Scoutmaster

Troop Based High Adventure - Training and Skill Development

Training and skill development is important to the success of a Troop based high adventure trip.

Adult Advisor and Youth Crew Chief Training -
All trip leaders should take advantage of online courses offered by the BSA.
Youth protection and Weather Hazards is a good idea for any trip as well as activity-specific courses: Trek Safely, Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat and Climb on Safely.

The online training is only available to registered adult leaders the information can be shared with youth leadership and crew members. I wish the online training modules were available as PowerPoint presentations or something similar. Here are links to some online resources;
Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat from Guide to Safe Scouting
Weather Smart resources (not the course)
Scouting Safely resources on one page.

Read this discussion of Wilderness First Aid Training. Currently required for Philmont crews I'll bet it will be required for any Scout activity conducted where emergency response is several hours away.

Crew Training
Any training for Crew Leaders should at least be reviewed with Crew members. Several sessions should be planned leading up to the outing to familiarize everyone with what they must do to prepare themselves and their gear for the trip. If it is possible a 'shakedown' outing will help Crew members and leadership alike to work with their gear and with each other.

Troop Based High Adventure - Details, Details!

God,  as Miles van der Rohe once said, is in details. A trip of some length, far from home, that involves several people requires a dedication to detailed preparation.

Place
State, provincial or national parks are the most likely destinations. Each will have it's own particular rules and procedures. Information gleaned from the web is a good start. Online trip reports and reviews can be quite informative. I'd suggest that once you have the information you think you need pick up the phone and call someone at your destination and confirm that the information you have is correct. Outfitters or other local businesses serving folks who visit your destination are other excellent sources of information.

Route
Mileage is meaningless unless it is in the context of terrain. A mile that gains two thousand feet in elevation is quite different from a flat mile. Trail conditions, water , weather, and camping regulations all effect the time and effort required to cover distance.  Begin route selection by determining what the crew wants to see and do rather than how far they want to go.
Route selection is perhaps the most crucial choice in making or breaking your trip. It must be gauged with the crew's ability and familiarity with the terrain.

People
Crews should be more than five or more and twelve or less in number. Most destinations will regulate a maximum group size. Ratios of youth and adults are important. We usually have crews of seven or nine with a maximum (and minimum) of three adults over the age of 21. This way the Scouts always outnumber the adults. I am careful to explain that the adventure is for the Scouts and adults are along for the ride. One of the adults in each crew must have the training and experience to advise the crew chief.

Getting There and Back
Transportation has its own set of details. Rentals, fares, timetables, drivers, group rates, insurance, accommodations will all demand your attention.

Gear
Rented, purchased by the group or by individuals? Probably a mix of all three. The quality and utility of your gear is important and will require a good bit of research. What looks expensive and indulgent at home may prove to be cheap and indispensable in the back country.

Food
Planning the appropriate weight, quantity and nutritional value of a back country diet is a big task on its own let alone buying and packing it.In my experience it is best to have two or three crew members assigned to this task.

The next post on the subject will discuss training and skill development in preparation for the trip.

Troop Based High Adventure - Vision and Leadership

Enough Lilliputian arrows will eventually fell Gulliver just as a phalanx of tiny details can deflate a vision. It is important to establish and protect the vision, to build anticipation and excitement that will motivate Scouts to work their way through to its realization.

On one of our first Canoe Trips to Canada we sat around our campfire the first night after getting to our hard-won campsite. A long day of paddling and portaging and a frustrating search for a camp site (during which we became separated) had me pretty wrung out. I was lamenting over a couple of mistakes I made that day to one of my fellow adult leaders who looked up from the fire where our dinner was cooking  and said; "Well, here we are camped out on a lake in Canada and I am just about to enjoy a steak dinner!".  He had maintained the vision and I was bogged down in details.

Getting our first Troop based high adventure trip off the ground first required helping my Scouts envision it as a real possibility. I was surprised by their initial skepticism, it all seemed either too good to be true or too logistically challenging to launch. The adults in the Troop also required a bit of convincing. Some questioned if we were allowed to do such things, some were concerned about the cost, some about safety and some about all three. But they did, finally, get hold of the idea and we were able to bring it into reality.

Establishing the vision, fanning the flames, motivating Scouts to maintain their resolve through a forest of details is equally important as the details themselves.

Tomorrow we'll discuss how to figure out what detailed preparation looks like.

