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Fall 1992 — #73

The Chairman's Corner

H.A.T. Graduates Honored

My congratulations to all Scouters who successfully completed the 1992 Basic Backpacking Awareness Course. This year 47 received their High Adventure Team (H.A.T.) certificates and patches at the closing ceremonies on November 15th. Those Scout leaders will be more in tune with minimum impact camping and have the necessary leadership skills to promote a safe and challenging backpacking experience for their Scouts. Each new H.A.T. graduate will be automatically placed on the mailing list for subsequent issues of Boots & Blisters for the next five years. Their units can also qualify for High Adventure awards offered by the Council for H.A.T. trained leader treks. [Names omitted.]

Keep on trek'en!

Ron Bouey

Adult Course by H.A.T. at
O.A. Winter Camp Awareness

The High Adventure Team is supporting the Achewon Nimat Lodge of the Order of the Arrow's Winter Awareness Training, being held this year on January 23, 1993. This support is being demonstrated with the offering of an adult training program on snow and cold weather camping in conjunction with and at the same, Chabot College location. The H.A.T. members in planning this new course decided very early that our course must be offered at the same time in the same location as the O.A.'s so we can encourage Scout participation in the O.A. "boy run" program.

The Course is a new and redesigned offering, concentrating on the "adult" aspects of snow camping. We will offer topics on planning a winter trip, safe vehicular travel, weather cautions and avalanche awareness, campsite selection, kitchen set-ups, and other topics to promote fun and safe camping in extreme weather. The basics, such as first aid, layering for warmth, etc. are not a part of the H.A.T. course, they are available in many other courses and we encourage leaders who feel a need in these areas to participate in O.A.'s Winter Awareness Course this year.

As a show of our support for the O.A. program we do not want to deplete the adult leadership available to the boys. We are asking that each unit bring additional adults to provide leadership. With the Scout policy, "the Rule of Two," one adult from each unit can attend the H.A.T. Winter Training and the other adult can work with his Troop as the boys learn the skills from the Order of the Arrow.

Adults completing the H.A.T. course on January 23, 1993 who already have completed the Order of the Arrow Winter Awareness Program and H.A.T Basic Backpacking Course will be awarded the H.A.T. Winter Backpacking Training Strip.

Watch for registration information in the Bay Area Scouter.

Basic Backpacking Resource Binder

In the early days of the training offered by the Trails and Awards Committee (now the High Adventure Team) each instructor would accumulate the handouts related to his subject and issue them at the course. These ran the gamut: folded brochures, small booklets, 8 1/2 X 11 sheets, etc. Students would wander from classroom to classroom with handfuls of loose paper.

It was finally decided to provide a 3 ring binder. At that time the binder was a "convenience" to allow all the papers to be stored in one place. There was no effort made to evaluate handouts and to eliminate duplication.

As the material grew, it was determined that an evaluation was needed to group and eliminate redundancy. Terry Peterson volunteered to take over that task. The transition has been remarkable « from a loose collection of independent handouts to a cogent, organized, indexed, coded and very useful resource.

At the last course, instructors were able to refer to the resource binder by the number and decimal system that Terry devised.

The binder is not a static piece of equipment. Evaluation and study is on-going. The members of this training course have been asked to evaluate the binder from the point of view of the user and their thoughts will be given appreciative consideration in the future.

The fine work that Terry has done in condensing, eliminating duplication and setting up the numbered reference system deserve commendation. Thank you Terry for a time consuming and exacting job that will be of great help to the users of this valuable resource.

Federal Court Ruling Affecting Rescues

The value and benefits of the training offered by the High Adventure Team at the Basic Backpacking course loom as vastly more valuable.

This is in view of a ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver recently. The Federal Court ruled that the Park Services does not have to make "every possible effort" to launch rescue efforts at the first sign of trouble.

Legal experts advise that the wilderness users must be responsible for their own actions.

While transferring responsibility to users, this decision does mean that back country areas will remain available. Otherwise, the threat of legal liability may have forced the closure of many.

H.A.T. training includes Outdoor Leadership, Trek Planning, Risk Management, Prevention of Lost, Weather Hazards, Wilderness First Aid, Emergency Evacuation, Proper Equipment, Meal Menu and Preparation, plus. This exposure can help to reduce the possibility of back country accidents and situations that require outside assistance.

Reports from Scouters returning from treks this year into the National Parks area are that rangers have and will help in emergency incidences. If budgets are reduced and manpower is less, future assistance may be at risk.

At a meeting at Mammoth a few years back, trained Scout units were commended. It was established that the "uninformed and ignorant were the trouble makers and victims in the wilderness."

Those of us to whom parents entrust their sons, and in the case of Explorer Units, their daughters, should recognize the obligation to avail ourselves of the access to the opportunity to increase and hone our Outdoor Leadership skills and knowledge.

