Scoutmaster

Ashes and Baking Soda

From As the Crow Flies

I usually use the no wash method of cleaning up but sometimes I end up with a frying pan or dishes to wash.    I never use soap because it takes a lot of water to rinse the soap off.    Instead I use baking soda.

One time I ran out of baking soda for awhile so I used wood ash instead–it worked.     To make soap you need grease and lye.  Lye is made from wood ash.  So,  mix the grease from the pan with wood ash and you have essentially  made soap.

Baking soda works under the same principal but it is safer on your skin.  Wood ash in water releases lye so you don’t want it getting in your eyes or sitting on your skin.

I had never made the connection that ashes would degrease pans, but it makes sense doesn't it? Carrying a couple of tablespoons of  baking soda  in your camping kit is always a good idea. In addition to washing dishes baking soda can be used as

Antacid - 1/2 teaspoon in water to settle an acid stomach.

Mouthwash - Gargle with a bit of baking soda to freshen breath.

Toothpaste - Not too tasty but effective

Deodorant -Deodorize just about anything that smells; sprinkle in boots, sleeping bags and on yourself.

Topical ointment - Make a paste to relive itching or insect bites or a solution for rashes

Shampoo - Comb a solution of baking soda through your hair to degrease and freshen.

The Leave no Trace Bigfoot Challenge

From the Leave No Trace website - earn a Bigfoot teeshirt (for $4.50) looks like it would be great fun and a good way to support LNT;

From Traveling across the country for 10 years with Leave No Trace, we've come across some pretty interesting characters along the way.

Recently we met Sasquatch, aka, Mr. Bigfoot (as he prefers to be called). Rumors of Bigfoot are on the rise, but lucky for us, this was more than just a sighting! During our encounter with Mr. Bigfoot, who's been Leaving No Trace for years, we learned some valuable tips on how to minimize our impacts in the outdoors.

That's why – to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program - we're challenging YOU to Leave No Trace just like Bigfoot does.

By taking the challenge, you are not only joining a nationwide conservation movement, but you are Leaving No Trace where it matters most – the places we play. In addition, Bigfoot advised us to give away some free gear from our partners, so get involved and you will have a chance to win some sweet stuff.

Do you want to double your chances of winning? Help us capture your Bigfoot moment by sending us a photo of you in a Leave No Trace t-shirt, or tell us a story that illustrates how you Leave No Trace. Email us at Bigfoot@LNT.org.

After completing the Bigfoot Challenge, pay just $4.50 for shipping and handling and we will send you this FREE Bigfoot t-shirt.

Please get involved by volunteering to do one of the following:

1. Lead by example, by picking up trash on a trail or in my local park.
2. Teach a kid about the importance of not feeding wildlife.
3. Support the Leave No Trace movement by becoming a member today.
4. Volunteer for Leave No Trace in my community by contacting my State Advocate to find out how to get involved in my state.
5. Participate in a Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop, Trainer Course or Master Educator Course.
6. Educate others by hanging a Leave No Trace tag on my backpack or on a bulletin board.
7. Follow Leave No Trace on the Leave No Trace blog, Facebook page or Twitter feed.
8. Express a Leave No Trace principle through art and share it with a friend.
9. Invite a friend to join the Leave No Trace Bigfoot Challenge.
10. Practice Leave No Trace by trying one of the following activities:
    • Pick up my dog's poop on our next outing.
    • Walk through the middle of a muddy trail instead of around it.
    • Try a campfire alternative on my next camping trip.

Backpacking Gear Narratives

Your Troop goes backpacking doesn't it? Backpacking is a definitive Scouting activity that requires stamina, skill, preparation yielding adventure and a great sense of accomplishment.

What backpackers carry and why is a subject of endless fascination and study. Here's a couple of narratives from two Scouters as to what they choose to carry.

Walter Underwood describes what he packed and why for a recent trip and using a tarp shelter in the Sierra mountains of California. 

 

My more conservative pitch, I call this “the cave”. I learned the pitch from this You Tube video about pitching an 8x10 Etowah tarp. I don’t pitch it exactly like the video — I use a front guy-line and throw a clove hitch around the top of my trekking pole. Still, it is easy for a single person to set up. If you look carefully in the photo, you can see that I’ve used my other trekking pole to pull the center tie-out up and make more room. A lot more room, it turns out. My tarp is an Integral Designs Siltarp 2, an 8x10 tarp. In bad weather, a 10x10 tarp would provide a more coverage. Or you could pitch a poncho over the open end. At Bonnie Lake, I was more worried about dew (34º) and wind (the stiff breeze all night).

My pack is a Starlite from Six Moon Designs. It was completely stuffed at the beginning and not especially comfortable over 35 pounds (its advertised upper limit), but was just fine from the 3rd day on. My good ol’ Lowe Expedition carries weight better, but it weighs 6 pounds and carries almost twice as much (95l instead of 55l in the main bag). Not really worth it.

Scoutmaster Jerry, from Oregon,  discusses the contents of his backpack in this blog post and in two of his podcasts.

Most Backpackers are always tweaking their gear, replacing old stuff with new, looking for lighter, tougher, more useful (multi-use) and of course just plain cool gear.

