Trashy Kids!

Today we participated in the Catalina Council Get In The Game Cache In Trash Out. We had about 20-ish folks show up to help clean Escalante Park and learn about geocaching.

Honestly, when Cub Scouts say "conservation project," it often means picking up trash. It's something that most kids can do that they don't have to be trained to do, and it's difficult to do it wrong.

I do get kind of tired of trash pickup, but today's experience was pretty nice. Got to meet some new people and do a little teaching about geocaching. There was a cache right there in the park that had been placed by a couple of cub scouts, so it was a great teaching moment.

We were hoping to have the Council's GITG kit before the CITO, so we could get some travel bugs started and the Pillars of Scouting geocoins. Unfortunately it didn't show up yet, so we had a couple of substitute activities. We showed the PWD car that will get the Race to 2010 travel bug, and passed out some CITO containers--small plastic containers stuffed with plastic bags that can be placed in a cache, to allow other cachers to "trash out" as they leave the cache area.

We've been trying to work with the council for a couple months to get this set up, it's amazingly slow to get something running. And, we have a relatively small council! How do people get anything done at this pace, requiring this level of bugging people?

Maybe I'm just too used to the corporate world, but I'm just saying it is a good thing that "promptness" isn't a scout value. 

Get out! even if you don't want to go far

Want to get out and hike but don't want to drive too far to get started? Been to Sabino Canyon a million times already?
Pima County has a fairly extensive system of trailheads, starting from various points around the city.  It makes a lovely arc from Explorer Trailhead, providing access to Tucson Mountain, on the southwest; up to points north such as Honeybee Canyon in the north, all the way down to Davidson Trailhead in the southeast. You will need a little more information for your full hike, many of these are detailed on Local Hikes or Trails.com. I'll try to log some of the ones we do. One hike that I've taken my kids on since they were small is the Freeman Homestead Trail in Saguaro Nat'l Park east. It is a short loop, about a mile, and we've hiked it in all seasons. It goes through a sandy wash and hugs a cliff face where there are usually owls roosting for the day. If you want a trail guide you will probably have to ask at the visitor's center, they do not stock the box at the trailhead. You will have to pay an entrance fee to the park to reach this trail.

More Earth Day!

h Our pack is going camping this weekend. But..if we weren't, we might look at going to GreenFest. It's sponsored by Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Girl Scouts, and Bookman's. Lots of good info on fun on greener living (all part of the front-country Leave No Trace, right?) Can help with the gardening requirements and ecology requirements for cub badges.

We're moving our campout to Roper Lake because Mt. Lemmon is just going to be too darned cold--briefly thought about moving it to Catalina State Park. If we did we could drop in on the Solar Potluck by Tucson Citizens for Solar!

Science, ecology, and nachos baked by the sun. What could be better?

Well..we're hoping that fishing, dissecting owl pellets, and marshmallows will come close!

Earth Day

Took the scouts to Earth Day at Reid Park today. They had a good time. Did a little networking with Habitat for Humanity and the wastewater people--may have a hook-up there for a couple of activities. Just for future reference, this is the shortest parade ever, during a community event--so it makes a quick add for the kids' Citizenship Pin requirements, #8 and #10. It is very easy to also accomplish #9 (list ways you can recycle various materials and conserve and protect the environment.)

Just watch out for the guys who want to argue with the PETA people.