Log Cabin Promotional. It has been proposed to invite Scouters to Log Cabin to promote it. This would probably occur in late September.

Trail Boss. The September advanced Trail Boss was moved to Aug 29 so that the work could be accomplished before the Angeles Crest 100 mile run.

Climbing Instructor Training. Dodson and Rose are establishing a standard course so each will teach the same material.

Quest. A group of 13 scouts and 3 leaders from Washington DC has signed up for Quest 2009.

Intercouncil. The next meeting will be held 8am-12noon at WLACC HQ on September 13.

HAT MEETING SEP

  HAT Leadership Seminar. Only one signed up so far.

HAT Navigation Training. Agenda not firm yet. Will be held only one day, Nov 8. Field experience will be a Los Angeles Orienteering Club event.

HAT Desert Camping Seminar. Instructors ready.

Conservation. Ledford reports the forest fire level is 4 out of 6 – very high. wwwTwo eagle projects have been completed.

HAT Cross Country Ski Training. The seminar and outing are all set.

Literature. Whited has revised the Adult Leader Backpack Training Syllabus.

Quest. Fleder has suggested the program be renamed and the requirements altered. Much discussion

ensued. A separate meeting will continue the discussion.

Intracouncil. The next meeting will be hosted by West Los Angeles Council on September 13.

      Like all insects, flies have compound eyes made up of numerous facets, or ommatidia. Houseflies have about 350 facets per eye, while dragonflies have a whopping 30,000. According to John Meyer, an entomology professor at North Carolina State University, each ommatidium feeds the brain about its own segment of the field of vision, producing an image like a pixel on your computer screen, and these form a mosaic in the fly’s brain. This information – essentially describing light and color, is fairly limited compared with what the human eye takes in, so insects have poor long distance vision. But their compound eyes provide two important advantages. First, they allow the eye to detect movement much faster than we can, because their flicker fusion rate – the speed at which the eyes can fuse separate images into a continuous “movie” is five times greater than ours. This is why flies can elude capture and zoom at insane speeds without crashing. Second, since compound eyes are spherical, flies can see what’s behind them. So no matter how stealthily you sneak up on the buggers, they see you coming every time.

      Summer is fire season, and not just in the West. Here’s how to recognize wildfires quickly and anticipate where they may start.

Watch. Is it smoke or just a cumulus cloud? Look for rising columns and low level gray smog. Suspect a hazy sunrise or sunset, or an orange glow on the nighttime horizon.

Listen. A crackling or swooshing sound means a blaze is less than a mile away; flying embers and breezes offer clues about its direction.

Escape. Wind, terrain and fuel determine a fire’s speed and intensity and the right conditions can turn a smoldering brush fire into a fast moving blaze. Treat all fires as life-threatening and head for clear or already charred areas. If overtaken, lie face down in a bare area or depression and protect your head.

Predict. Droughts often limit trail access. Before a hike, check the forecasts from the National Weather Service (fire.boi.noaa.gov) and daily updates  by the National Interagency Fire Center (nifc.gov/firemaps.html).

  The school season has started and many troops have new members. So a not too hard hike is warranted to start getting those new Scouts up to speed. This month’s hike is on the Mini-Peakbagger list. It is rated easy but it is about 8 miles roundtrip with about 1600 feet of elevation gain.

Mount Islip

      This hike is in the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest and cars will need an Adventure Pass. The hike begins at Islip Saddle. To get there from the South Bay, take the Harbor Freeway to the Pasadena to the Golden State to the Glendale to the 210. Exit the 210 (very soon after you enter it) to the Angeles Crest Highway in La Canada. Drive north from the exit 39.5 miles (a mile beyond the two tunnels) to Islip Saddle where there is a large parking area on the north side of the highway. Restrooms are available here. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses  the highway here at the 6700 foot elevation level.

      To begin the hike, cross the highway to the southeast corner of the junction of the Angeles Crest Highway with Route 39 (closed since a major slide in 1978. Follow the PCT southeast about 2 ½ miles and 750 feet of gain to Little Jimmy campground, a great place for a weekend camping outing. From Little Jimmy camp, follow the signed trail southwest another 1 ½ miles and 800 feet of gain to the 8250 foot peak.

      Mt Islip is named for George Islip who settled about 1880 on land now included in the Angeles National Forest. There was a fire lookout tower on the summit and the foundation remains.

      The hike is shown on the Crystal Lake 7 ½ minute topographic map and the driving route is shown on the Automobile Club Los Angeles and Vicinity map.

EXERCISE WHILE DREAMING

      You may think you are getting exercise when you are dreaming that you are exercising, but you are not. Most of your muscles are in a quasi-paralyzed state during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when vivid dreaming takes place.

      The human brain, probably as a result of evolution, turns off the motor neurons so we won’t injure ourselves or our sleeping partners – and so predators won’t be drawn by our movements. While some people suffer from REM behavior disorder, in which the muscles don’t shut off properly and the subject moves around or sleepwalks, we have not heard of anyone sleep-running a 10K.

