Camp Cherry Valley is a
summer camp
A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...
on the
leeward
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
side of
Catalina Island,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, which is owned and operated by the
Greater Los Angeles Area Council
Greater Los Angeles Area Council (GLAAC) is a Boy Scouts of America Council created from the merger of the Los Angeles Area Council and the San Gabriel Valley Council. The vote to merge was held on March 21, 2015. The new name for the Council, G ...
of the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
. It is located two coves north of
Two Harbors at Cherry Cove. The camp, valley and cove get their name from the
Catalina cherry trees native to the island. It also offers non-Scouting programs on a year-round basis.
Overview
Camp Cherry Valley has operated as a
Boy Scout
A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...
camp since the 1920s, but other groups use it as well. CIMI, the
Catalina Island Marine Institute The Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) is a non-profit educational program founded in 1979 and run by Guided Discoveries on Santa Catalina Island, California.
It is the host to approximately 15,000 students a year, who visit it in school-orga ...
, runs a program from September through November, taking a winter break then recommencing February through May. The CIMI program caters to youth groups other than boy scouts. Being right on the
Pacific ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, the camp allows superb
snorkeling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...
and
scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
. During the summer the calm waters stay around seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Scouts sleep in two-person canvas tents set on wooden platforms located up the canyon under the cherry trees.
To reach the camp, Scouts take a two-hour chartered
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
across the channel, a 22-mile distance from
San Pedro or
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
to
Two Harbors and then hike 1.3 miles to the camp. The camp promotes itself to scouts with the Tribe of Torqua. The "Tribe" was instituted by Council Executive H. Benjamin "Skipper" Robinson as a special group of honor campers.
Program
As of 2022, five main hikes were available for Scouts to take on Wednesday hike day:
*
Emerald Bay: 4-mile hike to a sandy beach in a protected harbor, option of adding trip to goat whiskers summit to increase hike to 5 miles. Scouts hike in way and then take a 2-mile guided canoe or kayak the other way. Scouts have the opportunity to swim in the ocean during their time at the bay.
* Parson's Landing: 7-mile hike to a sandy beach with a 2-mile canoe/kayak trip.
*
Shark Harbor: 16-mile round-trip hike to a sandy beach with surf on the windward side of the island. Scouts have the chance to get in the water as well
* Silver Peak: 21-mile hike to the highest point on the West end of Catalina.
* Little Fisherman's: A 4-mile hike up to Goat Whiskers, the mountain at the top of Cherry Cove, then down to Little Fisherman's beach.
Scouts have the opportunity to participate in an Advanced Camper Experience (ACE) while at camp. This program is for Adults and Scouts 14 and up. This program takes place during the week. The program has a morning portion which usually includes a kayak and a snorkel. They go to places like pirates cove and Guerrilla rock. The afternoon portion scouts get the chance to go paddle boarding, sailing or snorkeling. Scouts can take part in the ACE hike which is a hike to shark harbor or silver peak. Scouts can participate in all, or some of the ace activities. Scouts who participate in all activities and the hike can earn the ACE patch. Scouts can earn the BSA snorkel patch as well. The programs activities are staff and weather permitting.
History
There is a small
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
located in the cove left from the time the western part of Catalina Island was full of such mines. The mine was shut down by orders from
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, after he had got rumors the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
army may attack California to acquire
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and silver to fund their
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
efforts.
In 1864
Union Troops were put on the island to stop mining.
The San Gabriel Valley Council (former Pasadena Council) opened and operated the camp starting in 1923.
Throughout the 1920s-1930s, Scouts would travel via train from Pasadena to San Pedro, then take ''The Great White Steamer'' (
SS ''Catalina'') to
Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...
. After arriving in Avalon, they would then travel up to Cherry Cove on the ''Betty-O'', a Wrigley tour boat, now a
Marina del Rey
Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...
fishing boat.
When Cherry Valley opened in 1923, it was very primitive that first year. There was no
pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
, so campers had to wade ashore or be shuttled from the ''Betty-O'' via
rowboats
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reaction (physics), reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to ...
. Scouts ate at an "open air" Dining Hall and were plagued by
yellow jacket
Yellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera ''Vespula'' and ''Dolichovespula''. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these ...
s. Beginning in 1947, Scouts traveled directly from San Pedro to Cherry Cove on the H-10
water taxi
A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or o ...
. They would continue to travel via water taxi until 1973.
The original 1937
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
was blown down in a storm in 1998. It was rebuilt in 2003 and christened "Thomson's Light" in honor of Dr. Henry H. Thomson, who first supported Camp Cherry Valley as a medical student in 1932. He is a Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope recipient. For decades, Doc Thomson supported the health lodge with summer staffing and supplies.
The 1935 film ''
Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set h ...
'' used the Cherry Cove as part of its filming.
References
{{Summer camps in California
Santa Catalina Island (California)
Cherry Valley
Buildings and structures in Los Angeles County, California
Cherry Valley