Topic
Campouts, cooking, backpacking and Leave No Trace. The outdoors is where Scouting happens, and these posts are full of gear lists, Dutch oven recipes and lessons learned on the trail.
540 posts · 2006–2020
Showing 1–50 of 66 posts
Scouting Thought of the Day: Is it too early in the year to start thinking about summer camp plans????? I personally believe that a month after you conducted summer camp for last summer you should at least at the very minimum do the following.
1. Go to bed Warm Jumping jacks, push ups or something similar – just enough to warm yourself up but before you start sweating. If you getin a sleeping bag when you are cold you'll likely stay cold. 2. Fuel up If it's going to be a very cold night consider a pre-bedtime snack that will…
Selecting a backpack for Scouts can be confusing; here's one that I think fits the bill. Backpacks fall in to two basic types; ones with an external frame to which the pack bag is attached and ones with the frame built into the bag (internal frame).
Sleeping well can make or break a camping trip. As I get older it becomes even more important, and sometimes more difficult, to sleep comfortably. In 1974 the first Therm-a-Rest self-inflating foam sleeping pad was manufactured by Cascade Designs in Seattle; a company started by laid-off Boeing engineers.
If you aren't cooking in a dutch oven you are missing a lot of fun and some great food! Now nobody is going to carry a dutch oven backpacking; this is a ‘car camping' option for sure. Check out my illustrated dutch oven pineapple upside down cake recipe here (here's the cake recipe and some…
Last night I sat with a couple Scouts, they just crossed over on Friday and were having their Scoutmaster Conference for their Scout Badge. I love this first conference, it is a great way to learn about the new Scout and a little about where he comes from.
Managing your pack weight when winter camping is a task that seriously needs consideration, skill, and knowledge. I know that most of us are always looking to shave some weight here and there, lets face it, most of us need to shave the pack weight, and body weight too.
This is a follow up to the Planning Conference. The results are in and Troop 199 has an annual calendar for 2012. I spoke earlier on how great it was to watch these guys plan and organize an entire year that would make all 124 Scouts happy.
Here's my sleeping bag replacement for my long hikes starting in the spring. It's a quilt rather than a bag, well, it will be a quilt when I finish. Right now, it's just instructions, a bunch of black yarn, some thread, a few yards of silver grey nylon fabric, and a big bag of polyester…
You never know what animals, scenery, and cool stuff you might see while hiking or camping. I get excited with the anticipation of seeing something new each morning of a campout, especially when I'm up early before the bugler. It might just be crystals of frost or a foggy sunrise, but there's always something - if…
The Map and Compass belt loop is part of the Cub Scout Academics and Sports program . This belt loop is a good way to introduce Cub Scouts to the basic principles of reading a map and using a compass. These are basic skills which all Scouts should be familiar with.
Good advice about how to wash down sleeping bags at Tom Managan's Hike Hacker: … don't wash the bag a lot, but do launder it at the end of the season before long-term storage, or after your annual two-week backpacking trip.
Every time we go out into the woods for an outing with our scouts we should expect that some planning and preparation has occurred. In a Backpacking style troop this is an absolute must. You are walking away from your cars and comfort items, you are sustaining on what you bring on your back, you…
Earlier this year, we met Buckeye Flash, who was planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail. He completed his journey earlier this month and we asked him to explain how he used Leave No Trace while on the trail: On March 22, 2011, I began my attempt to thru-hike the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail (AT).
EDITORS NOTE: This is an excellent example of carpe minutea or ‘seizing the minute' from contributor Larry Gieger . It also gives us all a look into the thought processes and keen observational skills of a veteran Scouter. What are you seeing when you are out camping with your Scouts?
If not, and you live in Colorado, here's your chance to finally get the Leave No Trace training you want! Staff from the Center are offering the 2-day Leave No Trace Trainer Course this weekend in the stunning Comanche Peak Wilderness near Estes Park, CO.
Steven C. Karoly is a retired Seabee Cook who blogs at Round the Chuckbox . I eagerly followed a series of eight of Steve's recent posts on the ‘Code of the Campfire'. They are a combination of practical advice and old fashioned good manners.
