...mentor, confidant & friend

Dennis, Cindy & I wish you well on your 60th birthday.

I believe we met at a Scout meeting sometime around the early months of 1994, only a short 12 years ago, but a significant chunk of our lives has accumulated since then. We grew to be great friends; you’ve been a confidant and a mentor. Though I give you plenty of crap about you peculiarities, I do respect you immensely and I cherish our relationship.

You introduced me to real backpacking, real canoe trekking, real winter camping, and one of my favorite places in the world - Algonquin Provincial Park. One of our earliest trips together includes “Moon Camp” in the Adirondacks where we suffered freezing feet while our heads boiled (thermally stratified air from the poor heating system) in that little trailer on Rick Moon’s family property. We liberated more than one huge propane tank from Rick’s relatives cabins to keep the fire going, blew up some bottles with Jim Wilkins’ handguns, and took a long walk though the woods and across the “tundra” to end up at a bar near the tracks that was frequented by snowmobilers. That’s where I first heard your “lost on the mountain” story in gritty detail… We share a lot of great memories (the mission) from our week-long sailing & snorkeling trip in the Florida Keys with Scouts: Adam Tate, Ben DiMatteo, BJ Klik, Brian Dragstedt, and adults: Roger Dragstedt and Captain Mike. I could probably dig up the statistics, but we’ve hiked seemingly countless trails miles together and camped in some amazing places. We’ve completed numerous trips on the FLT, a piece of the Northville Placid Trail, snowshoeing in the Adirondacks and Allegheny, Algonquin x 3, and you inspired me to experience a Philmont Trek with my son Mike, just to name a few. It is out on trail that you’ve mentored me over the years on everything from gear choices, survival skills, camp food, and fire-building, to trail etiquette.

Oh yes fire building – remember all you readers of this blog that the simple act of maneuvering a log to help the fire breath constitutes a “manipulation” and if you’ve just done that to a fire that Dennis created, you also just inherited ownership of the fire. It’s your task from that point forward to tend it, supply it, and to generally keep it healthy enough to provide the heat and light that the campfire participants desire. You see, that simple act of poking “his” fire means to Dennis something like “you don’t approve of my fire, you changed what I have created, and so you own it now.” Its sort of like his concept of backtracking, we all know that Dennis is far more willing to take the risk of an unknown, even unsure route, than he is to retrace his steps to a known point and set off again along the correct route. Once you’ve been there, there’s little need to go back again -- this from a man that can “hide his own Easter Eggs.”

Dennis you’re sometimes a tough one to figure out!

Dennis, you started the Memorial Weekend Bike Trek with Boy Scout Troop 86, typically covering 125 to 155 miles. It became a long tradition; we finished the 10th annual Trek together just a few years ago. Sadly, the Troop now considers a ride down the Greenway Trail enough of an adventure. I wasn’t on your first trip (turtle in the road) or the second trip (torrential rains in Canada) but the other eight were all fantastic adventures for the boys and for us. We had our share of speed runs down the monster hills, plenty of nasty weather, and a few really cool high-speed sprints while packed together wheel-to-wheel, drafting like Tour de France riders. You gave me tons of confidence when you first trusted me to help you with trip planning and leadership of the pre-trip training rides. Thank you for that and for the confidence that you helped build in all of our Scouts.

They, that nebulous they, say much about the influence that we have or may have on the boys as they grow and mature through their association with us as adult Scout leaders. I know it is true. I know that there is a “generation” of boys from Brockport who, right now, are all young men out in the world thinking often of their adventures under your leadership in the Venture Crew. They are telling their stories and living their lives with their own rich histories of youthful fun and challenging situations in the outdoors. The winter treks, “Teva crossings”, having an authentic “Bender” for lunch and sailing canoes across Saranac Lake are living and formative memories for these young men and you are central in their remembrance of those great times. I’m sure your influences will live on through generations as these guys give back to their own sons some of the knowledge and safety conscious experiences that you’ve given to them. You are a great man in their minds, I hope you accept that and take both pride and pleasure in it.

You Dennis, are an inspiration to us youngins with regard to your constant attention to personal fitness. I know that giving up a sweet 20-year relationship with your DP Gym Pack was traumatic, but the Bow-Flex should last you for the next 20. After that, well I guess they’ll have to invent something new for you because I’m sure you’ll still be churning out trail miles at 80 and I know you’ll want to be prepared to hit those trails with confidence. Perhaps the AT or the Pacific Crest Trail will have passed under the Crooner’s boots by then, but if not I’m sure you’ll be gearing up for them before you hit 90. I hope and expect to share many more trails with you so keep it up. Stay fit and lead the way!

Happy trails to the youngest sixty-year-old that I know!
Love ya man!
~Your friend Randy Dumas

Now THIS is an inspirational photo!