The next Backpacking Awareness Training will be held in the Fall of 1993.

Harsh Weather Camping

Fall « the "spring ahead days" are gone and we are into the "fall behind period." The daylight time is less; darkness comes quicker and lasts longer. For many, that portends the end to their camping weekends. But it need not.

Just as the nights are longer, so should the planning phase of your fall trips be extended. Planning must include establishing an early time for setting up camp in the daylight available « one-pot meals with easy cleanup « and for activities that provide programs suited to the early darkness.

There is a disbelief among many that the possibility of enjoying any of the many outdoor pursuits in the presence of cold, wind and moisture is nonexistent. I harbor some such thoughts and my compatriot, Ed Davis, often signs himself as the "fair weather camper." Yet, many who class themselves as does Ed, are often trapped in unexpected harsh weather so these words and information may be of value. For those who relish harsh weather camping these words may be redundant.

Rain, in case some of us may have forgotten, is moisture that falls from the skies. Sometimes gently and on occasion in torrents. Rain does have an affinity for every nook and cranny and minute pin hold; every swale and depression will fill with water and it can mean misery.

There are hardy souls to whom rain does not pose such woeful harbinging and perhaps some of their learned success can be passed on.

If we, and the Scouts we serve, had unlimited resources, the problem of clothing could be partially solved. Hi-tech had produced marvelous clothing and accessories to protect « but most are too costly for us. We must "make do" with what we have or can obtain economically. Most experts agree that there is no place for cotton clothing in the wilderness with the threat of harsh weather. There is support for this conclusion. A headline in the San Jose Mercury of September 8, 1978, "Doomed couple wore only jeans, sweat shirts." A Scouter friend from a Northern California Council, reported that they had 39 visits to their first aid facility on a recent Klondike Derby and that 32 were cases of hypothermia due to improper clothing. This is a most difficult problem for us, as we do not have seasons that require "cold weather clothing" « but the problem is such, that in some harsh weather conditions, improper clothed participants may not be able to go on the trip.

Another facet of shelter is protective outer clothing worn on the person during wet weather, ponchos, parkas, cagoules, rain suits, rain pants, etc. There are a wide variety of these available and some are fairly economical.

The word shelter will cause many of us to think of tents. Tents are now available in a myriad of styles, shapes, designs and costs. Tents are of such variety that they deserve a special treatment and in a subsequent issue we had asked Karl Emrich of our H.A.T., who has background, wide knowledge and expertise on this subject, to prepare an article for you.

Although this subject is touched upon in a number of backpacking and camping books there is one that covers this subject only: Harsh Weather Camping by Sam Curtis, Arco Publishing Co., N.Y. 1983.

Those of you who like to go out in the weather, a lot of us disdain would be good resources for the wary if you could tell us about your adventures in future issues of Boots and Blisters.

Equipment Report

Campout Test of the Coleman Apex-Peak Model 1 450-700 Stove

Coleman Apex-Peak Model 1 450-700 Stove

This test was conducted at Camp Tamarancho, "Shady Bend." I arrived at the campsite at 9:30 a.m. I immediately set up the stove and fired it up. I put on the coffee water, about 3 quarts, not that Bruce and I would be drinking 3 quarts, but this was a test. I did not time, because of my experience with the Peak 1's, I used the time to set up our tent and other chores at the site.

This did not take us very long, but I judged that this model is not as hot as the older Peak 1's. The instructions say 7500 BTUs against 8500 BTUs for the older stoves. The fuel bottle holds 22 ounces and we found that in heating the coffee water, the dinner that night, and a gallon of water for the cracker barrel in the evening, plus breakfast next morning and a gallon of wash/rinse water, no refill was required.

It seems very stingy on the use of fuel. My only complaint is that it is a little colder burning than my old Peak 1, but I guess I can put up with that. I carried an extra fuel bottle with me but I could have left it home and saved the weight. It does seem to start easier and the adjustments for simmer work very easily. I had thought that the placement of the heat adjustment lever would have caused the lever to get real hot while the stove was burning, but it didn't. The stove cools down faster than the older models, making it easier to pack up the unit and also for refilling if needed during a meal.

As far as a flat out burn time, I did not set the stove up and try to run it empty to find out if it would match the Coleman specs for high burn and simmer, but I think it will be close.It takes some getting used to taking the stove apart to pack it up, but I think after doing it on a number of week-end campouts it will be second nature to me. Assembly in the field is very easy and all parts go together securely.

The Apex is quite stable when the legs are in proper position. The stove will hold up to 10 pounds in weight and Coleman recommends no pot be used larger than 8 inches in diameter. That size pot will cook most of what I will put on it.

From Ed Davis

Quote:

"Always behave like a duck: keep calm and unruffled on the surface, but paddle like h--l underneath."

