Survival Skills and Youth

Well its a been a while but here we go, A few weeks ago my troop went on a wilderness survival weekend where I taught them the wilderness survival merit badge. The kids built a neat little lean too with some logs and tarps and some para cord. The requirement states that they have to stay in it one night but they enjoyed it so much the next morning they worked on it some more and stayed in it another night. Witch I thought was pretty cool we all figured after one night they would want to go back to there tent cause they would feel safer and more comfortable in there. Spent that day going over and practicing various skills and hypothetical situations that could arise. I hope everyone took away something from that weekend and retains it cause whether they realize it or not they can and probably will use those skills some point in life again.

Now I tell everyone that cause I think in the age of the video game ( and no im not poking fun cause heck i play the occasional video game myself lol) but kids today I think would benefit a lot from being taught some wilderness skills and how to sustain oneself in a wilderness situation. It gives them huge boosts in confidence to see what they can do when they open up their minds and just think about things other then how to get to level 7 on some game. When you build your own shelter build a fire after cutting and gathering your own wood all that work to make yourself comfortable. You end up appreciating things you have more, cause you realize how hard life can be. In our culture we see guys like Les Stroud, Dave Canturbury, and Cody Lundin and call them survival experts, but they would be the first to tell you they are not experts they are students but not experts. When they film a show in a certain remote area they spend a few days with the natives and learn what they do everyday. For the natives its not survival its just living cause fro them there isn't a Wal-Mart down the street. Even its for a weekend or a week or so seeing how a primitive person lives without modern convinces is never a bad thing you will end up coming away appreciating what you have more then you did before.

As usual thanks for reading, and whatever you do make sure in life you blaze your own path and never follow someone elses path only you need to know where your trial is going to head.

Hey all sorry for the long absence

Hey,
To any of my regular readers out there I know I haven't posted in awhile, life got a bit hectic for awhile. In late April I had a small car accident heading home for an emergency nothing to bad walked away with no injuries but managed to total my truck and take out 12 feet of guard rail. That being said I am now a proud owner and the newest member of the Jeep community =). I been out playing with that and trying to get back to normal yet. I took a few short hikes this summer nothing too drastic just some short ones to get my better half used to hiking and introduce her to the sport. Other then that its been to dang hot to do anything outside right now but atleast in the last few days we got some needed rain.

In the scouting front the boys have been working on Wilderness Survival skills the last few months and this weekend we will see how well they learned and what they remembered. If it goes well they should all end up earning the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge. Hope it ends up being a nice weekend seems like it supposed to be but we all know how well the weather men are these days they call for rain you get a sunny day and vice versa. Well I'll be sure to hopefully post an update sooner then later thanks again for reading and as always.


In a world that keeps on changing, Its nice to know some never have to.

Winter Camping

Well this past weekend was a fun one got some time in the woods with my scout troop. We camped out one of my assistants family farm. Weather was ok wasn't terribly cold just my old sleeping bag wasn't as warm as it used to be. The nights were a little chilly but nothing unbearable perhaps its time to update the sleeping bag, but not sure to what seeing how I eventually want move into hammock camping but time will tell what I end up doing. It was a fun weekend a lot of the guys got a ton of advancements done and had fun and thats whats important. When I get some time ill add a couple of the photos I had time to take.

As always thanks for reading and dropping by.
Mike

A weekend of winter camping--Introduction

This should prove to be a very interesting weekend its been a while since I have camped in snow and cold. Hoping to not freeze my butt off, but we shall see how that all goes. This weekend my scout troop is going to be doing a bit of tent camping in the cold. I was hoping to maybe have some sort of winter hammock rig put together but time and money not falling into place right thats just not going to happen so I am going to try using a little solo shelter my brother had given me a few years ago. We spent the last month teach the kids a lot of how to stay warm and safe in the cold and how to also enjoy it. After all there are a few pluses to camping in the winter. With the snow pack on the ground theres a whole new meaning to peace and quiet cause of how well the snow absorbs sound and what not. I guess we will see how well the guys all listened and see who starts complaining about the cold first. Im hoping its a fun and educational weekend and as always will report back and let all who read this know how well it went. Oh and the mini pack review I had mentioned from my short day hike its probably not going to happen as I am pretty much going to start getting stuff together for leaving Friday afternoon no biggie was nothing special anyway just threw some stuff together in a hurry.



