack and use it as a life preserver. Yet in the footage of this moron sliding down class 3 rapids he's floating way up out of the water. Later it's obvious that he has a PFD on under his shirt. He drags himself up on a sandbar and finds a nice pile of dry sticks that lights with one strike of his flint. I've started a fire with flint before and it took over an hour of just smacking these rocks together. The only way he did it in one strike is with a serious dose of kerosene.
What makes Survivorman so enjoyable is that it shows that with even years of roughing it experience it's still a humbling experience to be out on your own. What make Man v Wild so personally intolerable is that it conveys this unrealistic man can conquer anything attitude, even when it's clear that at least that man can't without a PFD and help from his crew. As a Scoutmaster I worry that boys will accept Bear Grill's pompous advice and actually try them out. Many of his stunts are seriously life threatening. On the other hand, I hope that my scouts would adopt Stroud's attitude and heed his advice. It may very well save one of their lives in the future.
In May I'm going to be teaching the Wilderness survival merit badge. We're going to be building primitive shelters on some property behind the church and then sleeping in them. We'll have power and a covered shelter just a few feet away but even considering this I'm still rather concerned that things might go wrong. I will respect the situation and try to teach these boys reverence for nature at the same time not teach them to overly fear it.
This weekend we went backpacking in the Cohutta Wilderness. We had to cross several rivers and streams. One proved to be more than we were up for. The river was very cold and moving very fast. It was about 100 feet across and probably mid-thigh deep. Even if we had forced our way across it we'd have had several more crossings and then have to walk 7 miles out with wet feet. We'd have all had nasty blisters. The biggest reason that we didn't force our way across was that we were very unprepared for anything that serious. The boys had too much cotton clothing and nothing was stored in water tight bags. One little mistake and we'd have been in rescue mode trying to keep a boy warm with minimal resources. I have no regrets about the decision to turn back rather than attempt the crossing. I would like to return with Aaron, properly prepared to show him that the crossing would have been possible with the proper equipment. If we do head back we'll be sure to take Les Stroud's advice and attitude with us and leave Bear Grill's fool heartedness and arrogance at home.

Snow

So what do "normal" people do on a Friday night when there are winter weather advisories? In Georgia the trend seems to be to panic and run to the grocery store as if snow in Georgia were one of the first horsemen of the apocalypse and somehow having a pantry full of bread and fresh milk in the fridge will allow the destroying angel to pass over your house.
Well I wasn't about to have any of that. Instead I went ahead with our normal plans for a Boy Scout backpacking trip that we'd planned weeks ago. Earlier in the week, when I realized that the weather was gonna be rough I sent out an email warning everybody that I had no plans to cancel just because of a little snow.
We hiked to the top of Tray Mountain on the Appalachian Trail. Since we have to leave after the boys get out of school we didn't start hiking until it was dark. But the snow on the ground reflected enough light that we didn't need to use any flashlights for the hike up. We set up camp on a few inches of snow on the summit.
Saturday morning we packed up and started hiking back. Soon the snow just started coming down. It was interesting hiking out. Over the past week the ice that had formed on the branches of the trees had fallen and it felt like we were walking on piles of batteries of all different sizes. By the time we got back to the car the snow had piled up several inches on everybody's head and shoulders.
The drive back down was a little dicey. The roads had built up a fair amount of icy spots. But we all made it home safely and had some great stories to share. All of the boys who went said it was their first time hiking and camping in the snow. I'm glad they all paid attention at our recent, "How to stay warm" clinic.

Staying Open-minded

I worked in the outdoor retail industry for nine years. And I'm a self confessed "gear junky". I really like the latest high tech gear. Having to schedule and participate in vendor clinics for years really gave me the inside scoop on the technology of camping and climbing.
A few years ago I had a friend build an alcohol stove and he was really singing the praises of it. I told my friends in the industry about it and asked them why there were so few alcohol stoves on the market considering how light the finished stove turned out. They explained that the heat output was so low for alcohol that it just wasn't a feasibly option for more than just and overnight trip.
Recently I had another friend show me a simple alcohol stove that he uses. I have trusted this friend before so I opened up my mind and decided to give the fuel another shot.
I found a great site online that had several different models and complete instructions on how to build them with nothing more than 2 Pepsi cans and a little bit of epoxy. I spent most of Friday night and Saturday morning building and testing three slightly different models of one of the stoves. I experimented with different sized jets; different amounts of jets and different spacing, etc. The best model was able to boil 8oz of water in 6 minutes. The catch was it burned a lot of alcohol, about 2oz, in the process. The stove was exceptionally light; however the fuel efficiency would only make it practical on a very short trip. I own an MSR whisperlite that I've had for 20 years. I have hiked for 7 days and 84 miles even boiling my water to purify it and only used 12oz of white gas for the whole trip. If I'd have tried this with the alcohol stove it would have require close to a gallon of alcohol. Once the fuel weight is taken into account this stove may actually turn out to be quite a bit heavier than my whisperlite.
One of the driving forces behind my experiment is that my scout troop is planning a 50-mile hike for April. I wanted to give the scouts a practical inexpensive alternative to high priced commercial stoves. During one of my tests today I found that I couldn't tell if the stove was still burning or not. I had to look at the distortions of the sunlight in the shadow of the stove to see if there was heat rising from the stove. Alcohol burns almost invisible in the daylight. Last night I could see the flame just fine, but in the daylight I was almost impossible. That was the nail in the coffin for me. There is no way I am going to encourage our scouts to make fires with a fuel that they won't even be burning. It's just too much of a safety concern. The photo above shows the stove while it is burning.
At any case I'm glad I gave it a good attempt. And realistically my only investment in the experiment was a can of denatured alcohol and a bunch of cans from the recycle bin.
Incidentally, if anybody else would like to try to build one of these I found that by using Dr. Pepper cans for my upper and Dr. Brown's cream soda cans for the lower that there was no need at all to dilate the lower can. It was a snug fit without all of the trouble of having to try to flare out the can.

Trained

I just got back from a fun weekend at scout camp. Well not exactly. There were no boys at this scout camp. The Church has been encouraging all scout leaders to get as much training as possible. Woodbadge training is coming up in the spring. Last year they wouldn’t let me take Woodbadge because it had just been too long since I had taken the basic training classes. Never mind that I had actually served on training staffs several times, they still wanted me to re-take the basic training class. It was four Tuesday nights and then the weekend campout to apply what we had learned.
The patrol they put me in was really good. We all got along pretty good and all seemed genuinely excited about learning as much as possible to take back and apply to our troops.
The courses kept us moving constantly so I’m due for a good nap. I must confess that much of the reason I’m so tired has little to do with the planned activities but with what happened afterwards. A couple of my fellow trainees are rather accomplished guitar players. After the official activities ended they pulled out their guitars and we all stayed up far too late trying to remember lyrics so we could sing along.
After this weekend and the weeks before of being trained the official way to do things I’m even more convinced of the need to apply every possible principle into my troop. I think I’ll have a little bit of a struggle doing this but I’m up to the challenge. Without exception the greatest scouting experiences I’ve had have been when the boys were in charge and running their own program. I confess that I’ve been letting it get away from that in the last year. With the recent leadership changes and additions in the troop I feel like this is the right time to make sure that we are doing things right.
I’m looking forward to this spring so I can take Woodbadge. But for right now, its just good to be back home with my family.