Another weekend of Philmont training

I love running these! 

This weekend we met and walked the stairs again at the Chase building downtown. The goal for me this week was to walk the 38 stories of stairs four times. It is amazing to me how challenging stair walking is in comparison to other workouts. I am happy to say that my overall fitness and ability to do this has improved greatly from when we walked the first time a few months ago. I was able to complete the four round trips and felt pretty good the entire time.


Most of the Scouts are doing well with this too and there are a few that struggle each time. It seems most of the non-sports kids are not doing any exercise in between our meetings. The weather outside, conflicts with homework and motivation when not at a structured session with buddies are all challenges they are working to overcome. February is typically the coldest month of the year here in OKC and my hope is that as spring arrives in March we can get outside together more and add some weeknight walks when the time changes.

Showing treks on a Philmont map

The stair sessions have been followed by instruction time back at the Scout room. The boys have prioritized the activities they want to do at Philmont and used this as a filter to list the top five treks they plan to submit for in March when the official selection process begins. They have been lucky. With having been to Philmont several times and with a son that has worked there as a ranger, our Scoutmaster seems know every inch of the property and every program. This is really helping the Scouts make an informed decision about what they want to do. The Scoutmaster has made a real point to let them determine the choice and make the trek Scout run.

Our next training is going to be a full day with the Scouts introducing them to the gear they will be using.

I am looking forward to it.

2013 National Scout Jamboree

Last Frontier Council 2013 National Scout Jamboree

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I am excited to have been selected as one of the Assistant Scoutmasters for our 2013 National Scout Jamboree contingents. Now we just have to recruit a bunch of Scouts to join us for this great once every four year event. This is the first for the Summit and that makes it even more exciting!

The national and the Last Frontier Council Jamboree committees have worked to keep the costs at the lowest possible price point and as a result this year it is half the price of 2010!

What do you think is most exciting about the 2013 National Scout Jamboree?

Are you going?

Going to Philmont--This year!

The calendar has turned and now we are finally in 2012. This simple little change is making the reality of going to Philmont seem closer and more real. Our crew is continuing to prepare with winter training that includes a session of walking stairs at a downtown building follow by a learning session led by our Scoutmaster. We are fortunate that he has been to Philmont several times and has extensive knowledge.


During the meeting this week, he had several handouts for the Scouts about the various Trek offered and programs. Time was spent in detail discussing each option. Being Scout run, it is up to the guys to decide our Trek and they left with worksheets to prioritize what they would like to do. I like the point of the Scoutmaster---There are many great places to go hike but there is only one and the difference there is the programs. I know they will chose well.

Wrapping up Woodbadge

My time as a Troop Guide for Woodbadge Course 1017 officially came to a close a couple of weeks ago. In some ways it seems like eons ago since the actual course and in some ways it seems just like yesterday. I am proud to have had the great privilege to be the Troop Guide for the Owl Patrol and to have seen them grow together as a team during the course. Next, I saw the Owls put their learning into practice through the implementation of their goals (Tickets).


In my non- Scouting life I am a Human Resource Development manager (training) for Sprint. I therefore speak from many years of training experience when I say that Woodbadge is a leadership development course on par or better than any course you will find in corporate America. I wish that during my tenure as a leadership trainer I would have had at my disposal courses that teach theory(weekend one), practice application(weekend two) and then had the participants show effective use of the training out in the real world(Tickets) with accountability for successful completion. Scouters get all of this and more with Woodbadge.

I wonder if any other non-profit organization has as great and effective training as does the Boy Scouts of America. We are fortunate indeed.

It is my hope that the Owls and others of SR 1017 will take the many lessons from Woodbadge and will continue to apply them in practice to benefit Scouting, their family, and their professional life. I know as a Troop guide, I personally took away experiences that have helped me grow. Truly life is a process of continual learning.

Good Luck Owls and all the participants of SR 1017. Thank you for taking such a commitment for to improve your effectiveness as Scout volunteers and as mentors to the next generation.

