 This is a new webpage dedicated to all the past "happy campers" who spent time at Manzanita Ranch near Hyampom, California. This is a place where you can post photographs and share your experiences about those wonderful summers in the wilderness. We had no TV, no cellphones, no computers. We wrote home to our parents by handwritten letters. We lived in open air shelters among the rattlesnakes, bears, insects, poison oak, and all the natural beauty of the wilderness. We washed our own clothes by hand. We sometimes cooked our own food. We learned many things about others and about ourselves. The camp was co-educational. It was where I fell in and out of love. I was tested by many real life experiences. The staff was great. We sat around a camp fire in the evenings, played guitar, sang songs (yes...kum-bah-yah and marshmellows), held dances, learned to ride horses, learned to work with leather craft, photography and more. We went on extended overnight, horseback camping trips. We swam in the rivers, fished for trout and explored old abandoned hunter's cabins. A work in progress. Site maintained by: rsheeks769@aol.com Please let me hear from all the previous campers out there who would like to contribute to this site. By the way...I hope those who visit this site will check out the group photo in the attached Photo Album. Hopefully, someone will recognize them and let me know their names and how to reach them. I am on the far right.
Correspondence:
8/20/09
My dad was a partner with "Doc" Tilley who founded Manzinita ranch years and years ago. I learned to walk there. At that time we camped in Army style tents on platforms and walked everywhere we went. I am now 60 plus and very pleased to see that it is still operating in some form. Sandra Heffernernan
8/20/09
I sent my last note in such a hurry I left out important stuff Like My name is Sandy (Stultz) Heffernan and my father (Richard Stultz) was with "Doc" Tilley who must be related to you when they founded Manzanita Ranch. I remember washing by hand, out houses etc. I also remember a Doug Sheeks - are you related to him. Do you still work, live etc. at the camp. I heard it is now a private school - true? I would love to hear from you. Sandra.
8/20/09
Hi Sandy;
It was nice to read your emails. Thanks for the reply. I knew that eventually someone would see my posting and respond. Just another reason why I think computers and the Internet are so amazing. You are the very first person to respond and comment since I posted the web page.
No, I am not related to "Doc" Tilley. But I remember him fondly while attending the Ranch as a camper. I saw him many years later in Cupertino with his wife. I just happened to be having dinner at a restaurant and he was there at the same time. Such a strange coincidence.
Yes, Doug is my brother. He is living and working in Rocklin, California. We don't talk though. Very sad...all having to do with our dysfunctional family problems. Oh well...life goes on.
I wish I could identify the other people in the group photo posted at the website. Maybe more people will find the posting and help out. I am living in Santa Rosa now. Close to my dad. Mom has passed away. I am now 61, Doug is 62.
I recall when my parents visited me one summer at the Ranch. My younger brother Graham got lost in the wilderness during a game of Capture the Flag. It took hours to find him (finally down by the river). I also remember going on an extended camping trip up into the high Trinity Alps when one of our group got caught in a landslide. Very scary. We carried him out on a stretcher to a ranger station. Just a couple of the memories I still recall.
Take care and many thanks again for writing. I might add your correspondence to the site if that is okay with you.
Robert (Bob) Sheeks
8/20/09
It is ok with me -- maybe some others will respond. I can remember playing capture the flag and swimming (playing) in the Trinity River. I am 61 - I don't really remember Doug but for some reason the name came to mind. Do you remember a nurse by the name of Norma Van Buren? I was pretty small so maybe she was not there when you were. She traveled from NY with us to California every year. I think we made the trip until I was about 9 or ten and I think mom (Evelyn) and dad made it longer than that. I couldn't pull the picture up on my computer -- it is a work computer and they block me out of a lot of things. Did you ever know a camper by the name of Gary Nichols? I can remember falling out of a manzanita bush (tree). I was kind of a tom-boy - ha ha. I hope you get more responses. I found it because I was telling one of the detectives I work with about the bear hunts some of the counselors use to go on and I thought of the ranch. Sandra
8/20/09
Hello again Sandy;
Thanks for your reply. There is so much that I remember. I attended the Ranch as a camper for two summers, and as a counselor in training for third summer.
I vaguely remember Norma, but not too many of the other staff members. Everyone seems to remember my brother Doug. I guess because he was, and still is, so good looking.
I remember Dan the head wrangler. He road a beautiful "paint" horse named Chi Chi. Dan and the daughter of "Doc" Tilley had a serious love affair going on. But it got out of hand and Doc ended up firing Dan. That was a very sad day when he left the camp. Lots of tears.
I remember the huge bonfires we would build down at the river. All day long, the guys would gather loose wood and logs that had drifted down stream for months. They piled them up on a sand spit in the middle of the river. Then in the evening we had hot dogs and marsh mellows and punch for dinner. When the fire was lit, it turned the night into day.
I remember the huge rock we would jump off of while swimming at the river. We called it the Yaba Daba Doo! I guess because we would all yell those words as we jumped off. No fear!
I remember the old hunter's cabins out in the wilderness that we would visit while on overnight horseback trips. They were still in tact and left as is. Some had old pots and pans and even a shotgun on the wall. Nobody bothered the contents.
