Well if Gerald Ford was allowed to go across the Arch, then I should be able to also! For many years I got the opportunity to explore Mackinac Island in northern Michigan. I was told by many Scout leaders to "leave the Arch alone" and absolutely nobody was allowed to go across it. Of course I grew up with many daredevil friends where we had a daredevils club in our neighborhood, and they all were in my Boy Scout troop as well. ​

One of the greatest things that my dad did in my life was to put me into Boy Scouts. I should say, forced me into Boy Scouts since I really did not want anything to do with it. I just wanted to stay home and create art projects. But there I was every Wednesday night standing in a uniform that required me to wear tall olive colored socks that had red tassels hanging from the top of them. I also wore a red barrette and did a lot of marching practice. I was in troop 116 of Farmington Michigan. I say "of" Farmington since our meetings were held in West Bloomfield Michigan at my old Elementary school named Eagle Elementary. After the marching drills, we got to play basketball or at times floor hockey with a plastic puck for around a half hour, and then it was working on merit badges for the rest of

the meeting. After I got used to it, being in Scouts became just a Wednesday thing. Our Scout troop did a lot of camping and canoe trips that were really fun. I am amazed to this day that none of the Scouts ended up missing arms, legs or fingers from all of the things we did while we were away from the Scout leaders and parents. But I will leave that for another story. ​

Our main campout was not really a camping experience, but was a trip to Mackinac Island where we stayed in a barracks for a week. Mackinac Island is located in the straights of Michigan which separates Northern Michigan (Upper Peninsula) from the rest of Michigan. Basically sits on top of the Michigan "Glove." Eleven Scout troops every year were selected to be honor guards for Fort Mackinac, which is a historic military Fort located on the Island established in 1780. The Fort was created to prevent the British ships from attacking central America. Basically we were guides assisting tourists around the historical Fort. Many times it was not assisting, more like standing in one position for a few hours keeping tourists from going into the employee only areas. Nevertheless it was a great experience! Every hour there was musket firing demonstrations, cannons being fired, and re-creations of historic events where everybody was in original American and British military uniforms.

​Our Scout troop was selected every year due to the gross amount of fertilizer, garbage bags, and light bulbs we sold during our rallies. Kind of like the Girl Scout cookie rally, but more "manly" items being sold. Our troop was selected for the last 22 years to be honor scouts on the Island. This also was a week where the parents stayed home and partied since the kids were out of town. On the Island, the Scouts duties were divided into three positions. Kitchen Patrol, Morning Tourist Service, or Afternoon Tourist Service. The in between time when the Scouts were off duty was play and explore time. The shifts changed every day and my favorite was Morning duty. The greatest thing about Mackinac Island was that all travel was done by walking, bicycling, or by horseback. No vehicles were allowed on the island. Just after lunch us Scouts hopped onto bicycles and either went into town to eat massive amounts of fudge, or went exploring the many limestone attractions that were on the island. Since I was considered one of the daredevils, I hung out with some of the older Scouts who always pushed for a greater adventure.

We liked exploring Arch Rock, which is a pretty good size chunk of limestone with a giant hole through it. Our tour pamphlet showed a photo of President Gerald Ford when he was a Boy Scout sitting on the arch with 

friends. The Arch looked pretty thin to me and could not support much weight, besides the 50' drop to the ground, and then another 100' steep hillside tumble into Lake Huron. We hiked up and down the Arch formation, but never across it. Of course all of the older Scouts insisted that we go across it or we would be considered babies. I noticed that the Arch looked a lot thinner now than the 1929 Gerald Ford photo showed. Besides the older Scouts were not crossing it themselves. Then we were off to another formation called Sugarloaf. Sugarloaf is a cool spire that is located higher up on the island and stands around 75 feet tall. There is a cave that goes through the bottom portion of Sugarloaf from one side to the other, but you have to be careful since many Scouts in the past have got stuck within the cave, and needed a rescue to get back out. I of course knew the secret before I was dared to go through it. It still required a friend to help twist your body limbs to get through one very tight section of the cave. What sucked about Sugarloaf is when my daredevil friends forced me to climb to the top. ​