For our first discussion, Chris and I talk about the merits (or otherwise) of traditional canvas tents versus modern synthetic ones. Traditional Canvas Tents – Nick Canvas tents have been around since the dawn of Scouting, so much so that when people think of Scouts camping, the mental image is of Scouts standing round a green…
Glacier National Park, MT - Last week, Team West had the opportunity to venture into the backcountry of Glacier National Park for a 5-day trip. Backcountry trips usually take an incredible amount of preparation and in Glacier one of the additional things we had to plan for was the presence of Grizzly bears.
Looking for some of the best wilderness adventure in the world? Don't worry, the Summit Bechtel Reserve will open soon enough. But if you're one of those who just can't wait (we don't blame you), there is plenty of adventure to be had at the Northern Tier High Adventure Bases , in the meantime.
If you follow The Buckets comic strip you know that the youngest member of the household, Eddie, is a Cub Scout, and his father is a Pack leader. A few times a year Greg Cravens, the creator of the strip, uses his comic to share a humorous look at the world of Cub Scouting.
National Trail Days Participation up 10 Percent The American Hiking Society's 19th annual National Trails Day (NTD)celebration June 4 drew a record of more than 330,000 trail enthusiasts, hikers, and volunteers from around the nation to celebrate and promote trails in and around their communities, an increase of 10% over 2010.
Minimize Campfire Impacts is the 5 th of 7 Leave No Trace Principles . If you close your eyes and think about some of your earliest camping experiences, there is a good chance that a campfire is included in your reflection.
Did you get your Sept/Oct Scouting magazine yet? Take a look at page 24! We don't always stop at Dairy Queen on our hikes, but we do use gmap-pedometer.com a lot and it works pretty slick. That page is a good indication of what I plan to do for the next few years now that…
We finished the 20 mile hike at 3:45 after starting at 8:40 this morning. Two scouts set the pace and I just had to keep up. It was a great hike, exploring a few new places around the community, and the weather was terrific.
From The Patrol System Published by Scouts Canada in 1960. Not a new idea, but a good one none-the-less. What would happen if you put this information in the hands of your patrol leaders? You want your gang to become a real Patrol-and only a hiking Patrol is a real one.
Across the country, Scout camp dining halls are full of staffers leading campers in songs and cheers to thank the kitchen staff for their daily meals. But at the Cedarlands Scout Reservation (CSR) , a camp nestled deep in the Adirondack Park in Long Lake, New York, Scouts are at work in a different way.
It's time for another Outdoor Blog Carnival …what is your dream hike? If money wasn't an issue, if time away from loved ones, work, school, etc. wasn't an issue, if there was nothing preventing you from going, what hike is your dream hike?
I am back from an epic 5-day, fifteen-mile solo hike on the Appalachian Trail. That is correct: I made about 3 miles a day. Damned impressive, I know. I consider this an accomplishment–and here is why: along the way I looked at everything that interested me.
So here I am at work today, for the first time in a week. Vacations are hard to come back from but they are especially hard when that vacation is Summer Camp. While I will be posting a Summer Camp Recap I figured it's been 2 days and I already miss several things: - camp water…
Great advice from Sectionhiker about choosing clothing for backpacking: A lot of backpackers bring extra clothing on trips that they never wear and end up carrying for no purpose. Doing this has a ripple effect, because it means you need a larger backpack to carry the extra clothing, which is probably going to weigh more.
Every so often adults attending Scout camping trips just don't get it (Scouting that is). I walk into camp and find them sitting in their son's tent organizing their son's gear and maybe the tent mate's gear also or over in his son's patrol area getting involved in making scrambled eggs or grilled cheese sandwiches.
There are quite a few menus and food lists available online, and they are helpful for thinking of meals for backpacking treks. But, I didn't find a way to create a menu on-the-fly. This sounds like a useful tool for scouts to use in planning high adventure outings for their troops.