I remember the bear hunts and rattlesnake hunts. We cooked the meat down at the canteen and ate the roasted meat. What an experience that was.
Thanks again. I hope you will be able to see the photos at the webpage once you have a chance to use another computer that allows you access.
Bob September 29. 2009
Hello, I was a camp counselor at Manzanita Ranch in 1968 and 1969. Do you know the names and possible locations of any of the other counselors at that time? I remember John Ann, T. Earl Tilley’s step daughter. I don’t remember her last name. There was Heidi, Kim Clark, Julie, Ron, the director, Kathy, Malcolm, and others I can’t remember. I had several campers, Kris, Joe Fontes, etc. I wonder what they are doing. If you hear from them, let me know. Joe Aubert Now in St. Pete Beach, Florida ________________________________________
Bob, You're welcome to use the note, but hopefully between my sisters and me, we can give you more info. For example, I recognize everyone in that group photo, but I can only come up with Craig's name (second from left). Also, I can't recall offhand if our first summer was 1961 or 1962. Also, the Heidi that the guy who was a counselor from 1968 and 1969 was referring to was Heidi Leuenberger who attended camp as a camper, with her horse, in 1966, and came back as a counselor I believe. Doc wanted me to return in 1968, but I bailed and worked at another camp in Mammoth Lakes. I was a co-counselor with Hazel on the caravan to Canada in 1967 after Lindsey Ralston died in an air mattress rafting trip accident. Gotta run. I'll be in touch.
On Oct 22, 2009, at 11:31 PM, rsheeks769@aol.com wrote:
October 28, 2009
Manzanita Ranch is for sale should a group of former students wish to purchase it for whatever reasons they might wish. :-) The price has just been greatly reduced!
You can contact Todd at todd@caoutdoorproperties.com
Bye!
Thomas
(Owner)
Posted October 30, 2009
Bob,
Not sure how to get a better scan, but attached is a pdf copy of a 1963 MR photo of my cabin with (left to right): me, Chris Breyfogle, Mike ?, Sev Morrison, and Lindsey Ralson (our fearless leader). It's funny, but coincidentally with my e-mailing you last week my sister Linda was going through old photos for a friend's retirement and found a bunch of MR photos. She claims she has them because she spent a lot of time in the darkroom. Anyway she came through town and dropped this one off. David Ortez Hello David;
Many thanks for your latest contribution to the site. What a great archive! I must admit, I don't remember any of the individuals in the photo but it's a wonderful memory all the same. I think I must have been off in the younger kids bungalows at this time, whereas the older boys were in the area called Oakville... across the meadow. I do remember the setting where this photo was taken...by the campfire where the stump seats where arranged in a circle. I am adding your note and the picture to the webpage today. The more photos we get, the better.
Someday I hope I can get a professional web page creator to make the site look more presentable. All I know is basic HTML which doesn't really end up looking all that great. But it's a start.
Many thanks again! Any and all pictures from the Ranch are welcomed.
Sincerely.
Bob Sheeks
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Posted November 4, 2009
The Story of Harold Struley
A group of us were on an extended backpacking trip into the high Trinity Alps. Our destination was Sapphire Lake. At the end of the second day out, at a wide point in the trail, we made camp. We were close to an old abandoned mining operation called Old Brown’s Mine. Several of the kids, including a camper named Harold Struley, left the camp to explore the mine. The mining operation sat on the hill side above a river. There were huge mounds of rocks, gravel and boulders along the hill sides. These mounds were tailings left over from the mining digs and piled up loosely along the hillside above the river. Some of the kids got the idea to create miniature landslides by kicking and dislodging the loose rocks and causing them to tumble down the hillside. This caused a chain reaction as rocks came into contact with other stones and down went the slide. Bad idea!
All of us campers wore a whistle around our necks. Blowing the whistle three times, sharply, meant trouble…come quickly. I was still back at the campsite resting from the hike. Then, it came…the faint sound of three whistle blasts off in the distance. Reaction was at first slow to realize what was happening, but then, almost immediately, we all ran towards the sound.
Harold had been standing on a huge boulder while the other hikers kicked rocks down around him causing the loose tailings to give way and fall down the hill. The entire side of the hill had given way. Harold went down with it and ended up buried under rocks and gravel at the river’s edge. He was still alive but badly injured with scraps and abrasions from the grinding action of the rocks. He was passing in and out of consciousness. Each time he came to, the pain was so great, all he could do was scream.
We were miles from any civilization. The campgrounds where we had started from was about 20 miles away. There was a ranger station there, but later we learned that all the rangers were gone, out fighting forest fires. We sent a runner back to the ranger station for help. The best they could do was send us a stretcher. So we packed up Harold into the stretcher and carried him out of the wilderness ourselves, through the night. Eventually, we were met along the trail and the rangers took over. We spent the rest of the night and the next day in the ranger station. Eventually we were driven back to Manzanita Ranch.
Harold survived his injuries. He required skin grafting procedures to help heal his wounds. At the end of that summer, a group of us campers went to visit Harold where he lived at that time…in San Francisco. It was good to see him again, doing well and in recovery. I wish I could make contact with him again and see how he is doing.
That was an experience I’ll never forget.
Bob Sheeks |