Camp Steiner

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At 10,400 feet (3,200m), Camp Steiner is the highest Boy Scout camp in the United States^[1]--and the second highest in the world. It was founded in 1930 in the Uinta Mountains. The camp is located about 30 miles outside of Kamas, Utah, and sits on the shores of Scout Lake. Merit badges are offered in the following categories: Aquatics, Nature, Shooting Sports, Handicraft and Outdoor Skills. Camp Steiner is the flagship camp for the Great Salt Lake Council.^[2]

Camp Steiner is known for its beauty and rugged location. It has fantastic views of Bald Mountain, Reids Peak, Hayden's Peak, and Mount Agassiz. The area also has many beautiful lakes nearby including Lofty Lake, Kamas Lake, Castle Lake, Picturesque Lake, and Pearl Lake.

The main buildings of the camp are the kitchen, the museum, the trading post, the wilderness cabin, the first aid cabin/director's office, the tool shed, and the handicraft lodge. The camp has no electricity and has no cell phone coverage. The camp gets its water from a pump system that is gravity powered. Steiner is also famous for its 'three holer', a three-seat outhouse.

1 Program areas
2 History
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Program areas

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[edit] Aquatics - Waterfront

The waterfront of Camp Steiner has a tower, a canoe beach, and floating docks. In 2004, the tower was rebuilt. There are canoeing, rowing, swimming, and lifesaving merit badges which are available. Small boat sailing was abandoned in 2003 because the winds were never good enough to consistently teach the merit badge.

The lake has a temperature that stays between 55 and 65 degrees fahrenheit during the summer. Passing the swim check is a rite of passage, and swimming a mile in the lake is feat that between 10 and 20 people achieve of the 1,500-2,500 people who attend the camp yearly.

[edit] Handicraft

Merit badges offered in this area include basket weaving, Indian lore, leatherwork, and woodcarving. The Handicraft lodge is located in the middle of the activities area in camp.

[edit] Outdoor Skills

Merit badges offered in Outdoor Skills, once called Scoutcraft, include first aid, emergency preparedness, pioneering and orienteering.

[edit] High Adventure

High adventure activities are designed to keep older boys--who may already have Eagles--busy at camp. High Adventure includes overnight backpacking almost every day and the climbing and hiking merit badges. In order to participate, scouts must have a release form signed by both parents or parents permission provided to the High adventure director while at the camp (a fall back for if the parentis camping with the scout troop at camp). High Adventure staffers teach Leave No Trace training at least once a week.

The climbing wall at Camp Steiner is a natural rock face located just above the campfire bowl (sometimes referred to as the amphitheater), though in years past it was located just beyond campsite Picturesque.

[edit] Nature

Nature merit badges include environmental science, soil and water conservation, geography, fish and wildlife management, nature, and many more.

[edit] Shooting Sports

Steiner offers three shooting sports: rifle, shotgun and archery. The locations of the merit badge classes are spread around the camp at scenic locations. These merit badges are subject to weather.

[edit] History

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[edit] Known for Traditions

Camp Steiner is more than 75 years old and known for its many traditions including Mountain Man competitions and the Steiner Yell. The reinactment of the siege of Mafeking, followed by the Honor Trail, a dawn hike and the Polar Bear Plunge are all a part of Steiner's program.

[edit] Camp Stories include the legend of Hyrum and the Lost Gold Mine

The legend of Hyrum is an old folktale about a miner who was blown to pieces in a horrible mining accident. Legend states that Hyrum still hikes the hills of Steiner as a monster of some sort.

The Lost Gold Mine is a true story of LDS miner, Caleb Rhoades, who mined what were considered to be the richest gold mines in the country. The story of the Rhoades Mines includes mystery, deception, and an ambush by Butch Cassidy and his "Hole in the Wall Gang." The locations of the mines died with Rhoades, but in his journal he describes a heart shaped lake surrounded by castles; possibly referring to Scout Lake (formerly known as Heart Lake), and the cliff faces and mountain peaks that can be seen from the lake shores.

Camp songs include one about Hyrum.

"Oh let me tell you a story about a camp named Steiner
on a tragic and fateful day.
There were 13 staffers out to hike the mountains
and they haven't been seen to this day.
Oh will they ever return, will they ever return,
but their fate it will be unlearned.
They may hike forever on the mountains of Steiner,
they're the men who never returned."
(sung to old Chicago DOT song, believed to have been written by Rich Hawkes, 1987 or 1986)

Motto: "Designed to serve the many, but dedicated to embrace and serve the one."

[edit] Order of the Arrow

The first Ordeal for the El-Ku-Ta Lodge was held at Camp Steiner in June of 1956. The ceremony team that conducted the ceremony could have either been from the Ogden area or from the Tannu Lodge in Reno, Nevada.