I was probably about eight years old when, by the urging of a school friend, I joined the Cub Scouts. It was my first experience with being "outdoorsy", with learning plain life skills. We were just little kids, so we did it with our mothers. We learned to tie knots, to make a tent, to do minor cooking and to do outdoor activities such as archery, fishing, hiking, learning about plants and an assortment of other things I can't remember at this moment. I think my fondest memory was making a Pine Derby Car with my dad and then getting to race it. It was pretty much already prefabbed, we just had to carve the shape out a little, paint it and put the wheels in the predesignated spots. The important key was knowing where to put the weight that came along with it. That was the difference between winning and losing. I never won. Came close to first place once, but not quite.
After "graduating" through Cub Scouts, I moved on to Boy Scouts. The difference between the two made a kid feel like he stepped out of childhood into young adulthood. So much so that my mother's involvement became my father's involvement. It was much more my dad's thing now. It was serious, Hardcore hiking, camping, cooking, sporting activities and an assortment of survival skills. It was great fun. I was able to see so many places and things. We visited awesome caves that when the lights turned off you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We were able to see a tree so huge, it would have taken about fifty of us hand in hand to reach all the way around the tree. We got to catch trout, clean it, cook it and then eat it. Truly living off the land. I remember one of the badges I earned, I had to spend a night by myself in the woods and survive with only a knife and a compass. There may have been another item, but my memory is a little fuzzy sometimes. I think I may have been eleven or twelve at the time. Thinking about it now seems like such a ludicrous thing to do, letting someone so young do that. Another one of my favorite projects they had us do for a badge, was to take a raw chicken and one match and cook your chicken for dinner. I saw some of the other scouts fail to light a fire and then have to try to start one with flint and steel. While another actually dropped his into the fire, get it full of ash and dig it out. It was charcoal by the time he was done and must have tasted awful. This was my shining moment. I found a straight branch and carved a point on the end. Jammed it up through stomach of the chicken. Then found another branch in the shape of a "Y" to use for leverage to hold the chicken over the fire. Stabilized the "Y" branch by burying part of it in the dirt and then surrounding the base with rocks. Then leaned the pointed branch with the chicken over the "Y" branch to hold it over the fire. Got some kindling and dry branches, lit my fire and started cooking. I set myself up so I could sit leaning against a tree holding my spitted chicken so I could slowly turn and roast my chicken. I read a book and took my time, letting it roast for well over an hour. Then when it turned a delicious golden brown, I took it back to the camp and devoured it. It was superb. It is one of the few things I get to brag about. Especially when so many of the others had turned out so badly.
Another time, when camping by Crystal Lake in Mammoth, I had my first up close bear encounter. In the Scouts they teach you to hang your food from a tree to keep them out of reach from hungry bears. And you have to do it away from camp so that if they do try to get at it, then it isn't in the midst of your camp. On a certain night, we were hanging around the campfire telling stories, as is normally done when camping. When one of the other scouts spots a bear about twenty five feet away from us, trying to get at our food. You can imagine how scared I was. I was about ten or eleven. I think I had to get another pair of underwear after that. The adults on the other hand, my father included, didn't hesitate. They got right up and started yelling at the bear. Banging pots and throwing rocks at it. I was thinking how crazy that was, this bear is going to charge us. Sure enough though, it worked and the bear ran off. I have seen plenty of bears, cougars, snakes and other animals in my time spent with the Boy Scouts, but that had to be the closest. All in all, so many great memories of the scouts. My one regret was not finishing to become an Eagle Scout. I was pretty close to finishing, but I started high school and started playing sports. So I didn't have time to do both and scouts was wedged out.
I am adding a new feature to the blog. It is called "This Day In History". Where I will tell an important event that happened this day long ago. Hope there are some facts you find interesting.
This Day In History: 1875
Pinkerton detectives shoot up the James family home in Missouri, thinking they have outlaws Frank and Jesse James cornered. They managed only to maim the outlaw's mother and kill their nine year old half brother. (Kind of messed up and they weren't even close to getting the guys they wanted)
Born this day 1880: General Douglas MacArthur
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human
stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein
Ok, maybe this is a little too much beard
Cousin Itt. Any relation to Captain Caveman?
I love the new addition "This Day in History"
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