ALWAYS LEAVE A place better than you found it.
It’s a tenet I learned as a wee Girl Scout way back in the 1960s, and that’s influenced me throughout my life. Yep, I am that old.
I thought it was the Girl Scouts’ motto until I looked it up recently and found out “Be prepared” is the motto for both Boy and Girl Scouts.
Both are good principles to live by. As well as my favorite — Woodsy Owl’s “Give a hoot, don’t pollute.”
All the above sayings continue to affect my own attitude toward caring for the world and people around me — regardless of the attitude and action of those people.
Case in point: In 1978, I worked in the maintenance department for the Uinta National Forest in Utah. One of our jobs was to hike up the roads to various trailheads and campsites and to pick up garbage people flung out their car windows as they drove by.
Mind you, these roads were cut into the sides of mountains. On one side was a sharp incline; the other was a steep drop into a gully.
Giving a hoot
As U.S. Forest workers, one of our jobs was also to promote Woodsy Owl’s creed to “give a hoot;” however, my coworkers weren’t quite as influenced as I was. They talked with one another as they sauntered along and picked up only the closest litter. In contrast, I choose to scramble far and wide, up and down to wherever my eagle eyes spotted a glimpse of trash.
“Why are you doing that?” one yelled down the hillside to me.
“Stop. You’re making the rest of us look bad,” another complained.
“Hey, I’m just doing my part to clean up the Earth for our future,” I replied cheerfully as I kept moving.
I wasn’t trying to make them look bad; I just took those slogans to heart and acted on them, without expecting others to do the same.
Fast forward to February 2019. The day the Boy Scouts officially allowed girls into the organization and changed its name to Scouts BSA. Yahoo!
My older brother was a Boy Scout, and I was so envious because I thought their frontiersmen ethos — their projects and achievement badges — were way more interesting than the girls’ more domestic projects.
Plus, they got to wear pants. In the ’60s, girls had to wear green scout dresses to every event. Think about it, we girls — when not learning how to sew and bake, good skills for both sexes to learn — were honing our outdoor skills by climbing trees and running obstacle courses in the wild while wearing dresses. Egads!
Sequim troop
And now, let me introduce you to the Sequim Scout BSA Troop 1498. It’s a coed troop whose members range in age from 11 to 17. Within it, they have two groups — male and female — who are then divided into patrols based on age.
The troop is part of the Mount Olympus District, which serves youths in Clallam County and east Jefferson County. Currently, about 150 families participate.
Detachment
Having a few good friends — and learning how to be a good friend — is especially important during this era of self-isolation. While solitude has been forced on us during the COVID-19 pandemic, I think we, as a society, truly began living secluded lives when cell phones, the internet and social media started taking over our lives. Before that, it was common for folks to get together to play cards or other games, or gather for a meal as a way to get to know each other.
People aren’t designed to be isolationists. That’s why, especially this year, I’ve written about several local horse organizations, such as 4-H, Pony Club and training facilities that support our youths in an active, wholesome environment.
And if you haven’t heard yet, the suicide rates among people ages 10 to 24 years old has increased almost 60 percent between 2007 and 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And now, anxiety, depression and suicide rates are even higher since the COVID-19 lockdowns began in March.
So parents — that’s anyone raising a child — let’s help these youths get involved in a group or organization that has shared interests. It’s up to the adults to guide and help find an organization with good moral leaders where they can make friends while learning to set goals and achieve them. A bonus is the adults have the opportunity to get to know the other parents and perhaps become friends. It’s a win-win situation.
BCH
I have to thank Back Country Horsemen’s Peninsula Chapter member Donna Hollatz for sharing with me her excitement upon meeting those “eight delightful young ladies” when the chapter hosted the “Mac and Cheese in the Trees” patrol of Sequim Scouts BSA Troop 1498 at Layton Hill Horse Camp on Nov. 14.
The patrol is an active group which enjoys outdoor adventuring, and it was at Layton for an overnight campout and volunteer trail work party.
Hollatz said they had a productive weekend, practicing camping skills and completing some requirements toward their Eagle badges.
“Those eight young ladies braved chilly, damp, windy weather while setting up tents and cooking dinner and had fun doing it,” Hollatz said.
The troop’s volunteer work consisted of trimming native roses, blackberries and brush along the trails around Layton Hill.
Members of the Peninsula Chapter took several horses to Layton Hill on Saturday morning to teach the Scouts some horsemanship. Chapter member Linda Morin presented a trail safety program, the “3S” for “Stop, Stand and Speak.”
The 3S program teaches simple communication skills to guide hikers, cyclists and equestrians on how to safely share trails and to avoid interactions that might alarm the horses and possibly cause an accident. The most important part to remember: horses and livestock have the right-of-way on all trails.
Some of these Scouts plan to continue their learning by working on their Horsemanship Merit Badge, and members of the Peninsula Chapter are happy to help them.
As the weekend came to a close, patrol members said they had fun sprucing up the trails at Layton Hill and hope to do it again soon.
Scoutmaster Candace Kathol — an avid hiker, backpacker and kayaker who “loves anything outdoors” — commented on how wonderful it was to see young people helping to preserve the beautiful outdoor spaces on the Olympic Peninsula.
This girls’ patrol of the BSA is chartered by the Sequim Elks and usually meets Thursday evenings, with masks on, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. outside the Elks lodge, 143 Port Williams Road in Sequim.
To contact them, email 1498BSA@olypen.com or look for Sequim Scout Troop 1498 on Facebook.
For more information about Mount Olympus District, contact Executive Shana Scott at 360-504-2170 or email her sscott@seattlebsa.org.
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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299.
