This year for High Adventure we went to Blanding, Utah and did some canyoneering, and explored some Indian Cliff Dwellings/Ruins. We experienced torrential downpours while at camp, and while driving, but didn't have much problem with the rains while we did our activities! Our new challenge this year was that we have a boy with Spina Bifida, who walks with a cane. High Adventure is supposed to be difficult, and hard, and really stretch the boys so that they can see what they're made up of, and what they can accomplish if they set their mind to it. So, how do we have a difficult high adventure with a boy with physical challenges? We include him in everything. We still did the same things we would have done without him, but we helped him through it as well. We were somewhat inspired by another troop that had a boy with Spina Bifida whom they carried everywhere they went - on all their campouts and everything. So, one of the boys in our troop decided it would be better if we had some sort of carrier - like a stretcher with a chair in the middle. That way we could carry the boy wherever we went. So it was made as an Eagle Project, and donated to the Spina Bifida foundation of Utah for families to borrow for trips and stuff. It turned out great, and was quite the asset on our trip!
Every year for High Adventure we try to have a theme for our trip, and this year's theme was "I will be my brother's keeper". We chose this theme partly because we would be helping our brother, and carrying him along the way, but also because we wanted to become our brother's keeper. Someone who is a brother's keeper is someone who watches out for other people, who helps with things and makes sure those around him are comfortable and taken care of. We have far too few brother's keeper's in this world, and if we can help 16 scouts to become one, we're doing a world of good.
This trip was awesome! We had no arguments, no complaining, no whining. Most of the boys were fighting over who got to carry their brother! It was one of the best High Adventures I have ever been on (and I've been on 10 of them!)
So, below are some of the logistics for our High Adventure. What it took to get it planned, some neat experiences we had, some of my thoughts, and some things we learned along the way.
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