rickeckhardt

@MattR  The council exec you may be referring to could be Reed Brannon.   I don't recall if there was anyone else between him and Warren Holm.   In the 80's I was a new adult leader for Troop 103 on the local air force base and didn't pay much attention to leadership and politics at the council level yet.

A little over 13 years ago Reed retired and was replaced by John Coleman who just retired at the end of last year to be replaced by Nathan Dutson.

@BIC I know that Wally Rice, Joe Tate, Rees Johnson and Steve Sunderman all fished the pond whenever they were in came.   I know fish were caught by these gentlemen.   I know that scouts have fished the pond as well though now record was kept.   Every time I have been up to the cabin to work this past year there was always someone who fished the pond while I was there, Usually from the earthen dam but one in a while from a canoe on the water.

I was always told that the pond had to be stocked annually due to winter kill,  that the pond is shallow enough that it can freeze clear through.   That always seemed plausible to us.

@TimMiller  In the early 1980's I became involved with the volunteer group @ Chimney park when one of the founders, Charles Burke, my former scoutmaster asked if I would help on a work weekend.  That is the weekend that we moved the pump house from it's location at the water's edge to place it over the well head that Mr. Burke had arranged to have drilled next to the cabin.   I have been involved with the committee ever since, some 40+ years.

Sadly, a few years ago, Chuck's health degraded to the point that he can no longer participate, others have moved on from scouting.   This pass year saw the passing of Wally Rice and later Steve Sunderman.   I am hoping to rebuild the committee this year.

I wish to maintain the legacy of those before me a preserve the camp for the youth of today and tomorrow.

@MattRHey,  any luck in finding the digitized version of the trail from CPSC to BDSR?   I would be really interested in a copy.

Thanks,

@Wyobkr  Any luck in getting those documents scanned?   Anything I can do to help?   I have a portable scanner  if you are within driving distance of Cheyenne.

The Longs Peak Council (now the Adventure West Council) never owned the property.   It has always been a lease from the USFS being in 1950 for over 100+ acres.   At some point in time the lease was renegotiated for a much smaller 25 acre area.

Regarding the radiant floor furnace.   There are clay pipes that were placed in the floor slab that connect to each chimney stack on each end of the cabin.  There is an opening at the base of the chimney's where a fire can be built (but no, do not try to shove a whole tree in there).  The heat travels through the pipes to heat the entire concrete floor slab.   There were times that folks in my youth when folks were a bit over zealous about stoking the fire.   The floor became too hot to walk on barefooted.   Alas, this can no longer be used for a couple of reasons.  The floor slab now has cracks that allow smoke to enter the cabin.   The west end of the cabin has a fireplace with a large hearth.   The flue in the chimney had failed and made the cabin quite drafty.   We placed a fireplace insert into the old fireplace to make it more efficient and to block the downdraft.  We replaced the old pot belly stove on the east end of the cabin with a newer wood burning stove.

At one time, there was a camp director's cabin, and outdoor shower house with an attached boiler connect to a pump that pulled water from the lake and pushed it into the boiler.   A wood fire would be built under the boiler to heat the water.   I have never seen the director's cabin but we used the shower house in the early 1970's when I first became camping there as a scout.   The boiler and shower were later destroyed and removed, I believe, at the request of the USFS.   The pump house was moved from the edge of the lake  to the location of a new well to secure the well head.

There was also a lifeguards tower and rack for canoe storage.  These were removed when they were no longer serviceable.

In the southwest corner of the cabin there is a hole in a raised portion of the concrete that is plugged with a galvanized bucket.  We do not know why it is there or what it's original use was.

@WYOBKR -  I would really appreciate receiving the images of the document you have found and also how you came to find them.   Thank you,

Still looking for information regarding the history of Chimney Park Scout Camp and Baldwin Lodge.  Please let me know if you have any information.

I am trying to gather any historical information, article, stories, contacts, photos, or documents concerning the history of the Chimney Park Scout Camp and Baldwin Lodge located in the Medicine Bow National Forest off of state Highway 230 west of Laramie, Wy.

I've been a user of this camp since my youth nearly 40 years ago and now work on a committee commited to preserving and maintaining this rural provisional campground.

A couple of years ago while on a family campout we discovered that our neighbor campers included the daughter of the man who was the first camp director of this campground when it functioned as a council summer camp. She indicated she had some information she would like to get to us. I gave her all my contact information but unfortunately did not get hers and have not heard from her since. Any help in re-connecting with her would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone.