boy scout adventures

Boy scout beginnings

It was in the early 1950’s, a great time to be eleven and a member of the Boy Scouts of America.  My two older brothers had preceded me and since then had moved on to the Explorer Scouts.   Every year my troop had many camping trips and jamborees.  I tried hard to attend each event.  I had to be inventive in obtaining my camping gear.  At this same time my family was buying a small farm in northern Virginia and therefore we had very little extra money to buy camping gear.  I obtained much of my camping equipment from purchasing used military gear left over from WWII from Army and Navy stores. The A&N stores became my favorite place to shop. God only knew who had lived or died using this equipment or even if their ghost was still lingering in it.


My prized backpack consisted of a WWII vintage external wood frame canvas bag.  The pack alone weighed about ten pounds empty.  These packs were not made for comfort and only had thin shoulder straps and no hip belt.  On many long hikes it was not unusual to have multiple blisters form along the strap edges of my shoulders.  My canvas tent was made up of two WWII shelter halves  joined at the center by metal buttons and no floor.  I had to use the daily newspaper for my tent floor and ground cover, which worked great until it rained and then it acted like a sponge.  I spent many cold rainy nights when the newspapers did little to take away the cold dampness of the ground.  Because most of the hiking freeze dried or dehydrated foods on the market were expensive, most of us had to carry the heavier canned foods.  A typical pack weight for a fourteen day backpacking trip was about fifty eight pounds.  I considered that heavy even for a young strong boy.


My Boy Scout troop was very active and every year we went on several long backpacking trips. It was not unusual for several of us to plan our own week long backpacking adventure. One such trip I remember was when five of us decided to earn our Tote-N-Chip award by fulfilling the requirements by hiking fifty miles in one week. We hade to plan the trip solely by ourselves and carry all of our food and equipment we needed for the hike. We planned to hike along the Appalalchain Trail from Front Royal to Swift Run Gap a total of fifty plus miles.  Our food consisted of ready to eat C or K rations left over from WWII or from meals in cans bought from the grocery store. 


To start the hike there were five brave young boys ready for a big adventure along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. There was myself, a self made survivalist, the scout masters son, who wanted to do everything by the book, the troop nerd, who of course knew everything, a handicapped boy, that lagged behind everyone by fifty yards, and the troop cry baby, that constantly complained about everything. At times it was a real challenge hiking with so many boys with different personalities.


There were many exciting things that happened along the hike. We had each days hike planned so we could hike from trail shelter to trail shelter, a total of about fifteen miles. One day were walked too slow and did not make it to the next shelter. That night we had to sleep in our sleeping bags along the trail. We were so amazed when we woke up the next morning because white tailed deer were grazing on the grass around our sleeping bags. It was such a gift from God to wake up and see wildlife so close up and personal. Another night we shared our shelter with a sixty year old woman named Grandma Gatewood who was on her second thru hike of the entire 2,160 miles of the Appalachian Trail. She had a very colorful story about her hiking experiences. She carried a cloth feed sack for a pack and only stopped at selected houses along the way for food. She slept in our shelter on the floor with no mattress. She also made it very clear that she carried a thirty eight caliber pistol for protection. In the morning we said our goodbyes as she left going north and we were going south.


I thought our backpack journey was a great experience. We learned how to hike along the Appalachian Trail by following the white blaze markings and to be responsible for carrying all of our own food, shelter, and other provisions to live along the Trail.
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