A fun knot that takes just a little practice. If I can do it, anyone can. Here are instructions:

make-a-monkey.doc

Here is the best, simple, one page (2 sided) handout on the most important knots   your troop needs to learn:    boyscoutknotguide.pdf

A good resource for free topo (topographic) maps. Sometimes you have to piece sections together in powerpoint but it works.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4892560&e=287082&s=100&layer=DRG25&size=l&u=0

June08 update: I had to use topozone for something and I see they’ve sold out to trails.com. It is no longer free. I don’t see the point of trails.com and paying for trip ideas and info. There is so much free information available, who would pay for this service? Besides, it’s bad karma. The outdoor creed is about living free. Paying to be free? Is just does not connect for me.

I’ll see if another site is out there for free maps.

If you go over the the US government USGS site, http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Other_Resources/rdb_topo.html don’t expect much. I remain deeply dissappointed that with all the tax dollars spent and manhours consumed, YOU STILL CAN’T GET A DECENT MAP from them. Their website also contains too much distracting, bothersome content.

New; here’s a hard to find link to a place on the USGS site for pdf versions of topo maps:

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=itemList&carea=0000000009)/.do

Here’s another one:

The easiest way is to download a free app for Google Earth, called the Topographical Overlay, that will add a KMZ “layer” of official US topo maps on Google Earth. Once installed you can toggle it on or off. When on, the Topo Overlay displays the standard 7.5 minute topos as one seamless map of the country. See this link for more:  http://www.gearthblog.com/kmfiles/topomaps.kmz

 This is a program I’ve hoped to get our kids involved in.

http://www.wpcbsa.org/SummitBase/Activities/IceClimbing.asp

This is an article that was recently published in The Wall Street Journal on ice climbing. Well written & worth a quick read: iceclimbing1.doc

One of the most interesting and meaningful awards is one of the most overlooked. Not only could a scout learn about an environmental issue, he could take action, solve a problem, and just do the right thing. Furthermore, this is one of the few awards that I think could be mentioned on a college entrance application.

I’ve tried to introduce this to many scouts including my own son, but never got much traction at all. I even had the Environmental VP of my company on board to be an advisor. 

I am mentioning this to keep the spirit alive. Good luck taking this on.

http://www.scouting.org/awards/hornaday/

This council seems to have something going on this:                                     

http://www.hornadaybsa.org/  

Two suggestions on this if you are in the northeast. In the “off-season” you can go to an indoor climbing gym such as Carabiner’s in New Bedford, MA (pictured), RI Rock Gym in Lincoln, RI, or Boulder Morty’s in Nashua, NH. They provide a MB course to complete this badge as well an the opportunity to do an overnight stay which the scouts love. In Nov-Feb when the holidays dictate low logistic scout outings, this is a great time to put this on your schedule.

You can’t stop here however because the kids don’t really get that real sense of climbing. While there are a few good places to do some basic climbing in the Boston area, the Valhalla of hiking is not too far away - the ‘Gunks. “Gunks” is a shortening of the “Shawangunks” (Sha-WAN-gunks) Mountain Range which stretches over 50 miles in southwest NY (near the village of New Paltz), reaching some 260 feet in height (2,200′ above sea level). There are four most popular and prominent climbing cliffs: the Trapps, Near Trapps, Skytop and Millbrook.

This has been a climbing mecca since the 1930’s. The rock found here is exquisite in quality, quantity (some 1000 climbing routes), and beauty (the views are spectacular). Google Mohonk Preserve, Gunks, or Minnewaska Preserves and you’ll find more info. I’ve done many, many hikes, climbs, and rides in this area and just can’t get enough. Mountain biking in the spring when the mountain laurel blossoms is particularly enjoyable.

When you’re ready, try this one: matterhorn-2007.pdf

If you are looking for something special to do with the venture crew or the older scouts, this is a great program. You can combine with an overnight.

Solo puts on a Wilderness First Aid program that goes far beyond the scout first aid. This is information always good to know.

http://www.soloschools.com/wfa.html

This is another great White Mountain hike. We came the long way from Ethan Pond in Crawford Notch, but you can take a shorter way in from the Zealand Falls campground area. The falls are beautiful and great for wading in after a long hike. There is an AMC hut there with spectacular views of the Zealand Gap and if you want to climb a little higher, there is the Zeacliff. You should also take in Thoreau Falls if you do this hike. I saw a moose on the Ethan Pond trail so they’re out there. Ethan Pond Shelter looks like a nice place for a scout overnight.

The long way we took is not something you’d want to do with small kids if you left your car back at the trailhead.  You would also really be pushing 14-15  year old scouts. Hike in from the campground, enjoy the falls, Zeacliff, and maybe hike to Thoreau Falls.  In the picture below, the Ethan Pond Trail comes in from the middle of the picture. This is a view looking back at where you would come from.

Check out this topo link: http://itouchmap.com/?r=g&d=872972&s=NH&f=falls&t=t 

Here is a view of the the gap, just a cool place to relax:

Good starter hikes to rocky summits with spectacular views.

