Haven't purchased any gear from BSA... just picked up a book from there on backpacking and written by someone that advocates ultra light but also supposed to take you through everything you need to know from pack to gear, to hiking, etc.

I typically go in store or online to a lot of different places such as backcountry, rei, backwoods, moosejaw, sunny sports, bass pro, cabelas...

The fortunate thing that I was thinking about was that I could talk to someone that actually had experience backpacking Philmont or other high adventure trips. Yeah I can always find my gear elsewhere and usually just go there if my son needs a new advancement patch or something similar.

The bummer is that I'm not sure if I will ever get a chance to go to philmont depending on my son's committment level and when the troop goes next, but there are a couple of Dad's that have still helped out with the troop long after their son's completed their eagle scouts / scouting.

My theory is that I'm going to plan some nature hikes and backwoods camping whether or not he stays in. I did a lot of camping as a kid and it was all with my dad at the lake and outside of any scout activities.