Troop 18 - The badges we earned

Around 70 years ago I was in Girl Scouts.  Our troop was the coveted troop because of our leader...Marty Marsh. We had another leader before she took over, but our first leader, while a nice person, was not very conscientious about being sure we eared our badges. 

When Marty took over and started quizzing us about our badges she realized we had told our former leader we had "earned" them when indeed we had not.  Immediately Marty cracked down on us.  We could not wear our badge sashes until we eared every single badge on there.

My favorite badge is the hiking badge.  You can see it in the picture.  It's the one with the little footprints on it.  In order to earn that badge we had to hike 100 miles.  We didn't have to hike it all at once, but it had to add up to 100.  

So, as soon as school was out for the summer, Marty planned our hikes.  Her Mother was also a scout leader, so she often went with us. 

What a summer we had!  We hiked all over the Smoky Mountains, and had so many wonderful adventures!  One day, Marty's Mother said, "ok girls...today we are going to plow the brush."  With that warning echoing in our brains, Mrs. Frisbie took off up the side of the mountain, off the beaten path!  We spent the next few hours literally plowing the brush.  We went under laurel bushes, over fallen trees, into the midst of thorn bushes...all the while begging her to get us back onto the trail.  She wouldn't have it though, so we plowed all the way to the top of Mt. LeConte!  What an experience!

That summer was a glorious summer for me.  At one point, Marty decided we would all camp in the wilderness for a week.  We even built our own leantos and hogans to sleep in.  We buried food in the ground to keep it cool and we camped and cooked over an open fire.  Some of the troop became disillusioned after about 2 days of this and wanted to go home.  Marty said we would put it to a vote and if anyone voted against it, even if it was just one person, we would stay. 

My best friend Polly and I voted to stay.  We were the only ones, but we stayed!  

Am I glad that Marty made me actually earn the badges that I was proudly wearing on my sash?  You better believe it!

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