All  Secure in this sector over and out*
Mike


*Im playing around with differant closings if anyone has cared to notice

A few hours in the woods before the Snow Storm

Well on Monday I went out for a bit of time in the woods took just a short little walk to streach the legs and test out a new bag I got for Christmas. It was a fun day little breezy but kinda warm considering it was about 26* outside. I had originally planned to go out earlier in the day and spend a day out and make a little trail lunch and just get out for a day. Well....it being winter I sorta slept in a a few hours later then I wanted too; oh well some time was better then no time. As far as the pack goes that I tried out it was good I may or may not do a write up on it not sure at this time. Still figuring out some ways of tweaking it.



I snapped a few photos and even took a quick little video of a neat waterfall slightly off the trail. Hope to have more posts like this up soon. Perhaps when it gets a bit warmer out  LOL.



Thats all for now take care and remember take sometime and get outdoors and enjoy a bit of nature now and then.

Thinking minimal on gear.....

Hey again and welcome to the first blog of the new year hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years and that Santa brought all the cool gear you were hoping for. To get the year rolling I am going to share some thoughts on a recent article in The Backwoodsman Magazine Jan/Feb 2010 issue. There is an article in there by a Mr Charlie Fox, a neat little article on packing and hiking like a minimalist. Its a very informative article I am gonna share a few highlights and add my two cents on what I think. If you haven't seen or read it yourself the find the nearest place to get an issue of Backwoodsman Magazine. For more info on the magazine you can find them here at www.backwoodsmanmag.com.

Fist of what is Minimalism defined as well as far a definition I could settle on to best explain it is hiking or backpacking with under about 10 lbs of gear. Now there is no real right or wrong way of doing minimalist type packing it all depends on what you feel comfortable packing and how much gear you would specifically feel necessary. 10 lbs may be minimal for one while 15 or 20 maybe minimal for another. If anything it makes you think about what you pack and carry on any trek or adventure, for example do I really need to carry a full backpacking cook set and such, or could you say get by with a simple canteen cup and a canteen or some similar configuration.

Another way to save weight and trim down on gear is multi purpose items, if one item can perform one or more tasks then that means thats on less thing you got to carry. Like say a metal cup like a canteen cup, or a GSI Snow peak cup. One can drink from it, cook in it, cook on it, and obviously boil and sanitize water in. The biggest item that i personally own and would use is a Guyot Designs Bottle. Its a nice stainless steel bottle you can carry water in it lid seals nice and tight; but unlike a standard Nalgene bottle you can boil your water in it. If you have the proper knowledge you can save weight by foraging and gathering food. Saves weight when you don't have to carry a ton of food.

The best way to try minimalist packing is to think of it as your emergency backup to your main pack. If you can survive a few days using at an emergency kit then adding a few odds and ends could make it reasonably possible to make due with that for a longer period of time. The biggest thing to carrying minimal gear is knowledge there is a quote in Mr. Fox's article is

"The more you know, the less you carry"

. The more you know how to make due with what you have and how to attain stuff from nature the less you will need to bring with you. Now again nothing is perfect there is no wrong answers here its all depends on how much you feel comfortable going into the woods with and what the requirements of your adventure require.

Finally a few pros and cons based on my personal opinions.

Pros
Less weight makes it easier on your body.
Travel faster with a lighter load.
Easier to keep balance on an awkward trail.

Cons
Less gear means little or no redundancy should something be lost or damaged.
If you find yourself in an emergency you may not have certain items that could make it easier to get out of it.

A few final thoughts think of it as a challenge where can I shave a few pounds or ounces here and there do you need this or that. Just remember have fun with it and see what you can come up with, if you already have a light weight rig you want to share feel free to post it as a comment below the blog. Take care and get out and enjoy some time out in the great outdoors.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

To everyone out there from my family to yours Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May Santa bring you some cool and new outdoor gear. Heres hoping your 2010 is a fun and successful year, as for me I got a lot to look forward too. Not only is 2010 the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America it is also the 40th anniversary of Troop 187. This troop has been running continuously for since 1970 I hope our 40th year is the best one of them all. Its shaping up to be a good one and I hope it is. God Bless everyone and have a Happy and safe Holiday and New Year.



PA Pathfinder and Scoutmaster of Troop 187,
Mike Hines