Climbing the Tooth

View of the Tooth from below

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Well, it's been a long, full week. 

Sunday was Taos Day for the department, which was pretty cool. Resisting the temptation to buy stuff is difficult.

For our days off, the writers get Sunday and Monday. We also get 4, maybe 5, floater days that we can take whenever we choose, as long as we plan ahead to get our work done.

It was pretty exciting to see our first issue in print on Friday. Issue 2 of the PhilNews focuses on conservation, so a lot of my articles printed in the second issue will focus on that.

Benchmark for the Tooth of Time

For our days off, we went to Taos the first day, and had a more individual experience than with a large group. We ate some excellent noodles from a vendor who advertised gluten-free options. We also found a cool bookstore called Moby Dickens with two cats.

The second day, we climbed the Tooth. That took all day.  We had a little trouble finding the correct trail, because it disappears into a 45 minute scramble over rocks, which we thought couldn't be it. Turns out that was it. The views from the top were pretty awesome, and now I can say I've done it. I don't have any particular desire to do it again any time soon. The final climb up is fun, but the Tooth Ridge trail or "Trail of Tears" is extremely long, and the Pasture trail, a staff-only trail, is painfully steep and rocky. Now my entire body is sore and my feet are just a large blister.

The issue I'm working on right now focuses on the Order of the Arrow 100th Anniversary and all the related things going on this year, so it's pretty interesting to write.

Edit: Read PhilNews Issue 3 here.

NYLT Day 4

Today, we learned about the EDGE method for teaching, which was pretty familiar for most of us. Our guides demonstrated using the method to teach us how to use a GPS device for geocaching, which we practiced. We also learned about conflict resolution, which was probably the most interesting subject so far.
In the model troop meeting portion of the day, we learned about packing a backpack (for backpacking, not for school. Even Scouting cannot save us from the weight of textbooks). There was also a geocaching challenge. Our patrol was the slowest, but we did not give up and finished the course. The Making Ethical Decisions presentation was the last session for the day, and then the individual patrols had campfires to themselves.
I do wonder what type of Scout this course is designed for - I know it could be good for any Scout, but I think it would be particularly good for crew leaders of high adventure activities, the top three officers in Venturing crews, and patrol leaders in troops. I would be curious to know the age and rank of the Scouts going through the course in councils where the course has been established and successful for a period of time.

Summer Camp

So, Venture Crew 70 went out of council for summer camp this year. Troop 70 and Crew 70 both went to Camp Yocona in Yocona Area Council this year.

I really enjoyed the experience, and it was one of the best trips I've had with my crew. All ten of us were there.

Six crew members, myself included, did COPE. Four crew members did merit badge classes. On Monday, we all got COPE names: Radar, Strawberry, Brains, Siri, Wilbur, and Beans. We played a lot of icebreaker type games. Monday and Tuesday were spent on low course elements and team building exercises.

Wednesday we did the trust fall in the morning and rock climbing in the afternoon. That night was the OA campfire, which was pretty impressive, but very long. One of the troop boys got tapped out, as well as, to her great surprise, my mother.

Thursday was quite rainy, so we played board games in the morning before rappelling that afternoon. We cooked hobo packs and Dutch oven cobbler in the campsite that night, but had to leave before all the food was ready for some Venturer-only events.

Yocona's council is a lot more Venturing friendly and has multiple Venture crews. They also offer trainings for Boy Scouts, Venturers, Advisors, and Scoutmasters that aren't offered in our council and can only be taken at the council level.

We attended an ice cream social with a few other venturers, and roasted s'mores over a campfire - a crucial part of every camping experience. Then we took Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews, a council level training not offered in our area. Now that we've taken it, we can bring that training (or the troop version) back to our own council, or qualify to take National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT).

Friday was our last day - in COPE, we did tightropes with a walking belay and the zipline, which was pretty fun. We had a closing campfire that night as well. Many troops had already left by then. We performed the "Johnny Got Hit By a Bus" skit. Six of us got our knots for doing COPE. We were also the first venture crew to earn honor "crew" at Camp Yocona. Overall, it was a really awesome week of camping. I would certainly like to go back to Yocona, or COPE, or NYLT training.

Are you ready?

Are you ready? Venture Crew 70 is heading to the Summit-Bechtel Scout Reserve this summer. Our arrival date is July 13th. Our program is the river, so there ought to be a lot of time on the water. We still have a lot of work to do, but we're looking forward to it.