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 |
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
|
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 |
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 |
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 |