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Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch, Santa Fe Trail Council, near Walsenburg, Colorado As with many of the camps we visited in the southwest, it took a drive through some fairly inhospitable territory to finally reach Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch. In this case, 16 miles of some of the roughest road we've encountered so far. Keeping in mind that we're driving a motorhome, people in their SUVs seemed happy to cruise the approach road at 40 m.p.h. We found ourselves slowing down at times to just a crawl, but we were rewarded by beautiful country, dense vegetation, pine and aspen, soaring peaks, and stone dike formations reportedly only found in two other places in the United States. Spanish Peaks isn't one of the more modern camps, or even forward-thinking insofar as flush toilets or full meal service are concerned. Quite the opposite, Spanish Peaks is a full commissary operation with all meals (save the arrival dinner) cooked at the campsites with camp-provided food, except in the rare instance of fire alerts/bans when meals are served at the commissary. You have to be a Sherlock Holmes to find a flush toilet, although the clever adult will prevail. Platform tents, however, are provided. Every campsite we saw was well-wooded and shaded. At 8200-8400 feet, even when other parts of Colorado were near 100 degrees, the camp was comfortable and evenings were cool. We arrived later than planned and most of the camp was at the Council Ring enjoying a campfire, skits and, we think, an orientation to the camp. We were greeted by the Camp Medic, John, who gladly filled us in on much of the camp's history. John, in fact, is a long-time summer resident of Spanish Peaks, having attended camp himself in the 1970s. He shared a photo with us of his arrival at camp one summer when the peak was still covered in snow behind him. The mountain keeping watch over Spanish Peaks is quite majestic and more than a little mysterious. Straight-backed pines march up its slopes to the timberline and gray rock continues on to a height of over 12,000 feet. This volcanic formation blew its stack quite some time ago, leaving a crater and wrinkles that account for its mysterious nature. In the mornings the rising sun casts long, sharp westward-lying shadows across the crater, quite easily seen to be the profile of an Indian chief in feathered head gear. Although we missed sunset owing to rain clouds, we were assured that the setting sun casts eastward lying shadows that are easily seen as a miner's profile. The camp offers an extensive high adventure program with treks into the nearby mountains popular with many troops, including one large group from Louisiana with which we visited. Troops arrive in camp with Scouts of all ages and send the older ones off on a five-day adventure, while the younger Scouts work on merit badge advancement. You'll find no watersports at Spanish Peaks, but that doesn't keep Scouts from across the country from attending year after year. After some lean years attendance-wise, a change in Scout Executives has brought about a profound increase in camp promotion and attendance. Camp Director John White came to the aid of an admittedly out-of-shape Scout Camps USA crew and offered a possibly life-saving drive around camp while we photographed and visited with Scouts and Scouters. John is also a long-time summer citizen of Spanish Peaks, his father is on staff, and a grandson is staying over this summer. Had we arrived just a day earlier, we might have photographed four generations of White men, as the grandson's father had left camp just ahead of us. Another camp regular, Phil Arnold, a/k/a Dr. Gizmo, is a retired rancher who, with the help of his science teacher wife, has put together quite an amazing scientific demonstration, including boiling water with ice and holding burning methane in his hand. Dr. Gizmo performs demonstrations for schools in Kansas (home state to the Santa Fe Trail Council) and Oklahoma. He was kind enough to give us a mini-demonstration as we would leave before his full presentation that evening, and even let us hold burning methane in our hands. Spanish Peaks is, by our experience and by the staff's proud statements, a rugged camp. It offers boys the opportunity to practice old outdoor skills and acquire new ones. Moreover, there is a strong feeling of tradition and family closeness among the staff, which makes a visitor or camper feel very welcome. |
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Discover Spanish Peaks!
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