Timberline: Mountain Top is born

Timberline: Mountain Top is born

              (Timberline part 3)

Part of my responsibilities that year with Doug was to also decide on what we would do for our patriotic campfire evening. We wanted to retire an American flag and needed another event to take of part of the evening before that was to take place. I struggled for several days and hours trying to come up with a fitting event. I also prayed about it a lot and on the Thursday when the event was to occur I still didn’t have an idea. Due to the rain we spent most of the day sitting in tents. One patrol counselor even spent his afternoon with his patrol sitting in the outhouse near their camp so they could stay dry during their lessons. It was a good day in the fact that the rain took away the dust that had developed during the week and the heat was also removed so that it felt really good. Well when the rain stopped we had a fire-starting competition. It was really fun to see that some of the boys really did a great job of finding dry wood and started the fire even before the staff youth could do it.

By that time I had determined what I wanted to do. I asked Doug if we could hike to the top of the bare peak that was east of the camp and thought that would be OK. I wanted to go so that we could have the Title of Liberty presented just before the sun set over the west ridge and have the boys put on silence so that they would be able to think about their liberties in America undisturbed by other boys talking. He was all for it so we gathered on the assembly field and gave instructions that they were not to speak but rather remain silent until we told them that they could talk again. We wanted them to be silent so they could think about what we were going to be telling them tonight. Well that was the birth of what came to be known as the “Mountain Top” experience. We hiked in silence up to the hill where we were surprised to be able to see down off the steep slope to the bottom of the next canyon. It was dangerous so I used the staff to form a barricade a safe distance from the edge so that the boys could look over without being in danger. After we had looked over for awhile Doug did the Title of Liberty for us and then we watched as the sun lowered over the western horizon. It was very beautiful and then the hike back to the assembly filed was followed by an American Flag retiring before the boys were sent to bed still asked to be silent for the remainder of the evening. I could not have planned it to be like it turned out but have forever been thankful for Heavenly Father’s intervention to make it so special.