Its time for my annual tribute

[BarryBobPosthole]

To Jack London, who wrote the best five lines of prose that exists in American literature.

From The White Silence.


The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White Silence, the voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long roll of heaven's artillery--but the most tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of the White Silence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. Sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a maggot's life, nothing more.

Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things strives for utterance.

And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over him--the hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is then, if ever, man walks alone with God.

[Trav]

I love me some Jack London.

[LJ3]

That's some deep snow, right there.

Certainly gets the mind churning, doesn't it?

[hotshot]

One of my favorite stories: To Build a Fire. A short story for the ages. When I taught 6th and 7th literature, I taught that story every year.

[Chicken Dinner]

I'll be going backpacking with my older boy's Boy Scout Troop's annual Deep Freeze campout in a couple of weeks. One of the highlights is alwasy reading "To Build a Fire". Jack London was always one of my favorites growing up, but I haven't been able to get the kids into it. I'm hoping maybe this will do it.

[Bwana]

Anyone who has been caught outside and REALLY cold will have a true appreciation for the story.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Here a few years back, we had a pretty deep snow, several inches as I recall, during our late deer season. Trav and I had a lease then. I got to go out and hunt for a couple days in it and I was struck by how quiet it is when there's a bunch of snow on the ground and it changes the whole dynamic of hunting.
But the part of that quote that I relate to the most is just how much stuff in nature does make us, me anyway, feel small sometimes. Maybe those adjustments in perspective are truer than we think. I always thought they were.

BKB

[Thumper]

I'll be going backpacking with my older boy's Boy Scout Troop's annual Deep Freeze campout in a couple of weeks. One of the highlights is alwasy reading "To Build a Fire". Jack London was always one of my favorites growing up, but I haven't been able to get the kids into it. I'm hoping maybe this will do it.

This is flying off on a tangent, but hey, this is Good Hunting ... what else is new? I was into Scouting bigtime as a kid. Went through Cub Scouts, then Webelos, then Boy Scouts and finished up in the Explorers. Of course I grew up in Florida and that's probably the reason, but I've never heard of this "Deep Freeze" campout thing in Scouts. I'm assuming it's a campout where possibly cold-weather survival skills are taught? I ran across some old Boy Scout badges at an estate sale a few months back (got 'em free, as they were headed for the trash, then sold 'em on e-Bay for sumpin' like $30.00) and one of 'em was a "100 Degree of Frost" badge. I had no clue what it was for, but since the badges came out of Montana, I could guess! Anyway, I was just wondering if it's anything related. Here are the badges I found .... (click on the pic)

458

[quercus alba]

Speaking of short stories, " the Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell is one of the best I've ever read,

[Chicken Dinner]

Jim, I had never heard of the badge and looked it up. It looks like each Council has it's own badge, but the requirements appear to be uniform. The requirements are tracked by the Unit leader (the Troop for a Boy Scouts). This explains it pretty well:

http://www.nhscouting.org/advancement-recognition/district-camping-awards/100-degrees-of-frost-award/15611

The Deep Freeze is just what Matt's Troop calls their winter backpacking trip up on the AT. I'm not aware that they've ever awarded this badge, but may check in and see if they're interested. It's a pretty cool idea.

[BarryBobPosthole]

what part of the trail do you guys camp on Hank? I did some backpacking in that area several years ago on Loft Mountain. It was beautimus. Lots of bears in that place too.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

It varies, but this trip will include the Little Devil's Staircase hike near Thornton Gap. Over spring break, I think they're going to do 4-5 days in the Dolly Sodds Wilderness in WVa and this summer they're going to do a more northern section near Harper's Ferry where they'll hike 4 states (PA, WVa, VA and MD) in 4 days.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Wow. It'd be cool to camp where the Union and confederate forces wintered across the river from one another at Harpers. Oh to be young again!

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

That's probbly what my creaky knees will be saying by Sunday morning!

