Words for the Parents:
The members of Troop 136 are all from the Laramie Area in Wyoming. They range in age from 11 to 18, with the predominant age group from 13-17. We are a small troop, currently numbering 11, including those in the Venture Group. Troop 136 does not appeal to all boys because of the large emphasis that we put on our outdoor program. We don't push the boys into any outing or even part of an outing that they are not comfortable with. For instance, if a boy doesn't want to climb all the way up a climb, we encourage him, but let him down when he wants. Similarly, we also do not push the boys to earn their ranks, except by encouragement. The boys will often advance in rank merely by taking from the experiences from the outings we do, and "catching up" a little to fill in the gaps. If a boy wants to advance, or collect a merit badge, we go out of our way to make it happen. But, we are not an "Eagle Factory." When our boys earn a rank or merit badge they learn it well by doing it. For instance, many of our boys are Red Cross Certified, in addition to holding the First Aid Merit Badge.
When we go on an adventure outing, we really do it, and we run the trips ourselves! All of the pictures visible on this site have been taken by the Scouts or the adults while on the trips. As you can see, these outings all have a technical aspect. For instance, with whitewater rafting the boys have to know how to pack up, assemble the boats, inflate them, AND be able to read the water and run the rapids. That does not mean that they are all alone, a highly experienced adult is always on hand to teach and coach (and veto) from the boat. That means that each Scout who comes along has to know enough about each activity to go safely. We keep our Troop small, so each Scout can have the best individual training possible in white water rafting, rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and so on. When we get done, our Scouts have the same skills in the types of adventures that they are interested in as those adults who enjoy them. They may lack the maturity and judgment to use them safely, but that is why we always go along. Only our oldest scouts, after our evaluation, are encouraged to go off on their own, and with their parents permission. We don't force the boys to try all these activities at once, and new boys are helped along on what they want to do, when they want to do it.
Most of our young Scouts come from the Webelos Scouts but we will take any boy who is interested in the outdoors. We annually invite likely Webelos Scouts on a nice Cross Country Ski trip to see if they like the kinds of activities that we do. When we find one or two who seem to like what we do, we will ask them if they would like to join us. We also get older Scouts who find out about us from their friends, and join because they want to join us in our adventures. Sometimes they just join the Venture group. We generally try to recruit no more than about three new Scouts each year. We also support a Venture Group especially for older teens, both male and female.
The Scouts have to know about what you are going to do before you can go on some of our trips. Climbing is a good example, with its myriad knots that have to be learned as their life may well depend on them. There is also a bewildering array of equipment you have to know how to use so you can climb safely. How do we do it? The key lies in our Adult Staff. This staff includes the Scoutmaster (SM), the Assistant Scoutmaster (ASM) and the ASM Specialists. Troop 136 relies heavily on the ASM Specialists, who are adults highly skilled in one or more outdoor activities. Several are professional guides in their chosen activity. These Specialists help us when we go on the type of outing they are interested in, adding more highly trained adults when they are needed. Our Scouts advance through the ranks by actually doing the activity and then earning the rank, not just by reading. Our Star and Life scouts generally have much more experience than most others of their rank. Some of our older Scouts are presently training to be real professional guides in local outfitters in whitewater rafting and climbing.
The ASM is responsible for advancement through the BSA ranks and merit badges while the SM, also an practitioner in all of the Troop activities, is responsible for technical training and organizing the ASM Specialists. The older Scouts, some of whom are now experienced enough to run their own trips, also help train the younger Scouts. Please look at the qualifications found in the pass word protected Guest Private Page. Email or Call the Scoutmaster for information on how to view this page.
We feel that Troop 136 offers the best there is in a very specialized Scouting experience. If your son (or daughter, for Venture 136) is interested in these kind of activities, we are the Troop for them. For us, adventure is what keeps us going. We are very safe, having NEVER had any injuries on any of our trips. This is due to careful planning and careful execution of our outings, and extensive training of our Scouts. We also welcome parent participation in our trips. If YOU come, and if YOU don't want to do anything but take pictures, that's fine too! This web page is made up of these kind of pictures.
The Scoutmaster