Kramer-Martin Campout: Day #2 Camp Baldwin

On Saturday we visited Camp Baldwin, BSA. Tim's brother Greg joined us for this part of the trip as well. Tim worked at Baldwin for four years in high school and college. We had a great time and I have now checked yet another camp off my list to visit (I'm trying to hit all the camps in WA and OR in my lifetime). Here are some photos of our visit. The first is the staff dining hall. They do all provisional cooking at Baldwin (meaning the patrols cook and eat in their campsites all week). The idea of having 3 staff meals a day sounds good to me!

Their waterfront area is minimal and I believe the lake is man-made. They don't offer many program items here, but then again, troops probably don't choose Baldwin specifically for the aquatics.

Baldwin has mountain biking and mountain boarding right near their climbing wall. There is a makeshift mountain boarding course set up, which I'm sure is a big attraction for the scouts.

Campfire bowl:

The camp is huge with lots of hills. The kids did very well hiking around, but someone needed a ride from Dad towards the end.

At last, the corral! Baldwin has a horsemanship program with around 40 horses in residence. The kids had fun watching them and feeding them.

As with all my scout camp visits, here's a mini evaluation....

Negatives:

-As many troops have described to me, Baldwin is very hot and dusty, being on the east side of the mountains. Not my idea of a great time, but they can't do much about it.

-As with Camp Hahobas, the camp lacks a central lodge or historical building that encompasses the heart of camp. However, because of winter snow I had to remember that they tear almost everything down in the fall making it difficult to have many permanent structures

-Aquatics was fairly nondescript as I mentioned before. The lake is pretty, but the camp is not particularly scenic. Campfire bowl doesn't have a view for example.

Positives:

-HUGE property that extends to outpost areas. Lots of potential here and it sounds like they make good use of it with hikes and horse overnights.

-The horse program seemed awesome and is clearly a defining feature of the camp program.

-While I'm not wild about provisional cooking, Baldwin clearly has a good system down that works well. I doubt this will be the death of the camp, the way it was at Omache.

-Several interesting programs (like mountain boarding) that will attract older scouts.

-I did not see their staff in action (although some of them looked awfully young compared to what you see at Parsons), but just by visiting we could tell there were elements of pride and tradition that is so important in delivering a quality program.

We were exhausted after our trip to Baldwin. The kids were real troopers and we all left hot and dusty. There was time for one more swim in Trillium Lake before dinner and another campfire.

Camp Pigott and Camp Brinkley

Sunday we took a day trip with Scott and Kristine to see Camps Pigott and Brinkley. I haven't been on the property in almost 10 years and not since the Pigott/Omache renovation.

I had never actually seen a high COPE course before:

Their main lodge contains everything: dining hall, scoutmaster lounge, health lodge, offices, and trading post.

Somehow it reminded me more of an elementary school cafeteria than a camp dining hall.

Scott was especially distraught at the amount of clearcutting around and in the campsites.

Kristine with the kids checking out the fish:

Putting on a song and dance show at the under-construction campfire bowl.

We later walked over to Brinkley for a brief visit, which is now only a cub scout camp. The lake seems to have gotten smaller and muddier in the last 10 years.

But the rest of the camp was almost exactly the same, and probably has been for the last 40 years. Maybe it will be Jack's first camp.

We had a great time on our day trip with Scott and Kristine.

I won't bother critiquing Brinkley, but here are some thoughts on Pigott.

Negatives:

-Land maintenance issues like the clearcutting don't make for a pretty camp

-Buildings were sterile and lack character

-It's small and aside from some cool programs (cope, climbing, shotgun etc.) there's not much to distinguish it from any other camp

Positives:

-Like Hahobas, there's lots of potential here including outpost hikes and facilities

-Everything is new and in good condition

-The lake is pretty and provides a scenic backdrop for the chapel and campfire bowl

-If Dan Gelis continues as camp director, I'm sure the program will just get better and better. He had great training at Parsons, after all. (You know I had to throw that in there!)

Exciting stuff

Several exciting things happened this weekend. First of all, as refered to in the last post, the Huskies pulled off possibly the greatest football upset in school history:

Then there was this exciting activity. Pretty indescribable:

And finally a road trip that started off with lunch at Red Robin and two balloons. Stay tuned for the summary of the rest of the trip:

Camp Hahobas!

We had a busy end of week 6 with a rush of visitors to Cp. The Martins were here to see campfire etc., then Andrew Bodien stopped by, and finally Anton's brother Greg and his family:

Saturday afternoon we decided we were ready to get out of camp for a few hours. So what better place to go than... ANOTHER scout camp! I have been wanting to see Camp Hahobas for years, as it is the "other" scout camp on Hood Canal, but one we rarely hear much about. So off we went...

It is quite an interesting camp. It's huge, and I do mean HUGE. It's probably a two mile walk from one end to the other. They have three lakes but this one is most heavily used:

Their campfire bowl is kind of randomly put in the middle of camp with no view or ambiance. Of course I am spoiled by Parsons, but then when you see their spectacular view of Hood Canal...

I was so in awe. Keep in mind that I LOVE Hood Canal and have never seen it from anywhere close to this angle. I stared for 10 minutes. You can see Lilliwaup and Hoodsport and I assumed the Olympic mountains, but couldn't be sure because it was cloudy. So I found this picture online:

This is their view on a clear day from their beach property.

Wow-ee wow-wow.

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And this leads me to my Kramer-scout-camp-visitation report:

Negatives:

-You've got to be kidding me! They have this kind of view and don't even use it! Unbelievable!

-There is no dining hall. They have a kitchen next to an open air tin roofed structure with picnic tables.

-There is no central lodge or historical sites (that we saw) even though the camp has been around since the 30's.

-I can't say much about the program because I didn't witness it, but it seems to lack a certain amount of energy and tradition. (Again, we are spoiled.)

Positives:

-Beautiful, huge property with lots of potential

-They offer shotgun, high ropes, civics, and other things that not all camps (including Parsons) offer

-Property is surrounded by state forest so they don't risk development creeping in

-From what we heard, it seems the camp is making a turnaround and is trying to improve their reputation and recruit more troops

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I decided at the conclusion of the trip to make it a goal to visit every scout camp in western Washington and Oregon. So far I have been to three: Parsons, Pioneer, and Hahobas (Brinkley doesn't count because I haven't been there since the Pigott renovation). It's really the perfect day trip to make as a family or stop along the way of an overnight road trip. Also it's interesting as a former program director to see how how different camps run. When I told Anton I wanted to tackle the list of camps I asked if he thought I was nuts. He said something like "It's awesome. How many women would be excited about visiting even one Boy Scout camp, let alone ten!"