You never forget your first big trip away from home.
For Ben Lusty and generations of Boy Scouts, it was at Camp Steiner high up in the Uinta Mountains of Utah.
“It was the first time I can remember seeing stars like you saw in the movies,” he recalled. “It was just astonishing to me.”
But it wasn’t just the scenery that left an impression.
“What I really saw was the way young boys and young men confronted things they didn't see every day – like waking up and it was cold and working through that, having to walk around a lot, there wasn't anything easy up there – overcoming those challenges and then learning new skills,” said Lusty, who went on to become a staffer.
“So many of these young men, these boys that have attended the camp for years and years, who are fathers and grandfathers now, have told stories to their wives and their kids and their daughters for all these years,” said Shad Stevens, a longtime scout leader who is breathing new life into the historic camp. “But these women have never been to the camp.”
Until now.
Last year, Boy Scouts of America, which is rebranding as Scouting America, decided not to renew their special use-permit for the U.S. Forest Service land. Stevens and the nonprofit Sunrock Foundation stepped in to not only keep the camp but open it up to the public as Sunrock High Adventure Base Camp.
“Now I have this flood of dads and grandpas saying, ‘Let's take our family to the camp!’” Stevens said.
Playing with purpose
“For almost 100 years, Camp Steiner served the Scouts and families of Scouting America, providing opportunities for adventure, teamwork, and outdoor experiences for thousands of young people, preparing them to lead lives of impact and purpose,” Gordon Shattles, director of Corporate Communications for Scouting America, said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Lusty said it was a lot of fun.
“It’s hard for young men, and young boys especially, to have rowdy fun, and so that was a space for them where they could do it. We had pretty wild games of tag, and they got to throw hatchets and shoot archery bows and rifles and stuff like that,” he recalled.
It was also a lot of work.
“It was the first time I ever had to really work hard, like physical labor, and work with a team of people,” he said of his staff days.
Stevens wants to continue that legacy as Sunrock High Adventure Base Camp’s camp director and Sunrock Foundation’s board chair. He’s also a teacher.
“Let's play with purpose. Let's have adventures, but let's come away closer together,” he said. “Doing the hard thing leads to self-discovery about yourself and other people.”
Opening doors
Sunrock High Adventure Base Camp will continue to serve youth. Stevens noted that that’s actually required by the Forest Service for the special use permit.
However, instead of just boys or scouts, the camp will be open to all sorts of youth groups during its relatively short summer season, which can only start after the snow melts in the mountains. Two weeks, however, will be reserved for families, and another week will be set aside for community-based groups and other nonprofits.
“We have this vision of just making (it) as available to as many different people as we can because we're not owners of the mountains. We don't claim to be. We believe we are stewards,” Stevens said.
The camp soft opened last week with a service week and Camp Steiner staff reunion, but the full slate of programming won’t begin until next year.
This summer, “groups will come on to the mountain with an understanding that they're there to help clean up,” Stevens said, noting the camp’s nearly century-old buildings are registered as historic places and must be maintained according to specific standards. The camp is relying heavily on donations to help with that. “We won't be building anything new for the first year, possibly even the second year, as our focus is just maintaining or repairing the current structures that are there.”
There will be some recreational activities available, but the camp will ramp up next year with a fully developed waterfront, rock climbing, hiking, workshops on topics like wilderness survival, and more.
Registration for next year opens July 27, the same day the camp is hosting a public open house.
Nature can make you feel small. You should seek that feeling when traveling.
Connecting with nature, disconnecting from devices
The camp is less than two hours away from Salt Lake City and about an hour away from Park City, but first-time visitors may feel a world away.
“There's no cell phone service. There's barely power. It's a really primitive area on purpose,” Stevens said. “There is unpredictable weather, there's unpredictable nature. That's the way it is and that's one of the best parts about it, is learning to deal with the unexpected.”
Back when it was Camp Steiner, it was the highest elevation Boy Scout camp in the country at 10,400 feet, and campers had to hike a mile to just get into the camp.
“I think there'll be a number of families who will be up for the task,” Stevens said. But there will be accessible alternatives. “We know there'll be some limited mobility when it comes to families.”
Lusty, who is volunteering with Sunrock, hopes new campers are open to other types of challenges.
“I hope people who are up there in August embrace the thunderstorms every afternoon. I hope that the people who were there in July embrace the hot afternoons and the cold, cold mornings. I hope people embrace the cold, cold water,” he said. “I hope people get a chance to feel like they're part of that now almost 100 years (legacy).”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former Boy Scout camp reborn as Utah adventure camp
