A Personal History
compiled by myself
Thomas Boyd Wilson
aka
“T” or Grumpy T
My profile picture
“Scouting Memories
in no particular order”
Pinewood Derby

Pinewood DerbyMy earliest memories of ‘Scouting’ are of a Pinewood Derby; my dad was the Cub Master. I remember that dad had made an awesome racetrack and I was excited to watch it. I was too young to participate but I do remember the thrill of the cars racing down the track. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to participate. When I turned eight years old and join the Cub Scouts I waited anxiously for a Pine-wood derby but the first year it was a Space Derby. It was fun but I wanted to race the cars. The next year it was a Rain Gutter Regatta it was also fun but...Finally the next year I had the opportunity to participate in a Pinewood Derby. My dad and I built a pinewood car. I was so proud of it and just knew I would win the race. As it was, I took 2nd place! I was so happy and I still to this day have the little trophy I won. I don’t know what happened to my car. The last time I remember seeing it was when my son Tyler was getting his car ready for his Pinewood Derby. We got my car out and used it for some ideas.

Eagle Scout

My earliest memories of ‘Scouting’I then went into the ‘Boy Scouts’ I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a Mother and a Father who gave me their full support and sometimes a little more encouragement than I thought I wanted. But thanks to them I earned the rank of Eagle. The experiences and skills I learned along that road have proven useful to me almost daily on my path of life.

Maple Dale Campground

I remember one year (I think it was my first year) at Camp Maple Dell, one of the Junior Officers asked for volunteers. This particular ‘JO’ was known for having easy and fun assignments so my friend Roland Johnson and myself immediately volunteered. We found ourselves with the unfortunate task of cleaning a latrine pit that someone had filled with rocks and other inappropriate stuff. To this day whenever anyone asks for volunteers, I have a flashback to that day. I still volunteer for things but I make sure of what I am volunteering for first.

Junior Officer

I was a Junior Officer at Maple Dale Campground two years running. The second year I was assigned to work with a group of ‘Special Scouts’. Each of the boys had at least one handicap several of them had multiple handicaps. That was probably one of the most fulfilling weeks I have spent. I don’t remember it but my mom says I received a special award for that week, but all I remember is that the boys and I got along so well that I didn’t realize that they were handicapped.

Cycling Merit Badge

One year our troop wanted to earn our ‘Cycling Merit Badges’. The requirements were several including:

  • Passing Bicycle safety requirements
  • Showing a knowledge of basic maintenance
  • Six 3 mile bike rides
  • One 12 mile ride.

Because we had committed to going on a camp out monthly, we decided that we should all go on the camp-out by taking the 12 mile ride to the camp ground. Rules were made, plans were made and we began to prepare for the ride. We had to carry all of our supplies for the camp on our bikes and or backs. The ride was suppose to be 12 miles but ended up being 20 miles all uphill with sleeping bags and food packed, quite a ride. To the surprise of all the scouts the one and only person to peddle the whole way without stopping or walking was our scoutmaster ‘my dad’. We reached our campground ‘Beaver Flats’ which was (it is no longer there) at the upper limits of ‘Granite Flats’, in American Fork Canyon. The first order of business was to set up camp and take a bike ride to explore the camp and see how many Beavers we could find. Many damns and numerous habitats were found, but I think only one actual beaver was seen. The return trip was a long coast causing us to almost wear the brakes out.

Scout-O-Rama

I remember going to my first ‘Scout-O-Rama’. What a thrill! It was held in the Wilkinson Center at BYU. I was young and had just joined the troop. I didn’t get to participate much with building the tower because the ‘older boys did most of it, which left me free to roam around and see the different displays. The three things that stand out in my memory are:

  1. Vending machines take all your money and the snacks are not filling.
  2. You should never do 300 sit-ups on an inclined board because your stomach will hurt for a whole week.
  3. The tower and rope bridge that our troop built were the most awesome thing in the entire place.

I was just reading my dad’s story and I didn’t realize it but our troop received recognition from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as one of the top 50 troops in the church.

Kayak Trips:

Our troupe had a tradition of making our own fiberglass kayaks and then going on at least one high adventure kayak trip a year. When you came into the program you were given the choice of paying $40.00 for a kayak that someone who had left the program and didn’t keep his kayak or paying the full $80.00 that it cost for the materials to build a new kayak. My brother didn’t keep his kayak, so I paid the $40.00 and took over his. As was mentioned earlier I didn’t want to be known as Wayne’s brother, so I repainted the kayak. At that time the hippie movement was in full swing, and I decided to paint my kayak psychedelic. I painted the entire kayak a base orange, then I went around to all the auto body shops I could find with empty Gerber Baby food jars, collecting any and all color samples they would give me. I think I had about 75 jars of sample paint. I advertised at the high school that I was having a painting party for 25¢ you got a toothbrush and all the paint you needed to decorate my kayak. The party was very successful, my mom even got involved and painted a toothbrush at the front of mu kayak to remind me to brush my teeth even when camping.My grandson now has the kayak, and uses it periodically.

Shosnoe LakeAs I got older I remember a few kayak trips that I went on as an Explorer Scout: We went to Shoshone Lake in our Kayaks this is a lake way back in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. There are two ways to get there, first you can backpack in. I think it is a 15 mile hike to the lake and then you still have to hike around the lake to your designated camp.

Shosnoe LakeOr you can paddle a canoe or kayak across Lewis Lake then up Lewis River to the lake a total of about 10 miles and again then you must paddle across the lake to your designated campsite. This was a wonderful experience and, yes, I was even convinced to try my hand at fishing, something I still do not enjoy.

Snake RiverWe took a trip down the Snake River. What fun! We found white water and even a small waterfall to go over. This was a very fun trip. The most memorable thing on this trip was the morning we woke up with a thin layer of snow over us, probably an inch or so. It was just enough snow that the wood didn’t want to burn and we couldn’t get a morning fire going. Carl Perry, our leader, was chiding us about not being good scouts and saying that he was not going to get out of his warm sleeping bag until we had a nice fire for him to sit by. He finally said something like “a scout is prepared and a scout can start a fire with one match”. With this point he told us all to stand back away from ‘his fire’.

We had all laid our fire out the night before so it would be easy to start our fires in the morning. He pulled from his sleeping bag what he called his ‘Scout Match’ in reality it was a fifteen-minute flare. He lighted the ‘match’ and tossed it into his fire. The fire immediately flared up and burned. He then took the time to once again teach us theimportance of being prepared with dry matches and a match that would in fact do the job. He also explained that he had observed the weather the night before and felt it might rain so he had ‘prepared his fire’ by soaking some large logs in white gas from the cook stove. These logs were then placed at the bottom of his fire so the gas would not evaporate or get washed off. Thus his fire burned readily.

What a good lesson taught first by example and then explained.

Altouris LakeThe most memorable camp for me was the trip to Alturas Lake. This is a lake in the Sawtooth Mountain Range near Stanley Idaho

NancyWhile at this camp I met Nancy Laverty. She became the first girl that I really cared for. I was sure I was in love, now I love the memories. She and I became very close even though she lived in Challis Idaho and I lived in Pleasant Grove Utah. We spent time on the phone and sent letters back and forth (that was long before email). She visited me several times and I went and visited her as often as possible. She was my date to my Junior Prom. She and are I still good friends.