News photo sites are choked with insane Met Gala pictures. I can’t think of anything less news oriented than a bunch or rich kids playing dress-up.
MjL 08 May 2024, 4:21 a.m.
My favorite #Scouting adventures were the weekend campouts and the Amaquonsippi Trail was one of the best. It is a sixteen-mile hike along both sides of the Spoon River and there are cable bridges to get across the river and tributaries along the way. Those bridges consist of a steel cable to walk on and another above you to hang onto. Pretty scary for some of the youngest Scouts.
I went on at least three trips there and possibly four. I can remember being rather exhausted by the time we had finished.
Oddly enough my last time was the most memorable. I was usually out front on these hikes - eager to get finished - but on this occasion, I was told to bring up the rear. I thought it was a kind of punishment at the time but in hindsight it was probably a lesson in leadership in disguise. Mr. Wood, an Assistant Scoutmaster, took me aside at the beginning of the hike and told me Mr. Mitchell wanted me to bring up the rear and make sure the OSS finished the hike and were all accounted for. I’d never heard of OSS before, and he explained it meant “Odd Shapes & Sizes”. I thought that was a bit insulting, but Mr. Wood had that kind of sense of humor.
This meant I had to chaperone the youngest, the slowest, the chubby, and the gawkers who stopped to look at everything along the way. The cable bridges were a particular problem for some of these guys. It seemed like it took forever to get them all herded down the trail but it turned out to be very fun getting to know some of them. I was older and they treated me more like a leader than a fellow Scout and that was very different for me. And it reawakened the wonder in nature the gawkers had for everything. Maybe my first experience with the adage, “It is not the destination, but the journey, that is most enjoyable”.
MjL 08 May 2024, 7:05 a.m.
Michael,
Yes, Amaquonsippi was a great trail! I have some memorabilia, but didn’t have a map/brochure, and couldn’t remember where the trail was located. Thanks for the info.
I remember some of the bridges had their cables too far apart for the shortest scouts to have their feet on the lower cable and hands on the upper. I’m sure you were partly there to lift up the lower cable end at the bank (or pull the upper cable down) so they could reach and cross.
(Image from Jeff added after comment) (Click to Enlarge)
Jeff Teel 08 May 2024, 10:10 a.m.
Hi Jeff, My memory is a little vague on details, but I think we had to go across with some of them to hold the wire down all the way across. I know nobody fell in on my watch and I was glad of that! Michael #Scouting
MjL 08 May 2024, 11:37 a.m.
I received an email as follows from my Brother Alan, (Alan’s wife, Gloria, is active in Girl Scouts)
I read up on your #Scouting memories! Good Stuff! Glo has some Amaquonsippi patches too. Passing them along. I have no recollection of ever going there.
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