Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972 Page: 21
68, [20] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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times seems more like an army
sergeant than a fellow Explorer. The
trainer is not trying to win any he's-
a-jolly-good-fellow award. In 4 short
days he must drive or cajole or intimi-
date his voyageurs into learning all
the answers to questions that won't
arise until the voyageur and his unit
are far away from the base. If the
trainer does his job properly, he
doesn't have time to be a good Joe.
About the time the voyageur finishes
his training, his post or troop arrives.
Along with a base trainer assigned
to the party, he meets his unit at the
gate. By now, of course, the voyageur
has sewn the coveted and hard-earned
voyageur strip on his canoe base hat.
This strip identifies him as the right-
hand man of his adult leader. The
voyageur assists the trainer in in-
structing his unit—but only for a day.
And then the party takes off for 6
adventurous days, and the trainer
goes with them.
"Our trainer stays with them
through that first night," explains Base
Director Boehm, "to make sure they
get a good start, to move them along,
to answer questions, to help while
they're getting started. We bring the
trainer off the trail after that first
night. From then on it's the adult
leader supplying the maturity and
judgment for the group and the voya-
geur supplying the expertise in canoe-
ing and camping. This system seems
to work very well."
Indeed the system does work well!
The system works so well, in fact,
that in the 31 years the Region 7 Ca-
noe Base has been in existence, there
has been no fatal accident.
Part of this remarkable safety rec-
ord is due to the excellent training.
But part is also due to pre-trip plan-
ning. Before a party leaves the base,
the adult leader and the voyageur sit
down with the canoe base's trip di-
rector. The trip can be as easy—or
as difficult—as the leader wants to
make it. It can include many portages,
or none. The Region 7 canoe trails offer
a tremendous variety.
A feature that adds flexibility is the
"put-in" and "pick-up" system. Each
group is entitled to be either put in
at a distant point by truck and trailer,
and paddle back to the base, or the
party may paddle to a point where it
will be picked up and returned to the
base. Many units prefer to paddle
both ways.
Within a 10-mile radius of the canoe
base there are perhaps 200 lakes. If a
leader feels his young men do not
have the strength to portage or the
canoeing knowledge to tackle a long
trip, he can elect to stay in a perma-
nent campsite on a nearby lake.
Heaven help the fainthearted leader!
Happily, few units are content to
pass up the high adventure available.
Out there somewhere is the North-
woods experience, the remote lakes,
the wild animals such as loons, bear
and deer. Walleyes and northerns and
panfish abound in many of the lakes
and streams. For fishermen there is
a special bonus: muskies, for Boulder
Junction calls itself the musky capital
of the world. And champion anglers
consider the musky a freshwater game
fish that has no aquatic peer.
But if the musky has no peer, neither
does the Wisconsin lake country. The
area is unique, as beautiful in its own
way as any section of our country.
The same thing, of course, can be said
of all four of our national high adven-
ture bases. Up to 2,400 Explorers,
Scouts and leaders take canoe trips
from the Region 7 base each summer.
Around 3,200 canoe during a single
season at the Charles L. Sommers
Wilderness Canoe Base near Ely, Minn.,
in Region 10. At the Philmont Scout
Ranch and Explorer Base, about 15,000
hikers and campers go into the Sangre
de Christo mountains every summer.
Only time will tell what will be the
seasonal capacity of the brand-new
(opened last summer) Maine-Mata
gamon National Wilderness Base.
If you are a leader pondering
Whether to take your group to Region
7 or the Sommers Canoe Base, perhaps
this insight from Roy Redmond, a
commissioner in the Illowa Council,
Bettendorf, Iowa, may help you make
a decision.
Mr. Redmond, who has led contin-
gents to both bases, told Scouting
Magazine, "It's my opinion that, if a
boy has never had any canoeing ex-
perience, Region 7 is a good place for
him to come. The training is fantastic.
At the Sommers Canoe Base you put
into practice everything you have
learned at Region 7—plus all you've
picked up in Exploring and Scouting."
Mr. Redmond's assessment is not
far from wrong. That is not to say, of
course, that beginning canoeists can-
not make it at the Sommers Canoe
Base. Nor is it correct to assume that
crackerjack canoeists would not ap-
preciate the high adventure offered by
Region 7. The truth is that it is not
fair to compare one with the other.
At the Sommers base in Minnesota,
guides stay with a party for its entire
trip. And the big thing at Region 7 is
the voyageur system of training that
enables a unit to strike out on its own
—in an area, it should be noted, where
the wilderness is not as wild as it was
when Region 7 started operations
more than a quarter of a century ago.
The cost at the Region 7 Canoe Base
for groups of at least eight is $40 for
the last 12 sessions of the season; the
first 12 cost only $35. This fee pays all
costs: use of canoes and tents, the
trail food, the paddles—about every-
thing except transportation to and
from the base. The individual must
bring his own personal gear, including
a sleeping bag. Units contemplating
such a trip should study the Region
7 Canoe Base brochure, available
through their council offices. This fee
also trains the voyageur.
No fee is charged for an adult leader
when eight or more boys take a trip
and pay their fees. Units of 16 or more
must operate on the trail as two
groups—and each must have at least
one adult leader and one voyageur.
Applications to the Region 7 Canoe
Base should be made through a unit's
council office. The sooner the better,
for sessions often are sold out early.
Post 200 earned 50-Miler Awards
while there. The post did conservation
work every day. At one campsite on
Trout Lake, they spent 5 hours polic-
ing the area: burning cans and litter,
cleaning up trash and disposing of
refuse. At another camp the post con-
structed a temporary canoe landing.
"I guess," recalled Dr. Carroll, "that
the post must have moved at least a
ton of stones into this square area
we built."
Both Dr. Carroll and Advisor Stitt
were at the base because of senti-
mentality, but each one's reason was
slightly different. Stitt, who was 58
years old, had been at the canoe base
12 years before with another post. And
Dr. Carroll, chairman of the Malmai-
son District of the Delta Area Council
and the Scoutmaster of Troop 200, had
worked with most of the Explorers
since they were 11 years old.
"I came also because I hope maybe
in 2 years," revealed Dr. Carroll, "to
bring a group of Scouts up from
Troop 200."
Dr. Carroll had turned down a
chance, by the way, to go to the XIII
World Jamboree in Japan when he de-
cided to accompany Post 200 to the
canoe base. Did he make the right
choice?
"I feel quite sure I made the choice,"
the doctor told Scouting Magazine.
"Although I am positive I would have
enjoyed the jamboree a great deal,
working close to a unit like this is
the heart of Scouting. This has been
a most delightful and enlightening
experiences for our Explorers. And
for me, and for Mr. Stitt, too."
Right on, doctor. Right on!
21
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972, periodical, January 1972; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353658/m1/27/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.