The Right Stuff by Kent Brooten

The other day I was chatting with several of my former Scouts (now in their 30’s). It’s VERY interesting to hear their memories of Scouting. They remember getting the troop across a raging river near North Bend. Someone had set fire to the bridge the night before. It took us hours in bitterly cold water to get everyone across. They remember the hike to Kennedy Hot Springs in late November. Eighteen inches of snow on the ground and 10” of rain in 24 hours. It was a test of their ability to stay dry. Several new boys and the older boys helped them with breakfast, break camp and get on the trail. In the cars on the highway. we couldn’t see the road. It was covered by the flood waters. We drove halfway between the fences lining both sides of the road. The State Patrol was closing the roads behind us.

They remember the time it snowed so much we were stranded at Snoqualmie Pass for an extra day. We had to pool our emergency supplies and make do. They remember the time one of their fellow Scouts spilled boiling water into his boots while hiking in a remote part of the Yukon. We had to get him to the other end of the trail - 40 miles away.

They remember the winter ski trip around Crater Lake, where it snowed 18 inches - every day for a week. They endured the exhaustion of breaking trail through many feet of fresh snow. They remember “the rest of the story” of what looked to be a beautiful climb of Rainier (photo in BSA handbook, page 15). That night we had 75 mph winds and blowing snow. No one slept during the howling blizzard. When we left high camp the next morning, several were literally blown over. Navigation in the whiteout was challenging to say the least.

The regular outings all seem to run together. It’s the tough ones that are memorable. It’s the time when everyone had to make an extra effort to insure success. Where I the group was challenged to do far more than their share. Taking care of themselves wasn’t enough. These few precious moments in their lives let them see for themselves what they could do, what they were made of. This is character building at it’s best.

Supreme Court Justice William 0. Douglas said this:

“If, throughout time, the youth of the nation accept the challenge the mountains offer, they will help keep alive in our people the spirit of adventure. That spirit is a measure of the vitality of both nations and men. A people who climb the ridges and sleep under the stars in high mountain meadows, who enter the forest and scale the peaks, who explore glaciers and walk ridges buried deep in snow — these people will give their country some of the indomitable spirit of the mountains.

Kent Brooten is a Scoutmaster in the Green River District. His column appears in each Totem.