Still am, scouting weaves a long thread through my life (35 years and counting), so thankfully It was positive along the way, and if it wasn’t I wouldn’t still be hanging around. I have seen and heard many of the negative’s others have noted along the way though, and hope that it doesn’t turn them off to the outdoors, or letting their kids give it a go, and possibly volunteering to give them and their peers a better experience.
So moving on, even before scouts I was an outdoor kid, scouts gave the outdoors some focus and a base level of skills (camping and life) to build on.
I Started as a cub scout in the late 70’s, had a great den mother (Sally), with a mix of crafts, tours (Tonka toys and Kodak film processing come to mind) and the outdoors. And when it came to power tool projects and longer outdoor activities the dads were brought in, and then they took over for Webelos (Steve and My Dad, both were on rotating shifts) (it’s how it was done then). A few summer weekends and then a week at Camp Heritage as a cub scout (now Stearns).
I got fully hooked during my first trip to Many Point as a scout. I was taking Astronomy MB and needed to do the night sky portion on Thursday night. It was a bit over ½ mile from the beach to our site, so I went to the beach for free time and stayed for the night skys portion looking through a telescope. Like any good first year scout I didn’t think about taking my flashlight with, nor did the other scout in our troop. So we worked our way back to camp by following the gap in the tree canopy over the road, using the stars as our guide. The last few hundred yards was harder as the road up to the site was just wide enough for a vehicle, so no stars were visible, walked into the woods a time or 2. We did lots of camping as a troop, and our charter org Westphal American legion had canoes, so we did a lot of canoeing on the St. Croix and Apple rivers. I completed my Eagle in 87, took a bike tour along the Mississippi when I was 12, went to Philmont, 2 national jamborees one of which was visited by Hurricane BOB. Had my first BWCA trip, in February of 84 or 85. Did about a dozen Winter trips, before I did a BWCA canoe trip. Never done a scout BWCA canoe trip (odd). Joined the Staff at Many Point off and on from the mid 80’s thru the mid 90’s as time and finances allowed. Made a few lifelong friends there as well as met my wife. Many great leaders along the way a few of Note were Jim (SM) Duane and my Dad (ASM’s). All of the high adventure items were lead by district or council volunteers.
Had a few years out of scouts as we started our life and family. Our son was in cub and boy scouts (Eagle in 17), I went along for a good chunk of the ride as a leader in various positions and advisor for some of the bigger trips (Philmont, Sea Base and Sommers for the Okpik program at -30). Our daughter had no interest in the GSA once she heard that their field trip was to go shopping at MOA. She tagged along to most the cub scout meetings (really, she had no choice) but enjoyed them.
Later she became part of the Venturing crew (co-ed scouting program 15+, like exploring but an outdoor focus), She went to Philmont for the horse trek and we went to Okpik for the dog sled trek (highly recommend). She worked at Many Point for a few years prior to Covid, when camp was reduced to a skeleton crew for the summer.
Since my kids have been done with scouts for several years, I help at the bigger events a few times a year, and run the cub scout leader outdoor training, and some additional adult training during the year.
One of the elements of scouting that I believe sets it apart from any other program is the variety of experiences that they can get from the program that I haven’t seen from any other program.
Oh, and one last item. Antelope, Antelope have no business in the BWCA, now a Beaver on the other hand… jk… Off to Gillwell happy land…
