My Boy Scout Summer - The Girl Scout Camp

Boy Scout Camp was situated on beautiful blue water, below the Palisades Dam in Southeastern, Idaho.  In my research for this post, I've found that the Boy Scout Camp I went to is no longer there.  One can only surmise that the safety of hundreds of boys camping below the dam might have been cause for concern.  The Girl Scout camp, situated above the dam however, is still there.

The organizations, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, couldn't be more different despite their names.  The Boy Scouts as I've pointed out before is quite a political organization dedicated to promoting stereotypes and continuing an unsustainable existence hearkening back to a simpler time of racism, sexism, and exploitation that all true conservatives long for.  Girl Scouts, oddly enough, seem to be about empowering girls through mutual support and companionship while teaching social and practical skills which can round out a young girl's personality.  And Girl Scouts have cookies.

I realize that those are simplistic summaries but I'm sticking by them.

Girl Scout Camp was located up the river, across the dam, and then across Palisades reservoir.  It was enough of a trek that only the truly dedicated boys would dare make the voyage.  My characterization in the previous Boy Scout Summer post might have been a little exaggerated, leading some of you to believe that these two camps were simply on the same lake, but to a teenage boy just having the Girl Scout Camp in the same county was 'right next door.' 

When it comes to girls, I've always been an idiot, truly risking it all in search of the elusive soft skin and pleasant smell of a pretty companion.  Back then was no different.  I was in hot pursuit of Big R's daughter, and he didn't know it. 

Big R was our Scout Leader, a true monster of a man.  A former Marine, his bold forearm eagle tattoo danced under heavy muscles like the last vision a man has before his violent demise.  He stood at least six foot three and defined macho for every boy in the troop: weights, dogs, trucks, and guns.  The guy was a muscle machine with only two soft spots as far as anyone knew.  One soft spot was for his daughter, Mary, and the other soft spot was for his youngest daughter, Lisa.  He would've killed any boy who touched her.

So, I planned to trek over to Girl Scout Camp in the middle of the night to do just that.   

Lisa was my age, in my grade, and went to my church.  It seemed destined to be.  We'd been flirting and once, at a church social we'd sneaked off to make out in a dark hallway.  The chances of us both being at camp in the same week were small enough to test fate and the promises of sexual adventure were worth it for a boy risking death to push the envelope of forbidden passion.  Consequently, we had agreed to meet on the Wednesday night.

Being a natural leader among the boys, I convinced two particularly stupid ones to join in the adventure.  They were twins, these brothers, and the stories of them seem endless and I have no doubt they will make appearances in the future of this blog as well as in the Chronicles of Success Warrior.  Blaine was the elder by minutes, Shane was the younger, neither were smarter and both were easily led.  I think with all these clues, you can see where this story is heading.

In the dead of night we swiped a canoe and headed across our little lake.  One thing you quickly learn about wilderness is that dark is really dark.  Pitch blackness rarely occurs in our technological world, but out in nature without artificial lights relying on stars and moon is a tricky proposition.  This particular night was overcast, so we were in the blackest of black. 

Why we took the canoe, I still shake my head about.  I figured that it would be impressive to just paddle right up to their camp and take Lisa away for a rendezvous.  I guess I'd also figured out that Blaine and Shane would have to make due on their own during that time, because they weren't going with us.  The canoe didn't do us any favors, let me tell you.  First we dented it slamming into a rock on the far shore.  After that we pulled out a flashlight and took turns holding it, while the other two boys carried our means of transportation through backcountry where we never found a trial. We carried that damned thing 2 miles up river and then up a steep embankment to the top of the dam.  By that time we were bleeding from branch cuts, bruised from slipping and falling, and our clothing was tattered. Once to the top of the dam, we put our transportation back in the water and paddled across the lake, looking for the camp.

Finding the camp wasn't easy.  We paddled the entire lake, coves and peninsulas by the dozens, looking for light.  But, in the middle of the night the girls didn't seem to need light.  So back we went around the lake on more time with our own light shined at the shore.  Now, a lot of people camped on Palisades, not just the Girl Scouts.  It seems that they didn't like having a flashlight interrupting their sleep while some boys scream out in a false whisper, "Lisa, Lisa."  We learned a whole new vocabulary of swear.