Building a Troop Based High Adventure Trip

Where to go and what to do? The simple answer is just about anywhere and just about anything. It may be a week of backpacking, canoeing, touring, cycling, boating or the adventure of your choice. Making the trip a reality requires four things:

Vision and Leadership
Someone has to say "let's go!" and show others that it is actually possible. This can be more challenging than you may think, especially with the first Troop based trip.

Details, Details, Details
Troop-based trips are full of details! Preparation may take as many hours as the trip itself.

Commitment to Training and Skill Development
Leaders, advisers and participants have to commit time to training and learning the applicable skills to safely carry out the trip plan.

Finances
Calculating the cost of the trip, collecting money and paying it out all must be accounted for. 

Tomorrow we'll discuss vision and leadership.

Troop Based High Adventure Programs

Philmont, Seabase and Northern Tier are the three most familiar national High Adventure Bases, there are dozens of other Council Based Programs.

Thousands of Scouts participate in and enjoy the big three high adventure bases each year. I have colleagues in Scouting who recommend them highly. At the other end of the high- adventure spectrum are the Troop and Crew-based programs that explore less known territory.

Our rationale for building our own high adventure program is based of a few logistic and philosophic criteria;

Time and Money
Most of the established programs involve air travel and substantial ground fees at the base itself. From our Mid-Atlantic  location the cost of participating is over $1000.00. Each also requires twelve or fourteen days including travel time. In comparison our trips cost approximately half as much and run from early Friday to the following Saturday night - consuming only  six vacation days.

Roller Coaster Vs. Bike
Most of the national programs are preplanned, preset programs that involve a minimal amount of flexibility. The dates, activities, equipment and routes are usually predetermined. There is also a good deal of competition for the best routes and times. I liken this to lining up for a roller coaster ride; buy your ticket and get in line. Troop-based high-high adventure trips are more flexible; more like getting on your bike and heading out for a ride. Not that the roller coaster isn't fun or challenging - it is just a different approach.

What does it take to put together a Troop based High Adventure Program? It is not so difficult as you may think. This week I'll be writing about our experience with the process- tomorrow we'll discuss how to get started.

Wilderness First Aid

This weekend I completed my 16 hours of Wilderness First Aid training. Crews bound for Philmont this summer must have “... at a least one person, preferably two, (either an advisor or a youth participant) in each crew be currently certified in American Red Cross Wilderness First Aid or the equivalent and CPR from the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross or the equivalent."

Our three high adventure crews are headed north to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Canada this summer rather than west to Philmont but we will be in a similarly remote situation and thought it wise that we should observe the same precautions. Wilderness First Aid  prepares us for emergencies when help is some hours away.

Focused on the the prevention, recognition and response of illness and injury the course builds on basic first aid skills. Much of the time was devoted to learning and practicing how to assess, stabilize and monitor injuries. Trainees don't leave the course as EMT's or anything close but they should be capable of applying some advanced skills while waiting for help to arrive.  I wouldn't be surprised if WFA training became a requirement to obtain a tour permit for any Scout activity where emergency response time was four or more hours in length. 

Safety on any Scouting adventure depends on good leadership. Good leadership requires a commitment to training. If your Scout Council has an active High Adventure Program they have probably arranged to offer WFA training.

Wilderness First Aid article in Scouting Magazine

Wilderness Safety Council website (courses offered in Mid Atlantic states)

NOTE That while the Philmont policy quoted above specifically references  'American Red Cross Wilderness First Aid' I was unable to find any such training on their website.

Old Scouts - Young Scouts

I've hung in there long enough to enjoy watching some of my old Scouts grow up and journey far into adulthood.

Scouts from my first few years as Scoutmaster are now approaching forty years of age (!) and have families of their own. My own son will be getting married in a few weeks and it all seems like an impossibly short time has passed since we were all camping together.

My wife and I go to weddings, get birth announcements and otherwise take note of various milestones in the lives of our old Scouts. We are deeply appreciative and touched to be a continuing part of their lives.

Sometimes I feel incredibly old and irrelevant. But soon I am back with my young Scouts watching them pass through the familiar experiences of life as an eleven to seventeen-year old. The first camping trip, the first week away from home, that year where they seem to grow an inch every month, watching as they discover greater confidence and skill. All of this make me feel much younger and relevant.