Other GGAC Camps

About the Golden Gate Area Council

Golden Gate Area Council (GGAC) is a new council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) serving the San Francisco Bay area in California. GGAC is the result of a merger of three legacy councils: Alameda, Mt. Diablo Silverado, and San Francisco Bay Area. The merging of these three great councils into one united over 19,000 youth members in Cub Scouts, ScoutsBSA, Venturers and Sea Scouts from six Bay Area counties into one strong council with over 7000 dedicated adult volunteers along with five Scout Camps. The council’s office is located in Pleasant Hill, California, at the former site of the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council Office. The council is located in BSA Western Region Area III.

Although our new council is called the Golden Gate Area Council, our history with the Boy Scouts of America actually started some 104 years earlier in 1916 when our original legacy councils were formed. The original eight BSA councils of the Golden Gate Area were the following: Berkeley Council (1916), Oakland Area Council (1916), San Francisco Council (1917), Alameda Council (1917), Napa Council (1917), Contra Costa Council (1922), Solano Council (1922) and the Luther Burbank Council (1923).

The camps of the Golden Gate Area Council are Camp Royaneh (est. 1925), Camp Wolfeboro (est. 1928), Camp Herms (est. 1930), Rancho Los Mochos (est. 1944) and Wente Scout Reservation (est. 1959).

Other Scout Camps in the former Mt. Diablo Council

We've discussed Camp Baxter, but there are some other noteworthy camps with historic patches. Before the 1992 merger of the Mt. Diablo Council with the Silverado Council, Mt. Diablo Council ran four active BSA camps: Camp Herms, Camp Lindblad, Camp Bray, and Camp Wolfeboro.

A c. 1970's patch issued for all the Scout camps owned by the Mt Diablo Council: Wolfeboro, Lindblad, Herms, and Bray.

A Wolfeboro attendance rocker was offered to active members of Mt. Diablo Council. This Council patch, produced after 1951, was worn under the right shirt pocket. Council Shoulder Patches (CSPs) rendered it obsolete.

Camp Herms is located at 1100 James Place in El Cerrito, California. This camp, situated atop the El Cerrito Hills, serves as a year-round camp with Cub Scout Day Camp during the summer. It was originally named Camp Berkeley and opened for use on June 7, 1930. As the 1930's depression continued, many Scouts were unable to attend Camp Wolfeboro or any other camp due to lack of funds. In order for boys to get a camping experience (i.e. the maximum number of Scouts enabled to attend camp) a program was set in motion at Camp Berkeley whereby Scouts could pool their food and prepare it in a common kitchen. The first section of the lodge was completed, i.e. the shell of the building, plus a kitchen. After extensive improvements in 1938, the camp was renamed Camp William B. Herms in 1939, and is still in use as of 2019.

Camp Herms is also the base for the 10.4-mile Fages Historic Trail (pronounced “Faw-Hace”), commemorating the trek by Captain Pedro Fages, who was searching for a land route around the San Francisco Bay in 1772. Since the Fages Trail was established in 1973, it has been hiked by more than 15,000 people. It is a favorite of Scout groups throughout the area. The 20-mile Fages II Hike was first instituted in 1992 by Don Scott. It starts and ends at the Wildcat Canyon Alvarado Trailhead Staging Area in Richmond, CA.

Camp Lindblad was located at 17660 Kings Creek Rd., Boulder Creek, CA. It was originally established in 1952 as Camp Redwood. It offered year-round traditions and wilderness camping on over 200 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It closed in 2017 and sold for $3,000,000.

Camp Lindblad Patch, 1950s.

Camp Lindblad Patch, cut edge, 1960s.

Camp Lindblad Patch, merrowed edge, 1970s - 1980s.

Camp Lindblad Patch, post 1992.