​The climbing face started from the high side of the cave, and went up a simple scramble on ledges, but then stopped most people at a 5.5 sheer face section to reach the final moves to the top. So looking down being 60' above the ground, with no rope, in loose tennis shoes, on a sheer face was quite scary. But I was dared and did not want to be called a baby all of my life. I was probably 14 years old at the time. A few of my friends made it to the top as I contemplated the face for many minutes, and then many more minutes, and then many 

more minutes. I knew it was going to be bad if I backed out, so I went for it and was super proud of myself for my achievement. But then it dawned on me and all of my friends, that the only way back down was the way we came up. This became even scarier as the toughest daredevil in the group was first to attempt the down climb, and we all noticed the tears that started running out of his eyes while he was stuck in the hardest down climb move. I at that time started chanting my prayers and wanted my mommy really bad. I was second to go down and I was gripped so hard that my hands and wrists were cramping big time. I did not want to die on Sugarloaf, but felt like this was truly the end of my life. We all made it back to the ground, looked at each other in silence, and then hopped back onto our bicycles where we screamed and laughed all the way back to the Scout barracks. We were all heroes!

​Sugarloaf was my first rock climb and was a very memorable experience, but I still had one more challenge to accomplish. The following year I was back with the Scouts on Mackinac Island, and yes I was unfortunately still part of the daredevil club. Once again we looked at the Arch and scrambled around it, and then I found myself on top of Sugarloaf again. This time I was more familiar with the climbing moves since they were deeply imprinted in my mind from the first climbing experience. Plus I had a full year to ponder bad nightmare scenarios of results that 

did not happen on that first climb, but could have. We scrambled and climbed on other Island formations like Skull Cave, where the Indians used to bury their dead, and played on other rocks near the cold lake shore. Most of the time we hung out in town eating fudge, checked out the Grand Hotel, played frisbee in Marquette park, or hung out on the docks trying to hitch boat rides on the many beautiful million dollar yachts that were anchored there.

​But with all of the attractions to be seen, the emptiness of the final challenge had to be filled. On the last day of our week we had Morning Duty again, and found ourselves free from work for a few hours. There was nothing else on our minds but to go back to Arch Rock. At that time there were no signs but a short fence keeping tourists away from the edge. Looking at the Arch from the top it looks like it is a little wider than two horses backs. The distance 

to cross was not that far, but if the arch broke it was sudden death, or if you fell off it was sudden death as well. Also looking down was the view of 150 feet or so. The Arch looked crumbly and had a few plants growing out of it, but the crossing had to be done. My two friends Pete and Richard were much more daring, of course stopping in the middle to jump up and down to show how solid the Arch was. I slowly crawled across being careful of every move and was quite proud of my accomplishment. That was enough excitement for me! Pete was so full of adrenalin that he went down into the hole of the Arch, and free solo climbed the 40' wall just left of the arch. So there, take that Gerald Ford!

I stayed on Mackinac Island for one week each of seven years, and it was an incredible experience in my life. One of the older Scouts spent the whole summer on the Island as an actor who fired the muskets in the demonstrations. We got to hang out with him as he showed us the ins and outs of the entire Fort Mackinac. We got an opportunity to fire a few muskets and got to fire one of the main cannons. Every morning and night the Scouts raised and lowered a few dozen flags around the Island, and one was a 15' x 20' American flag that took a bunch of us to fold. The last night of our week we had a ceremonial camp fire, and reflected upon memories of our personal experiences on the Island, under the amazing Northern Michigan night sky.

As a senior Scout I really enjoyed being in Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout in 1981. A year later I turned 18 and became a Explorer Scout for one year. Explorer Scouts taught me a wealth of

knowledge of how to survive in the wilderness. It also gave me knowledge of how to touch Natures Spirit, which is a feeling that I hope everybody experiences sometime in their life.

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