The Centenary Journey to Big Sandy

Hi Girl Scouts,

It has been a while since I've had a chance to write. I've been on an amazing two month Centenary Journey. I've made stops to meet up with Girl Scout friends, old and new, in British Columbia in Canada, Scotland, and in the United States: Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and, of course, Arkansas. Over the next few weeks, I'll share some of the things I did and wish I could hear how your Centenary adventures have progressed.

My 2012 Centenary Map

Many places I visited on this trip were some of my favourite campsites. Camping and outdoor activities have always been a very important part of Girl Scouting. Baden-Powell, Juliette Low's mentor, said it was critical for young people to get away from the pressures of our every-day life and learn to take care of ourselves in a rural environment such as a camp. At camp, we have to take care of our own entertainment, safety and meet our own needs with respect to shelter and food. As youngsters, we don't often get to be in charge of these things...at camp, we do!

Juliette Low's first Girl Scouts didn't camp overnight as much as their British Guide sisters in the beginning. There are several reasons for that but one reason might have been that the Savannah area had some scary wildlife in the woods. Instead, the girls often took nature walks and had outdoor activities like cookouts that gave them some experience at taking care of themselves. Just like you and me, they had favorite places to go for their outdoor adventures. Juliette Low had a shelter built on a piece of woodland property not far from the First Headquarters where the girls could work on outdoor cooking and learning woodcraft.

Girl Scouts cooking outdoors (circa 1917)

Do you have a favorite place to get outdoors with your patrol? A place to have a cookout or overnight camping?

When I visited some Girl Scout friends in my old council in California, we checked out some of our former camping places. Most of them are no longer owned by the Girl Scouts so we had to get special permission to visit. But everyone was very helpful and we shared a lot of our memories with the new owners.

One campsite we visited, however, made us cringe. It must have been the worst campsite in the world! It was called....

BIG SANDY

In 1968, the local Mariner Scouts invited all Cadette troops to come to their annual Gam at their favorite campsite, Big Sandy. Well, we LOVED to camp so signed up to go.

My troop arrived at Big Sandy having never heard of Mariners or Gams. By the end of that camp, we learned a lot and had the best time with our seafaring sisters. We went sailing in the harbor, learned about surviving a shipwreck, first aid at sea, that driftwood made the best art and campfires ever! What we didn't learn was how to avoid getting sand in our food, our sleeping bags, our clothes and EVERYWHERE!!

Trailblazer 

Mariner

Panorama

 DID YOU KNOW: In the old program, Senior Girl Scouts could specialize in an area of interest. Many of their activities focused on that area. There were nine interest areas:

• Trailblazers who liked to camp, backpack and mountaineering,
• Mariners who liked water sports such as sailing and swimming,
• International Friendship who worked with Guides and Scouts around the world and participated in international events
• Wing who were interested in flying
• Mounted units worked with horses
• Arts investigated all manner of expression from Drama to Photography
• Homemakers focused on skills around home and family such as cooking, child care, and home repairs.
• Panorama troops did a bit of everything.

At a 2012 Girl Scout Gam

DID YOU KNOW: A Gam is a social gathering of mariners. Senior Girl Scout troops specialized in seafaring skills like sailing, were called Mariner Scouts. They call their big gatherings were called Gams. Mariner Scouts often competed in sailing races and are often given access to boats of various kinds. There are still groups of Scouts and Guides that specialize in these activities.

On our 2012 Centenary Journey, we visited Big Sandy once again and remembered the challenges and the wonderful time we had. We cooked sandy hot dogs on a driftwood fire and built a small wooden boat with a candle to send out to sea with our thanks to the Mariner friends who shared their own brand of Girl Scouting with us.