I am a scoutmaster, and for years I tried to convince the scouts and parents to make the effort to go to the BWCA. This year I finally succeeded. I spent months teaching and preparing them for the experience, trying to instill in them my 20 years of experience in just a few months before the trip. We talked about how special the Boundary Waters is, practiced packing and portaging, sampled food, discussed emergency preparedness, and everything else I could think of. We went on a "high adventure preview" camping trip a couple of weeks before - just paddling to a canoe-in campsite in a local state park to practice our skills.

The day of the trip finally arrived. Because of the size of our troop, we had to split into two groups. One group went from Lake One to Moose Lake. I took the group that went the opposite direction - Moose Lake to Lake One. We had a fairly ambitious route - 60 miles in 5 days. I will write up a trip report, but a few things really stood out to me on that trip.

First of all, it was amazing watching the boys turn from greenhorns into a well-oiled paddling team. A few examples:

The first portage - just the five-rodder from Sucker to Birch - took 40 minutes! Luckily there were no other groups around waiting for us (it was late in the day). When we hit the portage, the boys started pulling stuff out of their packs. "Why? Why? Why?" we leaders kept asking. They couldn't seem to get anything loaded back into their canoes on the other side. And this was just a 5 rod portage, our shortest of the trip... By the time we reached the longest portage of the trip (240 rods) a few days later, they had learned how to do everything a lot more efficiently. We did that one in a mere 50 minutes. 

At the beginning of the trip, they didn't know how to read their maps. They kept asking where we were and how long it would take to get where we were going. I would just say, "Look at the map." I might mention that there was a campsite ahead or behind us, but mostly I let them figure it out. By the end of the trip, they weren't perfect at navigating, but they were much better. One of the scouts I nicknamed "The Navigator" because he always knew where we were. I would ask him once in a while if he knew where we were and where to go - he always had the right answer.

Campsite chores was a similar story. While they are still teenagers, they got a lot better at recognizing what needed to be done and doing it.

Mostly, though, they became a team. They learned to help out when someone needed help. They all pulled their own weight and did what needed to be done. They all portaged the canoe at least once. They were able to work together to achieve the goals they had set for themselves.