Scouts

L-R, Lynn Moore, Eric Southwick, Henry Wagner, Chuck Wagner, Bill Croasdale, and your's truly, moi. Our Eagle Court of Honor.

I've done a lot of scouting over the years and I have a lot of good memories from it. I don't think I ever realized how much our adult leaders sacrificed for us until I became an adult leader. Every summer, Henry and Bill would take us hiking for an entire week. Not just five days like we do today but for an entire week. That was a week of their time away from family and a week they couldn't use for vacation with their family. I know, today, I have to balance my days off in order to make sure I have enough time to go to France every couple of years. Anyway, they were dedicated leaders and I really appreciate all they taught us and did for us.

Hiking was the theme. We hiked everywhere. My first two years, we did some hikes through the Angeles Crest mountains. They were 50 milers. The first was the Silver Moccasin trail and the second was the Golden Arrowhead trail. I don't know what the significance of the names were but it was where I learned how to hike. One of the first things Henry would have us do, when we came into the troop, was to build our own backpack. It was made of a wood frame with canvas strapping. Dad eventually bought me a light weight Kelty pack but it was a good experience to build my own. After those hikes, we started doing the John Muir trail in the high Sierras. Those were really great hikes! Some of my lasting memories are of hiking to the top of Mount Whitney (tallest spot in the continental U.S.), having sacrament meeting on the top of a mountain, walking in the rain, walking through a burnt out forest, bears, snakes, sitting in natural hot springs, making camp each night, minestrone soup, and so much more. Once, after a day of hiking and after setting up camp, we heard there was a store not too far away. We took off and hiked down the mountain and into a small town where we found a store and some soda and then we had to hike back. Well, that soda was about a 10 mile round trip hike but it was worth it. Those were good days and I am ever so grateful for leaders who taught us how to hike, who prepared us for these hikes by taking us out on smaller ones each month, and who just taught us to have a good time.