THE BIRTHDAY HIKES - 9

Year Fourteen  

Actual Miles Hiked:                         147.7 miles
Required Miles:                               147 miles 

Year Fourteen, ah yes, I remember it well.  That was my year of advancement and recognition.  It was in the Boy Scouts of America that I received my civic, artistic, and outdoor training.   With a plethora of merit badges to work from we were always kept busy trying to learn and do something new, while at the same time trying to advance in a scouting rank and receiving that much sought after recognition.

There were several overnighters and summer camps during the year that we could attend.  Sometimes it was just an overnight camp in someone’s back yard, other times it would be an official scout camp where we could learn new skills as well as demonstrate the proficiency we had gained in our existing skills.  

One of my fond memories was at a spring Camporee, a two-night campout at Camp Wigwam located just outside of Salt Lake City in Mill Creek Canyon.  We had spent the day engaged in various activities and contests, but now it was time for the knot-tying exercise.  Knot tying; this is what Boy Scouting is all about.  There is a knot for every occasion; there is the overhand knot, your basic knot used just to show that you can tie a knot.  I don’t know that it has a great deal of use, but we had to learn it.  From there you move into knots with which you can tie a rope to a post or tree, such as the half-hitch, the two half hitches, or  the timber hitch.  You could tie your horse up to a branch of a tree with the half-hitch, and with the timber hitch you could hitch up to a log and drag it across the ground right through the campground of another scout troop, if you wanted to.  My favorite was the bowline; now there was a knot.  The kind of a knot you could tie without fear of it falling apart at the slightest twist or breeze.  There was a way you could take the end of a rope, and with a twist of the wrist and tuck of the rope, you had a bowline knot that could save your buddy’s life if he had the misfortune of falling over the edge of a cliff and needed to be pulled back up.  And of course there was the ever famous square knot.  This was the scouters knot.  You would tie your neckerchief around your neck with a square knot.  In a pinch you could tie your shoes with one; anything where you needed to join two pieces of rope, twine, laundry line, even a girls braids together.

At this particular scout camp, the final competition of the day was knot-tying.  Each troop would select their best knot tier to represent the troop.  The winner would get a cool plaque that had an official square knot mounted on it with the words “First Place” written below it.   

Brent Warner, he was our knot tier extraordinaire.  He knew knots that weren’t even in the Boy Scout manual; and he was quick.  He would be finished tying his knot before most of the other boys had even put their two ropes together.

So the contest began.  First came the End knots; these are knots that are tied in the end of a rope to prevent the rope from being pulled through a hole.  Brent aced that one easily. Then you have your Hitches; there is the Half-hitch, the Slippery half hitch, and the Timber hitch.  There were knots for making loops; the lariat knot, and of course the Bowline.  Brent could tie a bowline so fast that if a boy fell over the cliff he wouldn’t even have a chance to yell for help before Brent could have his rope with the Bowline knot loop tied in the end and thrown down for him.  The final knot group was the Knots for Joining. These were the simple knots; the Fisherman’s  knot, the Sheetbend, and of course the Boy Scout’s famous Square knot.

It wasn’t long into the contest before it became apparent as to exactly who the real champion knot tier was; Brent Warner.  As the final knots were being announced, our whole troop started to chant out “Go Brent, Go Brent, Go Brent”.  The final knot they announced was the Square knot.  Oh man, this contest was in the bag.  Brent was given the end of two loose ropes; “Square knot” was yelled out and there was a flurry of hands with the two ends of rope just flying through the air as all contestants lunged into their final knot.  Wait a minute; make that everyone except Brent Warner.  Brent just stood there with a blank look on his face.  He started one knot, then, no that wasn’t it, then he would go on to another.  His mind was a blank.  He was still trying to figure out just what a Square knot was even as the coveted Square knot trophy was being presented to one of the other troops.  

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy at “Camp Wigwam” – mighty Brent Warner has struck out”.

On the brighter side, that was the year that I earned my Eagle Scout award.