My love for the outdoors started as a small boy, raised in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Idle curiosity, had kept me occupied for many hours as I explored the things around me. From tiny plants and insects, to what at the time seemed like enormous animals. I would dissect, investigate, and even try to duplicate such things as flowers, ant hills, maybe even a fox hole. I would watch with amazement as things moved around me, for they were cunning, timid, quick, and always had one eye on me and everything around them.
My curiosity only grew stronger, as I did. When I became old enough, I joined the local Cub Scout pack in my community. This for me was a great pleasure, as I always looked forward to our outings. We would swim, camp, go hiking, and usually were doing some kind of experiment. Occasionally, we would pool our collective efforts together and do something for the community, which usually benefited Mother Nature as well. We did things like recycling, park clean-ups, even planted trees at an all day event at a local tree farm, all the while learning valuable lessons as we completed our tasks.
As my scouting adventures improved and had gotten more advanced, so did my love and knowledge of the outdoors. I would put my new skills to the test on a regular basis. I was now, at the level where I could take extended hikes, do overnight camping, and feel comfortable enough to accomplish each task needed to perform a successful outing.
The payoff was usually a trinket, badge, or certificate, to signify that I had performed the necessary skills to achieve another level. For me though, there was always a bigger payoff... For I had learned, how to accomplish many things, and that I could survive in harsh terrain , torrential downpours, and even below zero weather with just a little common sense, all the while leaving no trace of my presence.
I remember attending a major camporee, with approximately three hundred other scouts, leaders, and campers in the dead cold of February. This entire group lay in snow covered fields and tree lines for two weeks. The part that amazed me then, and still does today... within this group, there was but only one pitched tent. When we had our fill of fun and learning, we packed our gear, and as I was leaving, I remember looking back from the car window, and all I saw was a white field, nothing more, as though we had never been there at all. There was no garbage, no fire ashes or pits, no broken tree boughs, nothing. It was a very powerful image for me to comprehend as a younger man, but I reflect back to what I was taught all those years before, and realized, this was the lesson we where to learn those two weeks in that cold February snow.
"Leave No Trace"
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