[at-l] ATN article, 1936 Scout Hike

[daveh@psknet.com (Dave Hicks)]

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From: <RoksnRoots@aol.com>
To: <gaudet@attbi.com>
Cc: <AT-L@backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 1:12 AM
Subject: [at-l] ATN article, 1936 Scout Hike


SNIP
> As for Mr. Gordon, now 73 and in good health, he has so far served 60
> years with the Boy Scouts and has received some of the organization's
> highest honors, including the Wood Badge (Jan. 18, 1958) and the
> Silver Beaver (June 5, 1961). He was personally cited by Presidents
> Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. In May 1960, he was the
> first Scout in the nation to receive the Shofar Award from the Jewish
> Committee on Scouting.
SNIP

That sounds like the Boy Scouts which I know -- an organization built on
recognition and awards.

Which raises the major question that nags at me -- namely the lack of BSA's
and the local troop's recognition and records of this event.  If "Pop hoped
to use our hike as some sort of promotion," as Mr. Gordon recalled, and if
it were a success; where is the evidence of contemporary promotion and
recognition?

> Often he was back on the A.T. Later, when he was in his 30s, his
> Explorer Troop challenged him to a 72-mile A.T. hike southward from
> Kent, Conn. Fourteen started the marathon hike, and, 18 hours later,
> Mr. Gordon and three Scouts completed the trek.

This points to the second question that nags at me by his own account, he
was "often" involved in the trail in his 30's.  So, he had to know something
back then, as an adult, of the significance of his alleged accomplishment.
So, he had to know something back then, as an adult, of the significance of
his Troop's accomplishment.  Yet he waited until, "It was only in the last
year that Max Gordon became aware that the Appalachian Trail Conference
still existed."

Chainsaw