[Thumper]

Jim, I had never heard of the badge and looked it up. It looks like each Council has it's own badge, but the requirements appear to be uniform. The requirements are tracked by the Unit leader (the Troop for a Boy Scouts). This explains it pretty well:

http://www.nhscouting.org/advancement-recognition/district-camping-awards/100-degrees-of-frost-award/15611

The Deep Freeze is just what Matt's Troop calls their winter backpacking trip up on the AT. I'm not aware that they've ever awarded this badge, but may check in and see if they're interested. It's a pretty cool idea.

Well cool! Ya' learn sumpin' new every day! At the estate sale, I talked to the grand-daughter of the man who had passed away. When I asked about the scouting stuff, she said her grandfather had been a Scout leader in the 70's (and I think, early 80's) up in Montana. I also dug up an old Eagle Scout belt buckle (still in it's orig. package) as well as a stack of old merit badge booklets and possibly something I've forgotten now. Our best friends asked us to keep an eye out for a washer and dryer as they needed to replace theirs. This sale had an almost brand new, extra-capacity set that we grabbed for $250 (total). Since we bought the washer/dryer, she gave me the scouting stuff along with a small pile of other misc. items I'd picked up. I sold all the stuff on e-Bay. Oddly, the guy who purchased the badges above said he collects BS memorabilia from Montana! What are the odds?

That would be cool if you got the kids interested in shooting for that badge. Heck, why not? Seems like you're kinda working for it anyway! ('Course it'd be a lot easier to achieve in Montana I suppose)

[Bwana]

Not sure about the badge you mentioned Thumper but my boys and I each earned our Zero Hero badges while the boys were still in boy scouts. The requirement to earn the badge was to spend the night outside in weather below zero without any artificial heat.

With the oldest it got to 9 below zero while we slept in nothing but an old boy scouting tent while protected by some foam padding, a couple of nested sleeping bags, and a few layers of clothes. With the youngest boy we did the same but the temp got down to 11 below and we slept in snow caves we dug ourselves. Have to say that the snow caves were actually pretty danged comfy compared to the tent thing.

The silly things we do on purpose, makes a guy wonder sometimes. :)

[BarryBobPosthole]

You needed a buddy heater!

BKB

[HideHunter]

"When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads through the crust of the pale blue snow"... I used to be able to recite "The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill" front to back. I'll have to brush up on that when th egrandkids get older. ;)

[hotshot]

correct me if I am wrong, but the 100 degrees of frost would be 32 degrees minus about another 70..... that's cold!
Our local troop does a Klondike camp out: winter camping. Fun- the younger kids run around in the snow and get cold.
When Mason was in scouts, we went to southern IN to a wild cave which we crawled around in. It was late November. There was water in the cave. A couple of the guys set their muddy, wet pants on the ground outside overnight. Whe we awoke their pants were standing up on their own- frozen!
now that was funny. Two of those boys are one year shy of being marine officers: One via ROTC, the other I think is at the naval academy.

[Thumper]

correct me if I am wrong, but the 100 degrees of frost would be 32 degrees minus about another 70..... that's cold!

Ummm, no. (from CD's link)

The 100 Degrees of Frost Award is presented to the Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, Venturer, or adult leader who "earns" 100 or more below freezing points annually between October 1st and May 30th. One point is awarded for each degree below freezing recorded during a campout. The degree of temperature is determined by the "official" weather bureau station nearest the campsite; however, a leader's thermometer reading will be accepted. Points may be carried over for up to one season.

Example:
Campout #1 ... low of 7 degrees = 25 points
Campout #2 ... low of 15 degrees = 17 points
Campout #3 ... low of -2 degrees = 34 points
Campout #4 ... low of 5 degrees = 27 points
Total = 103 points (100 required for the badge)

In the above example, the requirement would be met after just two weekends (four nights total) of camping. 'Course, using your example, they could earn it after ONE night ... IF they survived it! ;)

I'd have had a heck of a time earning that badge in MY scouting days! ;)