Recently I upgraded some gear, namely my backpack.

After years of carrying my Kelty External Frame Tioga 5500 I have switched to an internal frame pack.  Now, before anyone says I jumped ship on my philosophy of External frame packs being better for younger bodies or beginning Backpackers.. Stop.  I still believe that.  External frame packs offer a much easier platform for the beginner and the young Scout to load and carry.

I have been looking for about a year now and finally fell in love with a pack I could not live without.

Loading it and walking around with it, doing the homework to see what its capabilities are and what I won’t be able to do with it.  Looking at all my gear and how I use it and what I use it for.

As the Crow Flies

Sister Crow describes herself as a long distance hiker, hermit, primitive cabin dweller, seeker.

Her blog As the Crow Flies chronicles her months hiking the Pacific Crest and Appalachian Trails and life in her backwoods cabin. I have been following her writing for a year or so.

Crow shares a great deal of practical advice for backpackers (long range hikers have lots of great time-tested methods) and writes eloquently of the outdoors and a simple life.

A Tour of her cabin

Backpack Liners

Wear your Jacket Backwards

Soothing the Reptilian Brain

Leak-Proof Plastic Bottles for Backpacking

 

Here's a great tip from Trail Divas
I don't know about you, but I carry a few plastic bottles for things

like sunscreen, alcohol (the fuel variety, of course) and various other sundries.  I learned the hard way a few years ago that in rare cases if you squeeze the bottle hard enough or somehow in your pack, the
material inside the bottles can ooze out from the cap and between the threads of the cap.  After doing some home plumbing it dawned on me to put Teflon Tape on the threads of my little bottles in my backpack.  Teflon tape is used during plumbing projects to seal threads when screwing fittings on like shower heads.  It fills in the gaps in the metal or plastic threads and creates a tight seal.  So I tried it and
no more oozing!!   You just wrap a good 3"-4" long piece around the threads of the bottle neck and make sure it is on there good.  Be sure to wrap the tape on the threads clockwise, i.e. the same direction as
tightening the cap.  Otherwise the tape might slip or shread when you put the cap on.  The tape only really sticks to itself, but not really stick like normal tape.  You will see what I mean when you use it.  Make sure to keep the tape taught as you wrap it around.  

A roll of teflon tape should be less than $2 in the plumbing supply  section of your local hardware store. 

Ten Tips for Camping in the Rain

Camping in the rain need not be as bad as it sounds. Here's ten tips on staying comfortable and maintaining morale if and when the rain comes.

1. AVOID IT
I am the first to tell you that we have canceled or rescheduled weekend camping trips if lots of rain or horrendously bad weather is forecast. We are not the Marines and the safety of the free world does not hinge on our withstanding a long rainy weekend out-of-doors. On longer trips postponing or canceling is not usually an option

2. BIG TARPS
We have several 10'x16' tundra tarps made by Cooke's Custom Sewing (see picture above). Weighing only 3 lbs these provide ample shelter for a patrol of eight. Regardless of the forecast we pack these tarps and they are among the first things to go up when we establish camp. These tarps are exceptionally well-made and worth every penny - don't skimp on this essential piece of gear.
Related Posts: Sil-Nylon Tarp, Philmont Dining Fly, Rigging Tarps

3. PLASTIC BAGS
I am in the habit of packing all my gear and clothing in a plastic bag (heavy zip-locks or clear recycling trash bags). I also line my pack with yet another bag. Everything should have at least two layers of waterproofing between gear and the elements.

4. RAIN GEAR
A good quality rain jacket and pants is an essential part of any camping trip. Some folks like ponchos but I recommend against them, especially for Scouts. It is hard to keep dry in a poncho as compared to a rain jacket and pants. Wearing a backpack or paddling a canoe in a poncho is a good way to get wet. Clear plastic suits are cheap for a reason, they on;y last for minutes before they tear. Breathable waterproof fabrics work for some but are an added expense. With a little shopping a decent coated, lightweight rain suit will cost about $50-$60. 

5. NO COTTON CLOTHING
We've all heard that 'cotton kills' but even if it doesn't kill you you will be clammy and uncomfortable. Standard gear for any outing at any time of year is a suit of polypro long underwear. In wet conditions all one needs to stay comfortable is a rain suit and polypro long underwear. The poly wicks moisture away from the skin and leaves one feeling reasonably dry eve when it is soaked. A better bet for warm weather is wicking underwear tops and bottoms like Underarmor but it is more expensive than a set of polypro long underwear. A long trip demands that everyone be able to dress fully without using any cotton.

6. WARM AND WET BETTER THAN COLD AND DRY
If things go from bad to worse and everything is wet layering up with the clothing described above will allow you to get a reasonable nights sleep even if your tent and sleeping bag is wet. As I tell our Scouts being warm and wet is okay, being cold is unacceptable.

7. NO GROUND CLOTHS
Tents floors do not usually wear from the outside in but from the inside out. Ground cloths usually don't stop the tent floor from wearing and often just collect rain water. Instead of ground cloths make a tent liner from heavy duty builder's plastic or siliconized nylon. Make the liner about six inches too large in each dimension and fold the extra material up the sides and ends of the tent to form a sort of tub on the tent floor. This way if the tent floor gets wet your liner will keep your gear dry.

