Vol. 6, No. 11
DO YOU CANOE?
In this Issue:
• Paddling Through the Past
• How Do You Canoe?
• Canoe Trekking
• Northern Tier Wilderness Canoeing
• Philmont's Unlikely Portage
Woodcraft. Scoutcraft. Campcraft. The core crafts of the BSA include one more – the canoe – a watercraft floating through the heart of Scout adventures since the organization’s earliest days.
PADDLING THROUGH THE PAST Robert Baden-Powell was a gifted artist. In Scouting for Boys, his 1908 book that laid the foundations for the Scouting movement, he included several sketches of canoes.
"Scouts learn endurance in the open," Baden-Powell wrote under this drawing. "Like explorers, they carry their own burdens and paddle their own canoes."
American Daniel Carter Beard, a founder of the BSA and another man skilled with pen and ink, also praised the canoe. A portage he sketched is quite a bit more dramatic than the one drawn by Baden-Powell:
Mr. Beard was also loved building canoes. His technical drawings for their construction are as handsome as the boats themselves.
Most canoes today are manufactured by molding together layers of plastic, fiberglass, and other materials such as bulletproof Kevlar cloth. Even the simplest canoe can launch a couple of paddlers into a day of fun and discovery on the water.
HOW DO YOU CANOE? A fantastic thing about a canoe is that almost anyone can climb in and paddle across quiet water right away. A personal flotation device is important for safety. So is knowledge of what to do in the unlikely event you capsize, and a partner for sharing the experience.
The basics of paddling a canoe can be learned in a few minutes and practiced for a lifetime. Here's how the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook illustrated a simple paddle stroke.
When two are paddling together, the person in the bow can use a power stroke alongside the canoe. The person in the stern can use a J-stroke to keep the craft on course. The current Canoeing merit badge pamphlet explains how.
For full instructions on everything you need to know to paddle well, see the latest editions of the Fieldbook or the Canoeing merit badge pamphlet. Both are available from scoutstuff.org.
CANOE TREKKING
If an hour of paddling makes your day, an extended canoe camping adventure can be a highlight of your year. Load your boat with everything you need for a week or more, and you’ll be set to explore a river or a string of lakes that put the wild in wilderness.
The skills of canoe trekking are much the same as for backpacking on remote trails. One difference is that you can carry more in a canoe than in a backpack, but you’ll need to insure everything is secured and protected from water in case your boat capsizes.
A canoe trek requires lots of teamwork. Crew members paddle together, load and unload their boats along the way, and do all they can to make camping an enjoyable experience.
A joy of canoe trekking is the ability to carry plenty of provisions. A cast iron skillet and a Dutch oven can be used to prepare of tasty meals including freshly baked biscuits and fish caught close to camp.
NORTHERN TIER WILDERNESS CANOEING
For the best of BSA canoe adventures, you can’t beat a journey with the Northern Tier High Adventure Program.
In 1923, a Minnesota BSA council organizing canoe treks into the wilderness of lakes, islands, and rivers extending from Minnesota far into Canada’s Ontario Province. It grew to become the Charles L. Sommers Wilderness Canoe Base, and in 1972 joined BSA’s National High Adventure Program.
These paddles represent the three Northern Tier Bases that provide access to more than six million acres of space to wander that make up Northern Tier - The Charles L. Sommers Base near Ely, Minnesota; the Donald Rogert Base, Atikokan, Ontario; and the Northern Expeditions Base, Bissett, Manitoba.
Where to start? For plenty of information about summer canoeing expeditions and the Okpik winter program, check out Northern Tier’s official website at www.ntier.org.
PHILMONT'S UNLIKELY PORTAGE
When it comes to tough portages, the top of Philmont’s Tooth of Time seems an unlikely destination. That’s where some of Philmont’s senior staff carried a Northern Tier canoe as a gesture of fun and solidarity with their fellow high adventure base staff members.
One can only guess what the Northern Tier staff will do to return the gesture. Load a Philmont buffalo into a canoe for a Boundary Waters trek? Time will tell.
(This edition of the Be Prepared Newsletter was developed and written by Robert Birkby, author of the current editions of the Boy Scout Handbook, Fieldbook, Scout Stuff, The Conservation Handbook, and Eagle Scouts: A Centennial History.)