Yesterday my friends arrived from New Zealand. A. and her husband, V. Now… as some of you may know… time sure flies by…. A. and I worked together at a place once known as Girl Scout National Center West. It was the ultimate camp for Girl Scouts back then… much like the Boy Scouts’ Philmont.
I will be honest here and admit we were 20 years old at the time. Twenty. So…That was like 15 years ago… right????
<hysterical laughter in the background>
Never mind the fact that our oldest children now are in their twenties…I’M TELLING YOU IT WAS ONLY 15 YEARS AGO!!!!
<laughter grows in volume>
<head hanging with a *sigh*>
OK. Thirty years ago we worked together at National Center West. We’re 50 now. WOW.
Do a search for it… you’ll find links for it under “Vintage Girl Scouts”…Vintage. Like most Ebay items…Vintage.
Unfortunately… Girl Scouts of the USA showed poor judgement… and sold it, all 15,000 acres of it to the Nature Conservancy. Don’t get me started on that…. Though it is GREAT that Trey (NC manager) and the Nature Conservancy put up with us “vintage” Girl Scouts when we return to reminisce! Thanks, Trey…
What we did today was visit our favorite sites…
The Chugwater Formation. A. talks of traveling across the Pacific Ocean… coming to Wyoming in the dark… and waking up her first morning in a new country *in a NEW WORLD*… and this is what she saw…. A. was a Girl Guide from New Zealand…chosen to work alongside U.S. camp counselors…giving the girls the perspective of the Girl Scout/Girl Guide worldwide movement.
She got to work with…ME!
One of our favorite places…. We called Pow Wow…a natural amphitheater of impressive size…
I’m sharing these photos larger than usual so you can see the scope. Look closely in the shadow on the right side… there’s A.! We loved Pow Wow because…
The upper wall is covered in pictographs.
Gorgeous mystical artwork from the past. Though A. and I worked in a horse camp called “Saddle Straddle”… I returned later and often worked as the archaeology consultant. It was a dream job. We talked about it all afternoon…. How so many girls today will never get the chance to do what we did…
Spend a magical summer in a canvas tent …and make friends…and learn…and grow…and share…And thirty years later… meet up again… in classic vintage style…And smile when a relic is found of our days gone by…
Seems like yesterday…Seems like only fifteen years ago…
(Thanks to V. for sharing his photos…)
Oh wow! I visited NCW back in 1977, I was in the Girl Scout/Cadettes at that time, having been a brownie, girl scout, then cadette, the highest level, I believe. Our group took Greyhound bus from Maryland, all the way out the Wyoming, what a trip! The first picture here looks so much like our campsite, had a very similar view! We camped out in 2 person tents, and cooked on kerosene stoves for food, a step above real “roughing it”, without having to cook on an open fire and we could walk to a shower house, lol. Oh, the scenery was breathtaking. We had activites, like some went to see the cave drawings, as shown above, my group went horseback riding near a large canyon, etc. Before arriving at NCW, we had seen Ft. Laramie, went to a rodeo in Cody, WY and saw the Buffalo Bill museum, saw Old Faithful Geyser and spent some time up in Yellowstone. A memorable trip, to say the least. Thanks for letting me share my memories!
NCW had a deep impact on many girls’ lives… and the staff… of which I was one for multiple years. Glad you had a memorable time!
we would love to come back… the energy of pow wow I can still feel when I look at the photos.
You just come right back any ol’ time. There’s always a place for you here!
How totally cool! And kids today can’t underatand how we got along without the internet!
Pow Wow = WOW WOW. Amazing.
The tent cabin isn’t over 30??? Does the Nature Conservancy have it as a display???
When we were there in 2009, they had a few leftovers from “camp”, but I imagine they’re all gone now… They do have some displays in their new log lodge about National Center West.
Wow. I always wanted to go there, but never had opportunity. I did not know it was now in the hands of the conservancy.
Can anyone visit? Appointment only? Or only special people? Irony was, I spent most of my summers with my grandparents in Wyoming, who lived in a trailer. They had been homesteaders, my mother was born in Lovell….look up the Back family and Waters family…lots of triumph and tragedy. My great grandfather owned two ranches now underwater in the Yellowtail dam.
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/tensleep-preserve/. Open to the public, or it *usually* is, but access is limited and you need to call ahead.
Size of Pow Wow…amazing!
Right?