Imagine yourself a lone boy of say, age 13, climbing a hill near home on a starlit night late in 1915. You had read in Lone Scout magazine that you could become a Lone Scout. You could, and you would, join those folk heroes of your boyhood, the pioneers and the noble Indian chiefs. Reaching the top of the hill, you turned to face Polaris, the North Star, slowly raised both arms, palm down, and with this Native American sign of peace and commitment, firmly spoke the words of the Lone Scout Pledge:

Boys (and some girls*) all across the United States and Canada, in addition to others on distant islands and other lands, did, in a rite of passage, transform themselves from being "just boys" into young men. They did this with the goal and mission of becoming much more than they might have been—useful, achieving Lone Scouts.

Where the trail would ultimately lead for individual Lone Scouts was unclear, but the new Lone Scout eagerly discovered and attempted the first step in what would become the trek through the Seven Degrees, from the Tepee Lodge, to the Totem Pole Lodge and finally to Sagamore Lodge rank.

(*Please note that there were at least two girls known to have become Lone Scouts and there may have been more, but no other records have been found to substantiate this. The two known females members later became active in Lone Scout alumni associations and thereby are their own testimony to membership.)