Pet Peeves

[Eddie]

Havasupai is pretty awesome.

Our stake president won't let us go anywhere that is more than a 3 hour drive from home. He says this is a decision our local coordinating counsel made - which is composed of all of the stakes nearby. They don't believe there is anything you can learn from going further than 3 hours that can't also be learned by going somewhere and doing something within that 3 hour radius.

So while we are stuck within the 3 hour radius, we hear of other wards around us going to Yellowstone, Havasupai, Moab, Zion, etc. Kind of irritating that all of these stake presidents made a rule for all of us that only our stake president is interested in enforcing.

[Commando]

Our stake president won't let us go anywhere that is more than a 3 hour drive from home. He says this is a decision our local coordinating counsel made - which is composed of all of the stakes nearby. They don't believe there is anything you can learn from going further than 3 hours that can't also be learned by going somewhere and doing something within that 3 hour radius.

So while we are stuck within the 3 hour radius, we hear of other wards around us going to Yellowstone, Havasupai, Moab, Zion, etc. Kind of irritating that all of these stake presidents made a rule for all of us that only our stake president is interested in enforcing.

Guess you just have to drive faster.

[Eddie]

Guess you just have to drive faster.

I am totally cool with driving faster. But even I can't turn the drive to Zion into a 3 hour jaunt.

[creekster]

Our stake president won't let us go anywhere that is more than a 3 hour drive from home. He says this is a decision our local coordinating counsel made - which is composed of all of the stakes nearby. They don't believe there is anything you can learn from going further than 3 hours that can't also be learned by going somewhere and doing something within that 3 hour radius.

So while we are stuck within the 3 hour radius, we hear of other wards around us going to Yellowstone, Havasupai, Moab, Zion, etc. Kind of irritating that all of these stake presidents made a rule for all of us that only our stake president is interested in enforcing.

Our boys went to havasupai last summer. From the Bay Area.

[falafel]

Havasupai is pretty awesome.

That is one trip I would make sure I accompanied my son on. I have wanted to go to Havasupai for a while.

[Moliere]

I am totally cool with driving faster. But even I can't turn the drive to Zion into a 3 hour jaunt.

Try flying. I bet you could get to St. George and then to Zions in 3 hours.

[Eddie]

Try flying. I bet you could get to St. George and then to Zions in 3 hours.

Have I mentioned that our stake president also takes the manual very seriously when it says that funding for scout camps should generally come from the ward budget? We haven't had a fund-raiser since he became president, and there is no way he will let the families pay for it.

Luckily our Bishops have both been somewhat generous with the scouting budget. I'm afraid they haven't been quite THAT generous.

It doesn't surprise me when boys who are actually interested in scouting decide to attend the local non-denominational troop sponsored by the Elk's Club. Anything we can do pales in comparison.

[Bo Diddley]

When I was a kid we did a 16 mile pack trip into the Uintas. One guy from the ward came along to help as a leader. He had never backpacked before, but was pretty fit. More lifting than cardio, of course. He was bragging about his 75 lb pack for the first 5 miles, but was done by the time we got to camp. When it was time to leave, he gave away his hatchet, sleeping pad, and a bunch of other camp equipment to any of the boys who wanted it. He didn't take any of his clothes home with him.

About 4 years ago I took a group of boys on a 50 mile pack trip. They hadn't done much backpacking, so we spent a lot of time talking about what to bring, what not to bring, etc. We weighed all of the packs as we were loading them up. Some of the kids did great - there were a couple of 25-30 lb packs. A couple of the older kids did less great. One had a 56 lb pack. No way he weighed more than 160 or so. Among other things, he had his full size scriptures in their case tied to the back of the pack to bring along.

I told him I thought he should lose some weight. His dad said "He works out EVERY DAY. He'll be just fine." The kid agreed, so I told him I wouldn't stop him from bringing the heavy pack.

He struggled as we got further in that first day and was ready to be done by the time we reached our first camp. I went to get some water from a nearby stream while the boys began setting up tents, finding wood, and started a fire. When I got back to camp the kid was burning some of his clothes. He told me he wasn't going to carry it all the next day. That first day he burned everything but one change of clothes and a pair of socks for each day we were going to be gone. Each morning he burned the socks from the previous day, so when we went home all he had was the last pair he was wearing.