Camp Bray was located 52 miles South of Wolfeboro at 30600 Old Strawberry Road in Strawberry, CA, in Tuolumne County. Previously it was Strawberry Camp 1 of the Sugar Pine Railway, a logging company. The Sugar Pine was set up as a subsidiary of the Sierra Railway Company in 1903 to feed the Standard Lumber Company's mill at Sonora, CA. With an economic recession in 1907, management was turned over to Standard Lumber. In 1921, Pickering Lumber bought Standard Lumber, which continued to operate as a separate company until consolidated into Pickering in 1926.
Note: The "Patsy Ory Ory Ay" song, sung by the Wolfeboro Pioneers at every Friday night campfire, includes the custom verse "In 18 hundred & 99 I found myself at Sugar Pine working on the railroad" in reference to the Sugar Pine Railway.

This two truck Shay locomotive was built by Lima in 1910 for the Sugar Pine Railway Co., in Standard, CA. #3 was retired in 1957 and its current location is at the junction of W Stockton St and Southgate Dr at the entrance to the Tuolumne County Fairgrounds in Sonora, CA.

Camp Bray operated there from 1949 through the late 1970's. At one point there were 17 cabins and other structures associated with the operation of the camp (all have since been demolished).

The Wolf-Bray Trail spanned the 52 miles between Camp Wolfeboro and Camp Bray. Burros would carry the heavier supplies for Scouts who went on the longer expedition to Camp Bray, and they would receive an award upon completion.

When the camp closed, the land was sold to Sierra Pacific Industries; and in June 2012 the property was sold to Joseph and Denise Jimenez.

The Camp Judge Bray Rangers may have been an organization similar to the Wolfeboro Pioneers.

A 1972 Camp Bray patch. The Wolf-Bray Trail program ended in 1974, along with the resident burros kept in a corral at Camp Wolfeboro near the hike shack.

Camp Silverado (of the former Mt. Diablo Silverado Council)

Camp Silverado was the name of two separate camps in Northern California's history.

The original Camp Silverado (1933 - c.1943) was was originally "Camp Four" established in 1906 by the Union Lumber Company on the Noyo River in Mendocino County, California. In the 1920s Fort Bragg BSA troops were allowed to camp there. The Silverado Council leased the site from Union Lumber Co. in 1931 for one dollar per year, naming it Camp Silverado in 1933 and operating it each summer until 1943.

In 1943 the Sonoma-Mendocino Area Council (SMAC) formed from the former Petaluma Area Council and part of the Silverado Council. It acquired the camp and half the cots from the Silverado Council for $300. SMAC offered a summer program for Boy Scouts at Camp Silverado that consisted of two to three one-week sessions.

This is an example of the 1940 patch for the former Camp Silverado (now Camp Noyo).

These patches, made for the 1940 Redwood Camporal in Santa Rosa, clearly uses the same artwork as the 1940 Camp Silverado patch.

Silverado Camp patch, could be 1943, or could be Camp Berryessa. Could be "4B",

Sources disagree when the name of Camp Silverado was changed to Camp Noyo, some say as early as 1938 and some as late as 1955. However, the existence of Camp Noyo felt patches point to an earlier name change, with 1943 being most likely, since Camp Silverado patches exist dated 1941.

In 1947 SMAC bought the area around the camp, consisting of 720 acres, from the Union Lumber Company for $8000. In 1951 the camp expanded to the north side of the Navarro River.

Then the Masonite Corporation sold a former lumber camp of the Albion Lumber Company to the Sonoma-Mendocino Area Boy Scout Council in 1956 and named it Camp Navarro. It was a private Scout camp and the 'crown jewel' property used by the Scouts as well as other youth groups for over 60 years.

Camp Noyo was no longer the Sonoma-Mendocino Area Council's main summer camp after Camp Navarro (aka Camp Masonite Navarro) was established.

UC Berkeley professor Frank Kleeberger and his wife, Helen, founded Sierra Camps in 1923. Talking Mountain Camp for boys and Laughing Waters Camp for girls were established on either side of Tamarack Creek, on Upper Echo Lake off Echo Summit near Highway CA-50.