They did it!

Wow they did it! Our Scouts participating in the hiking merit badge hiked 20 miles last week. This was their final hiking requirement for the merit badge and last Philmont urban training hike before moving on to winter stair climbing.

As we walked I thought back to the first 5 mile hike we did way back in summer. I know at that time the thought of going a full 20 in a single day seemed a little far-fetched. Heck I have run several marathons but the idea of walking that far seemed crazy and painful in my mind. There is power in youthful exuberance and the guys had so much fun on all the hikes that the time seemed to fly by. I especially enjoyed the variety of locations around OKC and Edmond they chose for us to walk. It was not very many years ago that walking these trails would have been impossible since they did not even exist.

I was shocked really to read in a Philmont Advisor guide “Rangers that we talked to say that, based on their experience, 80% of the adult advisors coming to Philmont are not adequately prepared for the physical demands of the backcountry and that 50% of the adult advisors had not exercised at all prior to their arrival at Philmont.” Ouch!

I know from my own miserable experience as a youth at Philmont that being physically prepared is a key to actually having fun. I was not in the right shape as a kid at Philmont and my memories now are mostly of blisters and pain on the trail. Our Scouts and adults will be ready.

Perhaps my favorite part of the hike was the look on the faces of folks we passed by as they stared at this group of 14 crazy folks walking with packs on through OKC. I guess it is pretty unusual to see youth hiking 10 -20 miles starting at 6AM. There were also the whoo hoos! from people that would yell “go Scouts!” or people that would say, “You guys must be Scouts!”. Kind of good to know that even out of uniform they can be recognizable by the community is such a positive way.

Now it is time to move on to stage two of the fitness training plan. Hiking stairs at a downtown high rise building. Now that is going to be hard. (well and a lot of fun I am sure)

Final Philmont 10 mile training hike...

Yesterday was our final 10 mile hike and next up is the super challenge of a 20 miler on Sunday. The hike this week around was a little more scenic thanks to some time on a short trail through a local wildlife refuge. All of our hikes have been urban walks on paved paths prior to this and it was kind of nice to get some dirt on our boots for a change. Trails for these hikes would be ideal of course but her in our part of the state we would be looking at a long drive to find such a thing. We are fortunate at least to have a wide variety of walking trails available.


Overall this 10 mile hike experience has been a good one. The boys have taken the lead on each of them with the adults hanging a few steps back. Next week is going to be a big challenge with a 20 miler. I have run marathons and done other distance events but walking 20 miles is something new and finishing this is going to be an accomplishment for everyone.

After we complete the hike, the boys will move on to winter training which will be walking up and down stairs at a building downtown. Whew that is going to fun too! We have backpacking campout weekends set for the spring in various location and there is no doubt that these guys will be as prepared as possible for a great experience when they take that first step on the trail at Philmont in July 2012.

Philmont Gear Meeting

 Recently we had one of the more exciting of our Philmont training experiences. Gear time! Our Scoutmaster is a true Philmont veteran with having gone on four previous trips. Learning from his level of experience and overall obsessiveness (he is an engineer) is a key positive for our Scouts to be completely prepared for the trail. We plan to have a strong focus on traveling light as well as being physically fit.


“an ounce in the morning is a pound in the afternoon”

For this meeting, Scouts and adults were treated to a buffet of gear examples from every price range. The gear required to travel light and comfortably is expensive. I have been lucky enough to have been buying the “good stuff” over the last few years which leaves our family with a little less to buy than some others. Even with that in mind, there are many things left for us to buy. My high adventure point of reference is Sea Base from 2011 which basically only required the purchase of some extra sun screen and flip flops.

Our Scoutmaster also provided the Scout families with a multipage document outlining the required gear and purchase suggestions. Finally, he is always on the prowl for good deals and sends emails out when he catches something on sale that would be good for the Scouts.

It was a fun meeting and now I am looking forward to some time at the store. : )