Finally we found the girl scout camp.  We found it by waking their camp director who blinded us with a spotlight.  We panicked. 

Now, think about this from her point of view instead of from ours.  Three boys in a canoe, wounded and tattered, screaming out Lisa, Lisa from the water.  What she saw was us, turning around in the water so that we could prominently display the Boy Scout Camp black stencil on the side of the canoe and then paddle away as fast as teenage boys could paddle in a lake.  I don't doubt she was an intelligent woman, but Droopy Dogg from Hannah Barbara could have put this case together and wrapped it in a bow.

Across the lake, down the embankment, into the churning river, to our own lake, across the lake, and to the camp.

Where Big R was sitting on the pier waiting for our return.  I was a dead man, errr, boy.

Now, I'm going to cut a bit to Lisa's part of this story.  She wasn't dumb - that was me.  She'd anticipated the Wednesday Night rendezvous and had taken her own steps to accomplish it.  She'd sneaked out of her cabin with two friends, and they'd made their way carefully around the lake to the dam on foot.  Then they'd waited for us to show up.  They were on the west end of the dam, we'd come across the east end. 
When Lisa returned to camp, her scout leader was waiting for her as well.

We both got in trouble for something we'd failed to do.  Big R would never trust me again, and he'd watch me like a hawk because, as I would find out later, he was frightened that I was like him.  Shane and Blaine were punished for being idiotic followers in an escapade of monumental stupidity.  We had to clean and refurbish every canoe in the scout camp inventory (including beating the dents out of the one we'd stolen), and we had to scrub the lodge floor as well as each cabin in the place. 

Lisa received a stern talking to.  Then she continued her week as if nothing had happened. 

Scout camp ended, but my Boy Scout Summer had just begun. 

Up next, I return to the Girl Scout Camp in order to complete my Eagle Scout Project.

- rick, boy scout troublemaker

If you're new to this series, start here with the First Episode:  My Boy Scout Summer

Comments

[mark]

"as I would find out later, he was frightened that I was like him."

I only assume, more on this later?

We had similar things from 4-H camp, but we were in the same campground, only in cabins, our counselors would block the doors at night with their bunks (safe for a fire huh?) so we couldn't sneak out, so little pre-engineer me, figured a way to turn the latches on the OUTSIDE of the windows to get out, needless to say the girls never showed up...

[a rose is a rose]

my mouth is waterning for a thin mint. mmmmmmmmm thin mints

i hope to find out in later stories if indeed you an big r's daughter lisa ever (as marvin gaye said) got it on. (figuratively of course NOT literally)

[Success Warrior]

Mark,

I let the cat out of the bag on Big R in some comment a while back.

The guy could curl ungodly amounts of weights that I was barely able to lift with both hands and nevermind about even trying to curl it, even with both hands.

Shane will probably end up in my Chronicles sooner or later. What happened to changing names to protect the weird?

[michael the tubthumper]

i wasnt allowed in to our version of it because i refused to salute the flag and swear allegiance to the queen - yes , i was a pain in the ass even as a kid

[Cherise]

You make me giggle! How old were you on this quest for girl scout lovin?

[Success Warrior]

Did you go back for Samoa?

[CV Rick]

S.W. I wasn't going to comment on their names, pretending that I had indeed changed them to protect the weird. But, truth be told, I failed to come up with any names more appropriate than their own given ones, Blaine and Shane.

[CV Rick]

Rose,

There's more on Lisa later, trust me on that one. ;-)

Michael,

given more intelligence and introspection at that age, I'd have been barred as well. Alas, I was a brainwashed youth.

Cherise,

I was between the ages of 15 and 17 for My Boy Scout Summer (I'm combining some of the different experiences into a better and shorter narrative).

[a rose is a rose]

THIS scout certainly didn't have time to steal a canoe and see a grrrl scout on the sly

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17902427/

[CV Rick]

Holy Shit. That's unhealthy. The kid is a freak.

[Success Warrior]

He probable didn't get a merit badge for having friends.

[CV Rick]

I've never heard of anyone even coming close. I didn't even fill one sash with merit badges and he had a customized sash that was 3 combined.

[Michael Whisman]

This photo is of Mount Moran in the Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming, and not of the Palisades Dam in Idaho.