The Scout staff is considered an important part of a Scout's outdoor equipment. A staff is a basic tool for the outdoor traveler. For thousands of years, the walking stick has been symbol, weapon, record, and support for the tired feet and legs of the wanderer. Even today, on the trail or in camp, it has a hundred uses.

The Scout staff needs to be thick enough to be strong, thin enough to be light, and comfortable to carry. The staff will gradually becomes a record as well as a treasured companian to the scout in the long run. The ideal length of the scout staff about chin height For balance and utility, the staff is marked in feet and inches for measuring when necssary.

Decorated or not, a staff belongs on the trail. "A hiking stick helps make the miles glide by," It swings comfortably in one’s hand, offering balance and a rhythm to one’s gait." In dense overgrowth, the staff is use to push aside brush and cobwebs and to prevent branches from whipping into your face. If the trail is wide enough, slip it behind the hips and hoist the pack to give one person’s back a break. The Scout can lift up underbrush to search for insects or pry up logs and rocks to satisfy his curiosity about what's underneath.

On more adventurous terrain, the Scout staff is even more useful. It is a handy balance aid when crossing log bridges. Used as a brace to lean on, it can be a life-and-sprained-ankle-saver on hills, rocky ground, and slippery- bottomed streams. Marked with a measuring scale (zero at the bottom), it is useful for measuring water depth and the size of specimens. And, it's much safer to poke into holes and behind rocks with a staff rather than using the hand.

A staff is handy in many emergency situations, as well. Two staves make a quick litter or stretcher. One can be a reaching aid for a comrade struggling in the water. One can use it as a crutch if necessary, or make it into a mast for a sail on a canoe. Whenever it saves one’s time of having to find and cut a pole, the Scout will appreciate having it handy.

In camp, especially above treeline, the staff can become a makeshift ridgepole or tentpole. It is instantly available for lifting hot pots off the fire . With a few staves, you can produce a flagpole or a camp gadget.

 

Introduction: On the Importance of a Hiking Staff

Uphill, downhill, flat; if it's broken, the terrain marred by rocks or debris such as blowdowns, hazards such as slippery surfaces or fast-flowing streams, a staff that can support your full weight can be invaluable. This is especially true if the Scout is carrying a heavy backpack, where the likelihood of losing his balance and then falling increases with every step. Imagine, stepping over deadfalls and blow downs that are at waist level or better, shoving branches and brush aside when navigating thick vegetation without additional support.

In such cases, the hiking staff will act as a probe, allowing the Scout to circumvent these areas. Also, a hiking staff will allow the Scout to pole-vault the pot-holes you discover and other mounds and obstructions you could not otherwise cross.

It can also be use to sit upon. As a flag-pole. As a punt pole. As a measuring rod. As an upright for a hike tent. As a ridge pole for a hike tent. To carry anything over the shoulder. To carry anything slung between two. With one or more others, to carry logs. As a turning post for a race. Lashed to trees, as a hitching rail. As a lever. As a ski-pole. To signal with. To align anything. As a vaulting pole. As a signal flagstaff. A tripod to hold a kettle. To find North by the Sun at noon. As emergency football goal posts. As a long split for the body or leg. A fishing rod. Mast for a canoe. Temporary splits. As a broom handle. To make a teepee. To make a light bridge. Handle of a trek cart. To beat out a prairie fire. As a weighing "balance". To practice lashings on. To test the depth of water. Spar for small sailing boat. As a leveling rod for surveying. To feel your way with in the dark. As a help in hill or mountain climbing. Two, as frame of improvised stretcher. To discover the nature of a river bottom. For feeling way over marshy ground. Throwing to a drowning person at the end of a rope. To hang clothes on to dry, placed between bushes or trees. As a means of defence against wild animal or vicious domestic animals and Keeping in touch with the rest of your Patrol in the dark in a single file.In fact there are many other uses for the staff that can’t be name all here.

If the Scout staff is properly held , it will improve the appearance of any large parade of Scouts, apart from the actual individual value of the Scout Staff , it is also a symbol of authority and power for the staff holder .The Chief Scout felt that it was an essential tool for the Scouts that we are encourage to make the staff not merely a broomstick but a part of the Scouts costume that we love and treasure.