Prior to the 50 miler, we did a short 3 mile pack trip overnight-er to give the boys a taste of what they would be doing. The kids with the lightest packs were the ones that did that first trip with me.

This is the way we always operated. The boys picked the focus for the year, and we had multiple events leading up to the summer activity. One year was backpacking. We hiked Baldy, Squaw Peak, and Timp before we did King's Peak. Weighing packs and checking for essential items was mandatory.

One year was cycling. We did several shorter events before our summer activity where we cycled & camped for a week.

The kids planned it all, and we more or less guided them as needed.

[cougjunkie]

Our stake president won't let us go anywhere that is more than a 3 hour drive from home. He says this is a decision our local coordinating counsel made - which is composed of all of the stakes nearby. They don't believe there is anything you can learn from going further than 3 hours that can't also be learned by going somewhere and doing something within that 3 hour radius.

So while we are stuck within the 3 hour radius, we hear of other wards around us going to Yellowstone, Havasupai, Moab, Zion, etc. Kind of irritating that all of these stake presidents made a rule for all of us that only our stake president is interested in enforcing.

We actually have the same
Rule now (do you live in lehi?) but it's 2
Hours. Thankfully we had already booked this trip before the hammer was dropped and I may have said it was non-refundable (whoops ). Stake prez did force a few wards to change their location for scout camp. But of course the stake is hosting Wood Badge which is actually more than 2 hours away.


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[Commando]

Try flying. I bet you could get to St. George and then to Zions in 3 hours.

This asshole agrees!

[hostile]

I am totally cool with driving faster. But even I can't turn the drive to Zion into a 3 hour jaunt.

We have similar restrictions in our stake. We just organize "neighborhood" outings rather than "ward" outings if we want to do something far away.

[Moliere]

Thankfully we don't have the same restrictions in Houston. We've had Crews in our stake go to Colorado, Moab, Philmont (New Mexico), and Seabase (Florida Keys). They are expensive trips but we also allow fundraisers. Granted, if we could only do 3 hours we'd be stuck in either Dallas, Austin or Beaumont...

[Pelado]

Our stake president won't let us go anywhere that is more than a 3 hour drive from home. He says this is a decision our local coordinating counsel made - which is composed of all of the stakes nearby. They don't believe there is anything you can learn from going further than 3 hours that can't also be learned by going somewhere and doing something within that 3 hour radius.

So while we are stuck within the 3 hour radius, we hear of other wards around us going to Yellowstone, Havasupai, Moab, Zion, etc. Kind of irritating that all of these stake presidents made a rule for all of us that only our stake president is interested in enforcing.

Only time I went was as YM Secretary with the Teacher's Quorum out of our Vegas ward. According to the site below, it would have exceeded your 3-hour limit:

http://www.waterfallsofthegrandcanyo...ad-directions/

That is one trip I would make sure I accompanied my son on. I have wanted to go to Havasupai for a while.

Do it. From what I heard, though, reservations for the campsites fill up fast. So if you want to hike in and camp for a few days (like we did), then you'll want to do it early. The trailhead starts at the top of the canyon wall. The first couple miles of the hike is constant switchbacks until you reach the base of the canyon - much of which has stair steps. I actually thought that was the hardest part - fully loaded packs, deep steps, can't lean into the steps as you descend like you can when ascending, etc. Our packs were a lot lighter on the way up. Whatever food we had not yet consumed we left for the group that was taking over our campsite when we were leaving.

Alternatively, you could make it a day trip. Less to pack in/out, no reservation required (I think), but you still get to enjoy all the waterfalls and such.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hire a helicopter. The boys would love it!

[Eddie]

We actually have the same
Rule now (do you live in lehi?) but it's 2
Hours. Thankfully we had already booked this trip before the hammer was dropped and I may have said it was non-refundable (whoops ). Stake prez did force a few wards to change their location for scout camp. But of course the stake is hosting Wood Badge which is actually more than 2 hours away.


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My brother just moved from Lehi, where he was assistant scoutmaster and assistant adviser.

The only limit they had was to stay within their council boundaries - which essentially takes in the entire state south of Utah/Wasatch Counties. They would take trips to Moab and Zion very other year.