Camp Robert L. Cole is a Boy Scout camp in the Tahoe National Forest in Northern California. It is notable for its high altitude of 6,700 feet (2,000 m) and the surrounding alpine forest and 13 nearby lakes. It is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Cisco Grove, California off of Interstate 80 (I-80), about 32 miles (51 km) west of Truckee, California. It is on the south shore of Lake Sterling on leased land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and Pacific Gas & Electric Company .
Video Camp Robert L. Cole
Facilities
The camp has two main buildings, a rangers cabin, and a bike shop. The largest building contains a kitchen and food storage room on the first floor and bunk rooms on the second. The second building contains camp offices, a staff dining hall, and a dispensary on the first floor, and bunk rooms on the second floor. There is a pit toilet building, a shower building with eight shower stalls and a handicap accessible shower and toilet.
The camp has 16 large tent campsites, an archery range, a rifle and shotgun range, and campfire bowl. A trading post provides snacks and merit badge supplies during camp. Meals during summer camp are served cafeteria style. Open fires are not permitted. Only propane and butane lanterns and stoves are permitted in the camp.
Until 2015, the Golden Empire Council offered summer camp for three weeks from July 20 to August 8. The cost was $250. Due to poor road conditions and better access to other camps at lower elevations, the council stopped providing a summer camp program at Camp Cole.
Maps Camp Robert L. Cole
Program
When used as a Boy Scout summer camp, the program features a six-day, 50 miles (80 km) trek through the nearby mountains known as the Cole Trek. Cole also offers Mountain Biking Treks, Rock Climbing, Mountain Man Program, and a unique Build Your Own Program week. The waterfront program includes swimming, canoeing, snorkeling, small boats, and board-sailing. The camp provides a limited number of Scouts with a series of activities that will help them satisfy many of the requirements for First Class rank. The many nearby lakes and streams support trout.
Current use
The camp is currently used by five Northern California stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their Young Men summer camp program during one or two weeks in July. It is also used for one week each summer by the White Stag Sierra leadership camp. They provide ongoing leadership development for youth 11-18. Attendees have come from as far as Mexico and China.
History
In 1952 and 1953 Buttes Area Council Executive Alden Barber worked closely with volunteers to identify a new summer camp site in the Sierra Nevada mountains near a lake. They found Lake Sterling, a Pacific Gas & Electric reservoir, and discovered that it was within 5 miles (8.0 km) of 13 other small lakes suitable for back country treks. They opened the Glacial Trails Scout Ranch at Sterling Lake in 1954. The property consisted of 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land leased from the United States Forest Service and 100 acres (40 ha) leased from Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The council built a permanent kitchen in 1957, and after a severe winter storm severely damaged it, were forced to rebuild it in 1958. It was reconstructed once again in 1970, during which volunteers also built a new staff dining building. The Buttes Area Council and the Mount Lassen Council were merged with the Golden Empire Council in 1993.
The camp was closed in 2003 and 2004 when the Golden Empire Council was unable to pay for improvements required by the Placer County health dept and the U.S. Forest Service. Robert L. Cole, President of Goodwin-Cole Company, contributed $260,000 in a matching grant to help pay for the necessary upgrades. The camp was reopened as a high-adventure camp in 2005.
On July 21, 2007 the Camp was renamed to honor contributions made to the council and camp by Cole. The Cole family continues to support the camp and facilities.
Weather
The weather during summer camp season typically ranges from 56-94 °F. It rains an average of ½ inch during July.
See also
- Tahoe National Forest
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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