8. STOVES
Cooking in the rain means using either a gas or alcohol stove or a wood fired stove. The Littlbug stove is great in or out of the rain. Once a fire is going it is easy to maintain with small diameter wood that can be dried quickly .by keeping it close to the outside of the stove. With either option remember that there are no flames in tents. A very comfortable, usable kitchen can be set up under a tarp so long as the tarp is wet and far enough (5-6') away from the flame.

9. MORALE
A deck of waterproof cards, a harmonica or some kind of low-key group activity will help maintain morale while you are hunkered down under the tarp or in your tents.

10. SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY
Don't panic, you won't melt. If you are hiking or canoeing stop and haul out the rain gear when the signs point to rain - don't wait for the rain to start. Stay prepared for rain all the time and when it comes it will not be a surprise. Rain need not be the end of an adventure, but it may become part of it. For whatever reason it is the coldest, wettest most challenging outings our Scouts remember most fondly.

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.

Model Scout Outing

"Scouting is Outing" and any lively, active Troop has an out-of-doors overnight experience planned every month of the year. Here's a model of a typical outing that capitalizes on youth leadership and the Patrol Method.

Preparation
After the Patrol Leader's Council (PLC) has developed a schedule of events for the year Scouts are detailed to set up the particulars of the trip. A few of the logistics are attended to by the adults ( securing campsites, various registrations etc.) but the PLC does the vast  majority of planning.

Patrols select a grubmaster for the trip who plans, purchases, packs and prepares their meals for the outing. Patrol Scribes collect fees and permission slips, the Patrol Quartermaster checks over the gear they will need and the Patrol leader administers all of these preparations.

The Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) and his cohorts form a transportation plan and oversee the preparations of the Patrols. The Troop Scribe collects money and permission slips from Patrol Scribes and develops a Troop roster for the outing. The Troop Quartermaster oversees the Patrol Quartermasters in preparing their gear. The SPL creates a schedule of activities for the outing.

Troop meetings leading up to the outing discuss any special skills or preparations for the trip. Ample time is scheduled for Patrols to complete their preparations.

Friday Night
The SPL and Patrol Leaders see that the Scouts have the proper personal gear and draw their Patrol and Troop gear from the Quartermaster, see that it is all packed properly, load everything up and move out.

Once they arrive at the campsite the SPL surveys the ground and assigns areas for each Patrol. He does his best to see that Patrols camp far enough apart to operate independently and that the adults are billeted far enough away to allow the Troop to function properly.

Before they head off to bed the PLC meets and reviews the schedule for the next day.

Saturday
The SPL and Patrol leaders get everyone up at the specified hour and breakfast is prepared. Patrols cook on their own and the Adults (who have planned and packed their own food) observe from a respectful distance.

Once breakfast is cleared away the day begins. The SPL and Patrol Leaders lead the Scouts through whatever activity is the order of the day. Adults may be invited to offer instruction (rarely) or asked to lend some oversight if the nature of the activity demands it. Otherwise the adults are pursing their own activities away from the Scouts.

Lunch and dinner happen much like breakfast as the day wears on.

The entire Troop gathers together for the first time Saturday evening. It may be a brief review of the day's events, a campfire, a cracker-barrel or similar function.

Before everyone retires the SPL reviews Sunday's activities with the PLC.

Sunday
Breakfast again prepared by the Patrols. It may be time to pack up, or to pursue some activity before returning home. On returning the SPL oversees the return of gear with the Quartermaster and Patrol Quartermasters.

After Action
The PLC meets to discuss the outing and what improvements can be made to their preparations or implementation. The gear is checked and cleaned if needed and the whole process is ready to begin again.

This model is just that, a model. It is based on the idea that Scouts must be given a very wide latitude to operate independent of adult interference yet with appropriate oversight. There is very little that the Scouts cannot do for themselves and they should be encouraged to do as much as they can manage.

Scouts cook on their own, camp on their own and pursue their activities on their own. Adults may be invited to participate actively, but unless they are they keep a respectful distance. How far distant? Ideally out of earshot and out of sight but close enough to be called upon if required. 

Scouting is not a father or mother and son activity, not a family outing. Scouting happens when the Scouts lead themselves. When they are given autonomy and trust they respond by being responsible.

Ray Mears Extreme Survival Video Collection

Veho hosts a great collection of 24 full length  Ray Mears Videos .

As I have noted before Mears shares many useful skills in these videos without sensationalism. Well worth watching.

Via Rikkis Scouting Resources

Ray Mears Building a Fire

Ray Mears is an expert woodsman from southern Great Britan. I remember watching him on a U.S. cable network a few years ago. They can still be found on UKTV but I can't find them in the U.S.

Thankfully there are a number of clips on line like the one embedded above.

Mears is a serious student and teacher of bushcraft not a sensationalist unlike another British import whose show is (unfortunately) much more popular on U.S. televisions. He has authored many books available (with a selection of gear and related items at his website.