Here is a flyer from the NFS that has trail details, history for Mount Chocorua. The Champney Brook Trail is a good choice. Mt. Chocorua is really a great hike, the views are spectacular. We climbed in late spring and Mt. Washington in the distance was still snow covered. I’d advise against the Bolles trail coming back. It looks like a decent loop trail, but it is long, uninspiring, and wearing on your body. Not good for young kids. Do get there early and if possible, go when water is still running. The falls on the Champney Brook are beautiful.

nfs-chocorua.pdf

Mount Monadnock in southern NH is also a great hike for everyone.  It has been said that Mt. Monadnock is the second most hiked mountain in the world after Mt. Fuji in Japan.  The top half of the mountain is characterized by big slabs and boulders of rock that are fun to climb over. Camp at Monadnock State Park or the nearby BSA Camp Wanocksett in Jaffrey, NH (google to find more info). I highly recommend this climb. Get there early and be prepared to sweat.The word “monadnock” originally comes from the Abnacki Indian language meaning “mountain that stands alone.” Wikipedia has good info on this mountain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Monadnock

The Transcendentalists

  Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau visited the Mt. Monadnock and wrote fondly of it. Emerson was a frequent visitor, and made the mountain the subject of “Monadnoc”, one of his most famous poems. Thoreau visited the mountain four times between 1844 and 1860 and spent a great deal of time carefully observing and cataloging natural phenomenon. He is regarded as having written one of the first serious naturalist inventories of the mountain. A bog near the summit of Mount Monadnock and a rocky lookout off the Cliff Walk trail are named after him; another lookout is named after Emerson. Credit:Wikipedia.

As you would expect, there are many traditional boyscout tunes. Some are worth remembering, some are just really dumb. You’ll find many, many websites with all these tunes in it. Some kids (and adults) like the silly ones and that’s fine.

This website is actually pretty good for things traditional to boy scouts so if you are looking for those type of songs (as well as skits), try this out: http://macscouter.com/Songs/ScoutingSongs.asp

My preference has been to cover a few of these to keep the tradition alive, but I really wanted to introduce to the kids those great tunes we used to sing, like Clementine, Rosin the Bow, Jambalya, Home on the Range, Golden Slippers, Put Another Log on the Fire, etc. etc.  as well as a few old irish tunes I know and love.  A few of these are better sung with a guitar at the ready (and some, if I had to rewrite, I may not include again).

I can’t find the original ppt, so here’s a pdf. We used these at summer camp. It is meant to be copied two sided, folded, and the stapled as a booklet. I was hoping to keep the spirit alive with the kids and do it year after year, but some of the parents in troop 4 were horrible people to deal with and we had to leave. Camp Wah-tut-ca up in NH was a wonderful, wonderful place. Best summer camp I’ve ever seen. Great memories for my son.

lyrics2004.pdf

Funny how kids are. Some remain locked in their boyscout ‘john jacob jiggleheimer schmit’ silliness, others, well, you do make the connection with, and you can tell they appreciate learning something new, interesting, and meaningful. Its a matter of maturity of course and as a scout leader you have to smile and just be there for all.

[Technically, I mislabelled this book. A tune is a song without words.]

I had this idea to have the kids make useful survival kits (that is of course if they ever really needed them). Those Johnny Rambo kits with the fishing hooks and the other misc they will never use just did not make sense. I wanted something as light weight as possible they could easily and always slip into their day pack and know they are hiking safely. Everything they needed to survive 48 hours in the woods and help themselves in getting un-lost.

I was contempting some type of orienteering scavenger hunt with a bit of wilderness survival MB work worked in as part of the building process. The troop committee decided they would rather have the adults assemble and give to the kids for Christmas, which we ended up doing. I’m hoping the troop continues to give out to the new scouts as soon as they make a meaningful achievement - such as the first good white mountain hike.

Logisitically, to do it right, it consumes quite a lot of material for a large troop (we made 45 in the first batch) - and there is cost involved - $16 each, and scouts had to put their own spare knife in (this was a very good discount price and well worth it, thanks to the Natick Outdoor Store for support). We had a very nice Christmas get-together and just worked for a few hours putting these together.  I wanted  a nice velco sleeve that went around the plastic bag holding all the material. I purchased some digital brown camo material cut it, sewed it including the velco, sewed the troop numeral on it, and had ready for this meeting. It took weeks. I don’t think anyone realized how much effort went into these. I hope the kids value and keep for a long time.

You have to do this right or what’s the point. I started with this vision of a small Altoid’s mint tin, but you can’t get anything inside that. I wanted the scouts to have a really useful kit. I did want the cost, weight, and size to be minimized as much as possible.

The survival kit comes up in the Wilderness Survival MB requirements. I have not taught this again since, but hope to work it all in.

Here are two card I made up to include in the kit as well as the supply list -

survival-card.ppt

still-need-to-include.ppt

survival-kit-supplies.xls

If you still want to try to do this in an altoid tin, here are instructions: altoid-survival-tin.doc

Wilderness Survival Merit Badge Supplement 

Here are three good survival scenarios to use with your kids. Not part of the badge requirements but can be used as a warm-up or post-badge activity. If you are cabin camping some night and want an interesting group activity, pull these out.

survival1.doc

survival2.doc

survival3.doc