Between Climbs, The Parsons Raid

The normal schedule at Camp Sheppard was rather hectic leaving little if any free time between trips. We would get off a trip with one group on Saturday morning, get to camp, shower, wash gear, dry it out, pack food for the next trip and organize the group gear to be handed out to the next group of scouts. That left a few hours Saturday evening to have some fun.

Now Camp Sheppard fun was whatever a group of high spirited teenagers could dream up and usually Max would agree to whatever we had planned, probably because we never quite told him the entire truth about what it was we were going to do. But I am sure Max would have approved of the Parsons Raid. You see, a bit of inter camp rivalry was a good thing.

Anyway, it was a dark and stormy night. Really it was. It was raining blowing and pretty darn nasty. The drive from Sheppard started right after dinner. About ten of us in two cars towing a trailer. We arrived at our destination sometime after midnight, figuring that by then even camp parsons staffers would be snug in bed. Well, we dropped John and one other intrepid aspiring navy seals off in their wet suits to swim out to the docks and all the Parsons watercraft. We figured they needed something new, like the name "Camp Sheppard stenciled on the stern and bow of each boat. What better way than a night time raid by sea? How they survived without drowning is a miracle in itself. They must have had to swim a good two miles just to get there. I think they walked back, about 100 yards when they finished.

While they were swimming and painting, we were skulking through the camp up to the trading post where a really fine example of an Indian totem pole was bolted to the building. The building where at least 3 staff members were blissfully sleeping and right across from the camp ranger's house where the watch dog was sleeping. We managed to use our climbing skills to climb the 12-foot totem, unbolt the 600-lbs. monster and lower it to the ground using pulleys and climbing ropes. We then carried it between 8 of us to the waiting trailer right out the front gate of the camp. After strapping it down and waiting anxiously for the swimmers, we were off, through the rainstorm for Camp Sheppard. We arrived just in time to meet our new group of bright-eyed wide-awake climbers. We of course had no sleep and were exhausted. We barely made it home but thanks to the bright red lights of one of Pierce Counties finest, who stopped Ed for what appeared to be driving under the influence but was just a very tired nearly comatose Ed at the wheel. After that Ed was more awake as were the rest of us.

Now we hid that pole away so the Parsons crew would have a hard time finding it to get it back. We expected a raid in return sometime in the future and were looking forward to the reprisal that was surely to follow. We were not expecting the radio call on Tuesday when we were at the 10,500 level on the Ingraham glacier from Max. Max informed us that we were all fired because of some misunderstanding, something about vandalism and theft according to the chief scout executive who was not too happy with us.

We were given a reprieve however when it became obvious that there were 12 young scouts who would be left leaderless on the side of the mountain if we were to leave them there. So, with Max in our corner, we were allowed to keep our jobs if we promised to return the totem in better shape than we found it. Max saw the raid as a good-natured act of rivalry, not theft or vandalism and managed to convince the scout executive that we were not a bunch of juvenile delinquents.

For the next two weekends we painted and cleaned that darned totem until it was like new. Then, we returned it. Now it had to be a spectacle when we returned it, it had to be special and was it ever.

We showed up at Camp Parsons on a Sunday which just happened to be staff day when all the girlfriends and families were visiting. We showed up right at dinnertime when all the scout troops and everyone was on the parade grounds for the evening flag ceremony. We pulled in towing this trailer and totem pole behind us bouncing over the sacred grassy field that no vehicle is supposed to drive on. Right up to the front of the dining hall where we made a great show of jumping out of the vehicle in our pale blue Camp Sheppard staff jackets.

The camp Parsons staff was happy to have their totem back but none to happy that we came with it. We promptly invited ourselves to dinner, which they simply could not find a way to refuse. During dinner someone had the bright idea of challenging these guys to some kind of strength contest. We jumped up and told everyone that we were tough. We could take the best of Camp Parsons at anything they thought might be challenging. So they agreed to put their four best against our four best in a canoe race. You gotta be kidding, we had been climbing for 8 weeks, were in great shape, a canoe race is the best they can do, this is going to be no contest.

Well, the entire camp heads down to the water front where they have a bunch of row boats and canoes with Camp Sheppard stenciled in pale blue all over them. They give us an aluminum canoe and four paddles. They tell us that the race is to a rock a mile out and back. The first one back to the beach wins. Cool, we're ready.

Now four big strong guys in a canoe can really make it move. The problem is someone has to steer it and keep it going in a straight line. The four who can make a two-mile race actually two miles will probably win. Since a canoe paddle does not work like an ice axe we were in trouble right away. I think we probably did more like three miles to there two. Steering was not our strong point. We were loosing and it did not look good for the guys in blue. We were going down in front of a huge hostile crowd. But alas, we brought the injured reserve with us. Denny and Bill wanted a better view of the race so they borrowed one of our canoes, you know the ones with Camp Sheppard stenciled on them.

They loitered out near the finish line in their canoe patiently waiting to cheer us on as we got closer. But somehow they got in the way of that other canoe, the one with four Parsons staffers on board. Do you have any idea what happens to an aluminum canoe when it is broadsided by another aluminum canoe with four big guys in it paddling for all their worth. Well let’s just say that the one that got broadsided never traveled in a straight line again or was watertight.

They both sank. Great, Camp Sheppard wins by default. But the chase boat had other ideas. For safety the camps little speedboat had been following us. Now they tried to swamp us by making big circles around our little craft causing the waves to get rather large. Large enough to fill us up with water about half way. But we kept going until the dock, that big dock where all the friends and family were standing, the dock that extends about 100 yards out into the bay, the dock we had to paddle past to get to the beach, until the dock prevented the boat from making any more circles around us. But then the staff on the dock began to jump off in an attempt to swamp us, but they kept misjudging the distance and kept coming up behind us. Well we landed on the beach first and claimed victory. Somehow for some reason they claimed we cheated. Can you imagine, us cheat.

Well, that was the end of that visit., We left feeling triumphant and fully expecting reprisals at any time. Especially since we knew they would have to come get the dinner bell that found its way to our dining hall.