The Silverado Area Council purchased this private site in 1941 and opened it in 1942 as Camp Echo (1942-1948). Because of the distance disadvantage from Vallejo, Silverado Area Council sold Camp Echo to Golden Empire Council in 1948 who renamed it Camp Harvey West.

Source: Echo Summit By Paul DeWitt & Dorothy De Mare, p.69.

From c.1949-1952, the Silverado Area Council gave out for the council's summer camp held in the Sierras.

Silverado Scout Camp (1951-1954) was founded by the Silverado Council in 1951 about 20 miles North of Camp Wolfeboro on Silver Lake near Kit Carson, California. It is possible that the name was chosen to distinguish it from the prior Camp Silverado. Again, it is unclear if the former Camp Silverado's name was changed to Camp Noyo after 1950.

Blue "51" in headdress. Cut edge.

Note Legend is "Silverado Scout Camp,"c. 1952 - 1954. Cut edge.

Camp Silverado patches (Kit Carson, CA), 1950s-1960s

After the original "Camp Silverado" in Mendocino was renamed Camp Noyo, "Silverado Scout Camp" officially became Camp Silverado (1955-2003). Camp Silverado patches from the 1960s include "Kit Carson, CA" in the legend, possibly to help distinguish the two camp names.

Likely produced after 1955. Cut edge.

1959 - 1960 Cut edge

1961Merrowed edge with "Kit Carson, Calif."

1966 merrowed edge

Camp Silverado patches, 1980s - 1990s

Camp Silverado was operated each summer by the Silverado Area Council, until it was merged into MDSC in 1992. The camp was unfortunately closed by MDSC in 2003, only ten years after the merger.

Currently the non-profit organization Friends of Camp Silverado maintains two campsites there and take reservations for summer camping.

Believed to be after 1981.

Camp Silverado Patch, 1992 - 2003.

Prior to the merger of the Silverado Council with the Mt. Diablo Council in 1992, The Silverado Council also ran Camp Berryessa.

Other Scout Camps in the Golden Gate Area Council

Ranchos Los Mochos is a Nationally Accredited BSA Scout Camp owned and operated by the Golden Gate Area Ranchos Los Mochos is located 18 miles south of the Northern California town of Livermore, 40 miles East of San Francisco. The 686-acre property was donated to the Oakland Area Council in June 1944 by the Automotive Machinists Union No.1546, International Association of Machinists. The camp was dedicated as a wilderness camp for the welfare of youth in the community, in memory of the members of the Automotive Machinists Union who gave their lives in our Country’s wars and to assure that future generations of youth the American Democratic heritage of opportunity and well-being the principles for which said members fought and made the supreme sacrifice.

Rancho Los Mochos is located in the scenic oak-studded hills of southeastern Alameda County, up a winding canyon road above Livermore. It has several large rustic campsite areas, making it ideal for unit camping or District Camporees. The Camp sites feature fire rings, picnic tables, and piped drinking water. The central camp area has a small dining hall with kitchen, a modern bathroom shower building, a modest program building, an outdoor pool, and a large flat field for programs or games. There also are shooting ranges (archery, rifle, and shotgun).

Camp Royaneh was established in April 1925 in the coastal redwoods near Cazadero in Sonoma County by the San Francisco Council. and opened on June 22, 1925 as the first permanent summer camp of the San Francisco Council.

One of the oldest continuously operated Scout camps in all of California, Camp Royaneh has a large dining hall, campsites that offer open cabin and tent camping, shooting ranges (archery, rifle, shotgun, and black powder), COPE course (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) outdoor swimming in an Olympic-size pool, and a horsemanship program.

Wente Scout Reservation was established in 1959 in the foothills near Willits, CA in Mendocino County. With 2200 acres, Wente is one of the largest Scout Camps on the West Coast and offers a wide variety of programs.

Wente Scout Reservation has a modern dining hall, campsites with platform tents, shooting ranges (archery, rifle, shotgun, and black powder). The 80-acre lake offers outstanding swimming, boating, and fishing. Wente Scout Reservation offers a world class mountain biking program and a horsemanship program.

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