      Vital signs such as heart rate may be affected by dream content, so visions of Sugar Ray Robinson sparring with you probably have a different effect than visions of strolling down a beach; still without any muscle contraction the fitness factor would be nil. This leaves the rather subjective idea that an exercise dream can make you feel better.

      To date, no studies have addressed endorphin rushes in sleeping people. However: if you dream you’ve taken the yellow jersey from Lance, more power to you, but the chances that it has made you fitter are about as good as if you’d sat through a movie nine times.

(This series of articles, begun in TrailHead 151, continues discussion of  weather prediction and forecasting.)

      National Meteorological Center (NMC) weather forecasts produced by the supercomputer are meant for forecasters; they would be of little use to most people. In addition to maps and texts describing general weather patterns around the world, NMC also supplies local Weather Service offices with information about what the big weather patterns imply for conditions at each Weather Service location.

      This information is used as the starting point for the local and regional forecasts. Each of the nation’s weather forecast offices produces basic public forecasts, aviation forecasts and marine forecasts if there is a nearby large body of water. A primary responsibility is alerting people in their areas to potentially dangerous weather.

      Special forecasts are produced for big local events like football games, oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, visiting dignitaries, etc..

      The Weather Channel based in Atlanta, operates 24 hours a day. Weather forecasts are an important component of Local TV news. While the five minute weather forecast on local TV news looks simple enough, putting together a forecast is a marathon event. All available input is carefully studied up to the last minute and corrections continually made to keep the data up to date. Maps and animations of clouds and storm fronts and precipitation are drawn and updated

      (In TrailHead 186 we will  discuss how weather information can be obtained and used in Troop Outing planning.)

      How many trees does it take to supply enough oxygen for one person to survive? Well, first you have to figure how much oxygen one person consumes. One biology professor estimates that the average human requires about 130,000 liters per year. Trees both produce and consume oxygen, but in a productive tropical rainforest, the average tree releases a net 273,000 liters of oxygen per year. At the other extreme, a desert juniper produces only 6,000 liters or so.

      So you would need 21 junipers to keep one human aerated, while a single rainforest specimen produces enough oxygen for two. Next time you see a tree, take a deep breath and say thanks.

      (Sixth in a series of TrailHead articles to provide navigation information for those leaders who are taking their Unit on an outing.)

Compass operation, declination and map orientation. As stated in the Navigation article in the previous TrailHead, the magnetic north pole to which the compass needle points does not coincide with the geographic north pole. The angular distance between them is called magnetic declination and it is shown on all maps because it varies according to location on the earth. (It also varies with time because the earth’s magnetic pole is moving and the declination changes by one degree about every 25 years.)  Maps are based on the geographic north and south poles.

      The top of the map is geographic north, also called true north. Many of those using topographic maps use true north for navigation, which requires setting the declination on the compass. The Boy Scouts base navigation on magnetic north, so they can ignore declination when using the map. Near the bottom left corner of a topographic map, you find some lines radiating from the same point.. The line parallel to the edge of the map is true north and has a star at its end. The line with a half arrow on the end and the label MN is magnetic north. The third line is labeled GN for grid north for those using the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system which is usually used by those using a GPS..

      Before a compass can be used in conjunction with a map in the field, the map must be oriented. This means aligning the map so that its top points north and directions on the map are the same as directions on the ground. To orient the map, set it on the ground and set the compass on the lines defining north. Then rotate the map until the line defining magnetic north is parallel to the compass needle. At this point it is useful to use your boot or a stick to draw a line on the ground parallel to magnetic north so that it is easy to orient the map as you use it.

      To prepare the map for navigation you should draw meridian lines before you leave home. Meridian lines are lines drawn on the map parallel to magnetic north. They should be drawn about an inch apart on the portion of the map which you will be using.

      Another good idea is to draw a line on the map 2.64 inches long (one mile on a 7 ½ minute map). Then divide one inch of the line into 1/10 inch intervals to act as a ready ruler for estimating distances. Place this line near the area you will be using but not near features that will be used for taking bearings.

      There are two important things to keep in mind when using the map and compass. First, nearby magnetic objects can play havoc with your compass – and your navigation. If the magnetic objects (usually containing iron) are small, they must be within inches of the compass to cause errors. Items to watch for include pocketknives, another compass, steel pencil ends, some rings, bracelets, belt buckles and zippers. If the nearby objects are larger, such as tractors or heavy equipment, you will have to be a number of feet away to avoid deflection. If the nearby object is very large, (for instance a mountain of iron ore), your compass may be useless until you get several miles away from it. Second, if the map is very old, the declination may be inaccurate and the magnetic north arrow may be off by up to a degree or more.. This can cause you to draw meridian lines at the wrong angle.

 (In the next issue we will begin discussion of using bearings to locate yourself and features.)

This program will be held at Loyola Marymount University on Dec 6. It is a Saturday well spent, so be sure to sign up. You’ll be glad you did.