"Man Camp"

[CoyoteWanderer]

Hey CS,

Congrats as well on your 2nd term SPL. I must say that I am not all that familiar with the award structure of the BSA, but I do know that Eagle is a grand accomplishment and you would stand in amazing company should you attain it. Good Luck.

At 15, you would actually be in the "Venturer" section for Scouts Canada, and we find that youth in this section tend to be more willing to be further afield than the "Scout" section (11-14 y.o.).

Glad to hear you're a backpacker and a Life Scout, I am sure that you are a credit to your troop.

miksmi - I have been finding that if they hit the Scout section car camping and aren't switched over to lightweight and backpacking immediately, it is absolutely brutal to get them to change after the fact. The troop I joined with my son a few years ago was only car camping and it has been an uphill battle.


And to stop from completely hijacking the thread...
I too would be interested in how to make the cup cozy!

-- CoyoteWanderer

[Sailor]

Once a scout, always a scout!

[sclittlefield]

The mug cozy is super simple. The picture shows it with a CCF cozy that I lined the inside with aluminum tape to imitate reflectix.

Whichever is used, just cut a length at the right height to slide just under the lip of the Ziploc container. Tape it (I use aluminum tape), trace out the bottom circle and tape that on. Then, trace out the lid's "dip", cut that circle and place it on the lid, tape that on.

Here's a site with far better instructions, just adapt to whatever container you're cozy'ing. www.russellweekendadventurer.com You'll see it in the DIY videos page.







And thanks AngrySparrow for fixing the link - I didn't see you did that until after I went and changed it. Sorry I messed up your fix, but thanks a lot!

[Kankujoe]

"There will be no electricity. There will be no running water. There will be no 'facilities'. And there will be no whining.
This is Man Camp - not pamper camp."

I'm a youth pastor at a church near Bangor, Maine. Each year I take a group of Jr. and Sr. High boys on a short but rugged weekend camping trip that I've dubbed "Man Camp." These are not boy scouts, and for many of them this is their first experience camping in the woods (campgrounds do not count). We learn new camping skills and build something to add to our outdoor gear collection.

No, it's not hammocks this time - maybe next year.

This year we're building a minimalist kitchen set, and they'll all be cooking their own food for the entire trip. I am so excited! I just got a box of (15) IMUSA 12cm Aluminum cook pots from George at end2endtrailsupply (great guy, excellent service and shipping!). I felt like a little kid again at Christmas, diving into that box.

Here's the kitchen set the kids will build:

• IMUSA Aluminum Cook Pot, 12cm
• Pot lid (aluminum bake sheet)
• Windscreen (aluminum flashing)
• SuperCat alcohol stove
• Ziploc Twist'n'Loc Mug(sm) w/cozy (reflectix)

Two years ago we built survival kits, and last year was soda can jet alcohol stoves. I'm really looking forward to this year. I also put a 35lb weight limit on their packed in gear, including food and shelter. Last year it was horrendous how much stuff we carried in. This year we add a minimalist element (only an element, mind you).

So, relating to our forum... the kids will be sleeping in tents. Meanwhile, myself and a few of the other adults will be snoozing comfortably in the air. I was converted a few years ago by a good friend and now I've converted a few others myself. I think, after this trip, the kids will all be wanting to build hammocks for next years "Man Camp."

I'll be sure to update after the trip, and feel free to toss in your ideas on how to effectively and very cost efficiently get a DIY Hammock thing going for next years trip.

Sounds like a great experience for the boys ("men")...

How long have you been doing it? How many usually participate?

[UncleMJM]

Just to comment on UncleMJM's note,

Scouts Canada is a co-ed organization. The troop I had last year was more than 50% girls. With only a couple of exceptions, they were just as interested as the guys in "facility free" camping. I bet you would be surprised by your girls, (Unless you live in an area that socializes the girls against that sort of activity).

That being said, neither gender of youth is very interested in "no outhouse, dig catholes camping".

Agreed with everything you have said. Some of my girls are more gung ho than some of the guys. In fact, more girls have gone on the primitive camping than the guys, but now they are backing away from it as they get older. In any case, I will continue to encourage both boys and girls and may hijack the "Man Camp" idea but open it to all of my kids and see what happens.

[Qwest]

That sounds like a great time, I want to go!

[SmokeHouse]

Sounds like fun...

[Rain Man]

Agreed with everything you have said. Some of my girls are more gung ho than some of the guys. In fact, more girls have gone on the primitive camping than the guys....

Agreed. As the daughter of three backpacking daughters, I find "Man Camp" more than a bit sexist. Don't mean to offend and I'm sure that wasn't the intent of the original post, either. But sexism does abound in our society.

In any event, enjoy the outing!

Rain Man

.

[CoyoteWanderer]

Agreed. As the daughter of three backpacking daughters, I find "Man Camp" more than a bit sexist. Don't mean to offend and I'm sure that wasn't the intent of the original post, either. But sexism does abound in our society.

In any event, enjoy the outing!

Rain Man

.

I wouldn't necessarily go that far Rain Man, sexism runs both ways, and at this time in our society there is a lot more stuff that is girls/women only than there is stuff that is men or boys only.

I believe that the co-educational aspect of Scouts Canada has added a fantastic socialization element to Scouting and to camping for the youth involved. I think this arrangement is a superior one.

However, I do wonder if there is a developmental loss from not having the single gender (i.e. boys only) experiences. Human socialization does tend to have "ceremonies" that move people from one stage to another and those tend to be very gender specific. It would appear that most of the ceremonies are still in place for girls, but boys are frequently lost without clear demarcation between various stages of development and guidance from older members of the same gender.

But I am not a sociologist, so maybe this is just garbage, I dunno.

I do think that there are times and places for single gender activities.

Of course, I might have misunderstood you and you were criticizing the slogan "Man Camp" for reinforcing values that boys were supposed to be unemotional, tough and shrug off aches, pains and minor discomforts - you know, the stuff that causes stunted emotional growth, and makes guys less likely to go to the doctor when they should and accounts for some of the lower life expectancy between women and men. If that were the case, then I would salute you and say, "exactly right!".

-- CoyoteWanderer

[TinaLouise]

as a female leader in "boy" scouts, I'm all for anything that will get the scouts out of the house, away from the tv, cell phone, playstation, wii thing. If it takes calling a camping trip "MAN camp", So be it. I wouldn't mind going to that camp too, that project looks like it would be fun and useful when finished.