The results are in for the "What do you do at Summer camp" Poll. And it looks like 68% of you participate in Adult Programs. 26% of you just hang out with a good book and pretty much the rest of you get in the Scouts way (6%).
The Cadet Color Guard leads the troops in a pass in review at the 2011 West Point Camporee at The United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, Sunday May 1, 2011. At the conclusion of the camporee all of the units partcipate in a pass in review in which they march in review for the…
Medfield, Massachusetts - Last weekend we had the opportunity to connect with families who were enjoying new outdoor activities together at the Great American Backyard Campout . The event was held at the Rocky Woods reservation and organized by The Trustees of Reservations and our organizational partner REI .
The troop heads for summer camp in 19 days for a new experience - We'll be sharing a campsite with another troop for the first time ever. For another troop's experience on campsite sharing, check out this entertaining post . We've got 39 scouts going and the other troop has only 3 so it will be a…
I awoke slowly early Monday morning at Scout camp and enjoyed listening to the stream and the birds. A cool breeze coming through the open tent flap… what could be better? Suddenly the silence was shattered by clanging pots and pans and someone hollering "IT'S YELLOW SHIRT DAY!, IT'S YELLOW SHIRT DAY!
The balanced Score care approach is nothing new, it has been floating around organizations for some time now and provides a balanced view for organizational performance. Who looks at this? Well really you do. As much as some would like t0 think that Councils and District level leadership are actively engaged in what goes on…
Our scouts frequently do this badge at summer camp. But they often come home from camp with an incomplete because they haven't complete requirement 9. They often think they have 20 days and nights of camping when they sign up for the badge, but they don't realize that those must all be tent camping and…
You know your legendary backpacking recipe? The one the guys in your troop have been requesting on every trip for the past decade? It's about to become even more famous. Tim and Christine Conners , authors of The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook , are asking Scouts and Scouters to submit backpacking recipes for a new set of cookbooks…
It was a nice warm Saturday morning at the state-wide Ripley Rendezvous last weekend. The sun was shining, There was a nice breeze. It was turning out to be a great day for this Scouting event. Little did we realize that nature had a little surprise in store for us.
Should Scout troops use standard two burner propane stoves for camping? Half of the world's households and 80 percent of rural households in developing countries cook with solid fuels like wood, coal, crop residues and dung. Many of these households use traditional open fires or simple stoves that release smoke into the dwelling and do…
My hiking stick evolution goes something like this: - A number of ones found in the wild; some with natural twists, ones I carved, sanded and varnished. - A number of bamboo sticks like my backpacking hero Colin Fletcher. - A few I machined from hardwood (oak, mahogany, etc.)
A reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) asks; My son recently joined a Scout troop who, to my horror, burns almost all their trash in the campfire. Most leaders that do this either don't think it's a problem, or have just learned to be indifferent.
Click on the images to enlarge in a pop up window Our old Eureka Timberline tents were starting to show their age. Many of them have been in use for 15 years, some more, some less. I was just about ready to tell our committee it was time to order some new tents when it…
Let's Get Cooking! Building a campfire and cooking a meal – what could be better? I know it's my favorite part of camping; haul out the dutch ovens, the fire grates, the pots and pans and let me at it. With all the modesty I can muster I'll tell you that I am one heck of…
Two new boys joined us for their first Boy Scout camping trip at Camp Watchamagumee over the weekend of May 6-8, 2011. They had a great time on the outing but we did have an interesting and unexpected experience Friday night.
Jason Pettis is Scoutmaster of Troop 130 in Golden, Colorado. He wrote in to say: I've got a tote I bring with a bunch of extra gear that I loan out to adults (and occasionally scouts) that I call my "Be Prepared" box.
AllGearAnnotated CampBoxSmallPacked ChairFoldedUp ChairSetUp02 Cooking02Annotated DuluthTradingRollClosed DuluthTradingRollOpen LightMyFireKitAnnotated Here's two camping boxes that house some essentials I like to have on hand when we are out with the troop. The smaller is a 8 gallon and the larger a 24 gallon Action Packer by Rubbermaid.
