![]() WHAT TO WATCH
Don’t miss the second season of “Scouting For Adventure,” the Outdoor Channel’s original series based on the BSA and Boys’ Life. Filmed at national high adventure bases and Scout camps across the United States, the series highlights exciting activities: rock climbing, kayaking, scuba diving, backpacking, horse riding, canoeing, whitewater rafting. You’ll see plenty of scenic beauty as Scouts tackle challenging outdoor activities such as coral-reef sailing and mountain trekking, but the emphasis remains on Scouting’s core values, safety, and team building. The season is already under way. Each of September’s four episodes runs four times, so tune in Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m., or Sundays at 6 a.m. (all times Eastern). Or, set the DVR.
Yosemite. Yellowstone. The Everglades. Gates of the Arctic. The names read like an honor roll of America’s great national parks. And starting this month, Ken Burns, one of America’s great documentary filmmakers, takes viewers inside these parks as they’ve never been seen before with “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Filmed over the course of more than six years in some of the country’s most spectacular locales, Burns’ 12-hour, six-part series tells the story of the parks and the people—rich and poor, famous and unknown, soldiers and scientists, natives and newcomers, idealists, artists, and entrepreneurs—who devoted themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved. “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” runs each night between Sept. 27 and Oct. 2. All episodes will be shown more than once; check local listings for times.
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Shift your celebration of the BSA’s 100th anniversary into overdrive with a visit to “Adventure Base 100” when it rumbles to a location near you during 2010.
Starting immediately after its debut Jan. 1-3 at the Tournament of Roses festivities in Pasadena, Calif., this 18-wheeler hauling a fascinating interactive exhibit will hit the road to more than 40 destinations throughout the continental United States. Millions of families like yours can connect with the breadth of the Scouting experience.
What will you see and do? Plenty. And you won’t miss the mammoth truck if you spot it on the highway. You’ll recognize it by the scenes of Scouts in action, as well as by the anniversary logo and legend writ large on the side: “100 Years of Scouting: Celebrating the Adventure, Continuing the Journey.”
Don’t miss the virtual Adventure Base 100 tour, either. Keep up with all developments and find out where you can see this motor-vating exhibit in your area at the BSA’s 100th anniversary Web site: www.scouting.org/100 years.
STRUCTURES AND ACTIVITIES
Traveling Lodge—a double-wide trailer that offers guests a stage for Scouting demonstrations and a traveling museum, with more than 1,000 square feet of multisensory Scout-related experiences.
Go Scouting Dome—surround-sound, surround-vision immersion chamber that features a multitude of typical Scouting environments.
Ropes Course and Zip Line—exciting, outdoor fun.
Green Screen—picture yourself doing cool Scouting activities.
Guest Tents—informative sites where boys and adults can learn about joining the BSA, everyone can purchase Scouting memorabilia and patches, and sponsors can promote their partnership with the organization.
2010 TOUR SCHEDULE
Jan. 1-3: Pasadena, Calif. |
June 11-13: Chattanooga, Tenn. |
Here’s a multidimensional jewel that will work wonders on camp-outs and Scout projects of all kinds. The new Super Tool 300 from Leatherman ($84) comes with more pop-out features than we can list, but try pliers, removable wire cutters, saw, screwdrivers, bottle opener, can opener, and serrated knife for starters. It even includes an added smart touch called “edge-safety clumping,” which prevents users from accidentally pulling out one of the knives and getting cut when trying to access a different tool. You’ll want to add this baby to your troop or crew’s toolbox.
Do you know how to avoid “woods shock,” self-arrest with an ice ax, and test to see if an unknown plant is edible?
You can master all that and discover hundreds more tips for staying safe in the outdoors from the National Geographic Complete Survival Manual (National Geographic Books, $29.95). Loaded with expert advice from the editors of National Geographic (along with valuable tips from the BSA, Girl Scouts of the USA, American Red Cross, and the U.S. Army), the book shows readers how to survive and thrive on rough seas, in steamy swamps, or on polar ice.
The survival manual teems with information laid out in a logical, easy-to-find structure. Each chapter is split into 10 subheads, including First Aid, Food, Shelter, and Signaling. Pack it along and be ready for just about any curve nature can throw.
Edward Whitehead, the Detroit Area Council’s oldest Scout, passed away in July in Detroit at the age of 102. As a boy, Whitehead had a good excuse for never being a Cub Scout. The Cub Scouts didn’t exist when he joined Troop 113 in Albion, Mich., in 1922. He was associated with Scouting for the rest of his life, as a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, unit commissioner, camporee staffer, and more. At 86, Whitehead began serving on the summer camp staff of the Detroit Area Council, which recently honored his long service at a banquet.
Whitehead sometimes hiked farther and worked longer hours than some of the teenage camp staff. He attributed his longevity to his continued work on behalf of young people—and the fact that he never missed a winter camp-out.
Last summer at camp, I got the wonderful task of teaching fishing to Cub Scouts. To enforce the catch-and-release policy, I pretended to know the names of all the catfish we caught. The boys thought it was fun to catch “Ugly,” “Uglyette,” “Simon,” “Snorkel,” and “Big Boy.”
After camp ended, I was in the grocery store when a Cub Scout came over and hugged me. But when he began to make faces about what was in my shopping cart, I asked him “What’s wrong?”
He replied, “Does Ugly know you’re eating his cousin for dinner?”
-- Summer Pearson, Riverside, Calif.
Do you have a Laugh-Out-Loud Scouting anecdote?
Write it up in 150 words or less and submit it to LOL at www.scoutingmagazine.org. If we print it, we’ll pay you $50.
Experience the thrill of sharing your adventures with Scouting peers during the 52nd Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA) and 13th Jamboree-on-the-Internet (JOTI) taking place Oct. 17-18.
Sponsored by the World Organization of the Scout Movement, both of these special editions feature a “green” theme: “Climate Change Challenge (C3).”
As usual, your kids can make contact with Scouts and Guides from more than 150 countries via shortwave radio and personal computers. But this year they’ll also help showcase Scouting’s ongoing efforts to protect the environment and battle climate change.
Check with your council or district for local venues and get all the details to register and participate at
www.scouting.org/international/highlights.
Excited about the National Scout Jamboree in 2010? That feeling must at least equal the anticipation your predecessors felt 50 years ago.
In 1960, the Golden Jubilee jamboree celebrated a milestone in BSA history—50 years of Scouting. More than 55,000 Scouts and Scouters showed up for that one, the only jamboree to take place in Colorado Springs, Colo. And members of the Yosemite Area Council wore the patch you see at right.
You might recognize its most-prominent element—if you happened to visit Yosemite Park prior to 1969: The Wawona Tree.
Before it fell that year under the weight of a big load of snow, this giant sequoia served as a popular tourist attraction. Visitors could drive their cars right through its massive trunk.
But can you spot the other defunct element of the patch? The Yosemite Area Council no longer exits, either. In the late 1990s, it merged with the 49er Council to form the Greater Yosemite Council.
If you can get your hands on one of these, you’ve got quite a collector’s item.