The Magnetic Compass, The How and Why

One of the respondents at the 1991 backpacking course asked for: "More compass - how it works"

A thought provoking question. Just how important is it to know "how it works?" The earliest use of the compass is implied rather than clearly stated. Petro Perigrinus wrote in 1269 AD about the loadstone. He was the first to pivot a magnetized needle and surround it with a graduated circle. However, the traditional date of the "invention" of the mariner's compass is 1306 AD by an unknwn navigator of Amalei.

Mariners knew about and used the compass with reasonable success for 300 years without knowing "how it worked."

Some assumptions were that is was the constellation the Big Dipper, as we know it, or Polaris, the North Star or even some massive mountain in the frozen north that was the force that guided the magnetic needle.

In 1600 AD, the court physical to Queen Elizabeth, William Gilbert, wrote systematically and in detail, a manuscript he called De Magnete. In that treatise he described the Earth itself as a great magnet. Years of refined study have confirmed his central theme. Those studies have evolved into a reason for this that even Gilbert did not know.

How does the Earth become a magnet? The current accepted theory is that the spinning (rotation) of the Earth and the relationship of the heat of the inner core make the magnetic force. As a bar magnet has a North and South pole, so does the magnetic Earth. These poles, or magnetic fields, are now located at the North and South of planet Earth. But they are not co-incidental with the geographic North and South poles.

In the second Scout Handbook, it states that the Magnetic North Pole is located near the western coast of the Boothia Peninsula on the northern edge of Canada. That was in 1927. A more recent location is stated to be on the Prince of Wales Island. The Magnetic North Pole is constantly shifting. If a magnetic needle is suspended over the Magnetic North Pole, it will dip 180 degrees and it sometimes called the "dip pole."

knives, light meters or cameras with light meters in them, metal rimmed eye glasses and teeth braces when using the Lensatic type compass. There have been anecdotes of hunters spreading their topographic map on the hood of a Jeep and taking compass bearings at that time.

This covers in a condensed way, the "how and why" of the magnetic compass. The Scout Handbook and the Scout Field Book are excellent resources for the use of the compass.

The best and most understandable treatise on the compass and magnetism is found in Chapter 5 of Robert L Mooers Jr.'s book Finding Your Way In The Outdoors, an Outdoor Life Book, published by E.P. Dutton & Co., N.Y. 1974.

For those who would like the "in depth" story of the compass and it development through the ages, I recommend the Story of Maps by Lloyd A. Brown and the Time-Life Nature/Science Books, The Earth, Ships, The Sea, Mathematics, Energy, and Machines. Most books on electricity will have good explanations on magnetism.

A magnetized needle will also be attracted by iron or steel or other electrically created magnetic fields of force. This difference is called "DEVIATION." In using the compass, it is necessary to be careful of iron belt buckles, knives, light meters or cameras with light meters in them, metal rimmed eye glasses and teeth braces when using the Lensatic type compass. There have been anecdotes of hunters spreading their topographic map on the hood of a Jeep and taking compass bearings at that time. This covers in a condensed way, the "how and why" of the magnetic compass. The Scout Handbook and the Scout Field Book are excellent resources for the use of the compass.

The best and most understandable treatise on the compass and magnetism is found in Chapter 5 of Robert L Mooers Jr.'s book Finding Your Way In The Outdoors, an Outdoor Life Book, published by E.P. Dutton & Co., N.Y. 1974.

For those who would like the "in depth" story of the compass and it development through the ages, I recommend the Story of Maps by Lloyd A. Brown and the Time-Life Nature/Science Books, The Earth, Ships, The Sea, Mathematics, Energy, and Machines. Most books on electricity will have good explanations on magnetism.

Ed Davis' Cookout Corner

Bomb Proof Pizza

Ingredients

For each 8" pizza:

• 3/4 cups Bisquick
• Enough water to make a stiff dough
• Spaghetti sauce
• Thinly sliced pepperoni
• Mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Mix dough and water until dough pulls away from bowl, turn dough onto a lightly floured board, knead 4-5 times. Grease an 8" skillet, pat dough out to cover bottom of skillet, as thin as possible. Place skillet over medium heat, cook slowly, until dry on top. Carefully turn over so that browned side is up. Remove from heat, spread top with spaghetti sauce. Place pepperoni on it then cover with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and cook until the bottom is browned. Slide out of pan onto serving plate or foil. Serve.

Source: Backpackers Footnotes

Backpackers Fruit Cobbler

Ingredients

• 1 - 8 oz. package of dried mixed fruit
• 1/4 cup honey
• Water to cover
• Bring to a boil.

Topping

• 1 cup Bisquick
• 2 Tbsps powdered milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup water

Instructions

Mix all together and drop by large spoonfuls onto boiling fruit. Cook 10 minutes uncovered, then cover and cook 10 more minutes. Serve.

Source: Janis Field, Colorado Mountain Club