**Words by Bennet Bergman
Last month I made the trip up to the famed Elkhorn Flea Market in Wisconsin, where I picked up a dozen of these Merit Badge booklets from the 60’s. Similar to the Foxfire books or the American Boy’s Handy Book, these babies are chock full of information on good American pastimes. They’ll tell you everything you need to know to earn your Merit Badge in basketry or, say, Indian lore. You know, in case you’re a Boy Scout or something. Chapter one of the camping pamphlet starts right in with the big question, “Why go camping?” And those scouts lay it out for us like no big deal:
“Every Scout probably has his own reasons for going camping. If you asked him what they were, he might not be able to tell you. It may be something he can’t put his finger on—like the smell of last year’s pine needles or the sound of bacon sizzling over a crackling campfire. He just likes the outdoors and everything about it—he likes to live on his own in the open, whether in the desert, prairie, or woodland—he likes to be a part of the great outdoors.”
Sounds about right to me.
My 11 year old just spent 6 days at 9500 feet near Creede, CO. His first high country trip and he did great. Youngest there. Hiked to 12,500. Caught (and cleaned) several trout. He was the youngest and not sure if he will ever be the same, smiley face insert. JD said it best, can anyone guess what that was?
“Comin’ home to a place he’d never been before. He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again. You might say he found a key for every door.”