Owasippe Scout Reservation--More information

Information for Owasippe Scout Reservation (Scout-owned)

Camp address	Contact Information
9900 Russell Road Twin Lake, MI 49457 Forecast for this area (at weather.com)	Pathway to Adventure Council Council contact information Website

Map using camp address (sometimes accurate)	Map using coordinates: (always accurate)
Mapquest™ Road map Suremaps™ Topo map	No lat/lon coordinates in database...but here's how to add them!

Comments for Owasippe Scout Reservation

Owasippe is THE oldest continous Boy Scout camp in the United States having been built in 1911 and in operation non stop since 1912. OWASIPPE consists of over 5,000 acres of rolling hills, towering forests, crystal lakes, and clear streams in the heart of Michigan’s water wonderland. Surrounded in part by the Manistee National Forest, several thousand additional acres are available for hiking and many other scout activities.

(posted on Oct 10,2000)

As a 3rd generation scouter, I was most pleased to visit Owasippe with my son the 4th generation in my family.

(posted on Nov 25,2000)

Have been attending Owasippe for almost 30 years. There is not a better place on earth for a fully rounded scout summer camp expirience.

(posted on Feb 5,2001)

I've gone to Owasippe twice. From what I can tell so far it is the best camp anyone can go to.

(posted on Jul 25,2001)

I am astonished that this fantastic camp has no web site. I looked and all I could find was a web page for the staff association. Why does the council devalue the camp so much that they don't even mention it on their "under construction" website?

(posted on Sep 19,2001)

Owasippe Scout Reservation is the oldest boy scout camp in the world with continious operation. Approx. 5,000 acres, which border the Manistee National Forest, located just NW of Grand Rapids.

(posted on Oct 14,2001)

Actually, it's the oldest Boy Scout Camp in the U.S., followed by a tie between Treasure Island and Teetonka.

(posted on Dec 11,2001)

What a wonderful camp! We attended three years ago and the boys still talk about returning. The lakes are huge! The campfire location is postcard beautiful, overlooking the lake. The OA tapout ceremony is very well done. Staff have excellent knowledge of scouting principles and consistently demonstrate good scout spirit. The museum located near the registration headquarters is a must see. Order a group photo upon arrival but don't expect duplicates. We tried unsuccessfully. As scoutmaster, I also recommend ordering pizza for Friday night (keep it a secret). I've never heard so many scouts say, "We love you scoutmaster". On a scale of 10 this camp rates a strong 10. They don't miss a thing as they even mail your employer a follow-up letter, commending you for volunteering your time for young scouts. That's Scout Spirit!

(posted on Jun 27,2002)

This was our troop's first time at Owasippe (summer 2002) and will hopefully not be our last. The boys fell in love with this camp. The lake was clean, the staff was excellent and the new food service was top notch. Our older boys took advantage of the submarine overnighter and had a ball. "Camp Blackhawk" GO!

(posted on Oct 6,2002)

If You have not heard yet our elustrious "Paid Professionals", are trying to sell our most beloved camp. Scout Excecutive, Jim Stone and Assitant Scout Executive, Anthony Gibbs. For more info on current events please vist www.owasippe.com. The paid professionals are giving us volunteers till Jan. 2003 to raise 10-15 million dollars for an endowment. Any help would certainly be appreciated. This is not only our camp, it belongs to all scouts. As a member of the brotherhood of scouting I urge all interested in scouting to help save one of scouting's original homes. B.S.A. est. 1910 Owassippee est. 1911

(posted on Oct 21,2002)

Wow. I just visited Camp Glen Gray in N.J. on 10/26/02 and heard the news about the possible sale of Owasippe. Is this a trend? The same happened to Camp Charles Hook in Ohio. I have a very good scouter friend who attended Owasippe in the 60's and never had anything but grand memories. This will bring him to tears. I have another pilgrimage to make, it appears.

(posted on Oct 30,2002)

We are Troop 609, Chicago Area Council, and have what we believe to be the longest continuous record of attending Owasippe under our own adult leadership, 1927 through current without a single missed year. TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO, IN CASE THE WORST CASE SCENARIO COMES TO PASS.

(posted on Jan 13,2003)

I am the Chairman of the Chicago Area Council Camping Committee and a 41 year camper/staffman/volunteer at Owasippe. I chair the efforts to Save Owasippe called the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (visit www.owasippe.com).
We are far from dead and are in the middle of a capital campaign to raise the money needed to purchase the camp. Join us in our cause.

P.S. 609 DOES have the longest running streak at the "O". How is Don Epley (sp) doing?

Joe_Sener@Owasippe.com

(posted on Apr 1,2004)

I am a 'local' having lived in the Owasippe area my entire life. People have NO idea what a TREASURE this place is and how close to losing it you are. The good Lord is NOT making any more real estate, so this is it. "What you got, you got". Hopefully the foundation to save the reservation INTACT will succeed for future generations. Otherwise I'm afraid we'll be looking at lots of private estates complete with McMansions, manicured lawns, and lots of privacy fences and paved lanes. The developers are just waiting to pounce. Dig deep people, do what you can, or this unbroken expanse will be lost forever and scouts will be camping in someone's back yard in future generations. What a tragic loss!!

(posted on May 22,2004)

Owasippe is currently in a fight for its life and needs the support of all those who want to preserve pristine campgrounds for our Scouts as they are just NOT making any more of it. It indeed is an incredible outdoor laboratory and just a great program resource for Scouting. To close the camp would be a huge loss and shameful given what are movement is all about. For more information on the effort to save the camp and for ongoing program information for the camp's 2004 camping season, go to Owasippe's "Unwebsite and E-zine" at... http://scarlet_sassafras.tripod.com. For any followup or ideas, you can correspond with Owasiron@juno.com.

(posted on May 22,2004)

Not only is our beloved Owasippe America's OLDEST continually operating Scout Camp, but from 1924 thu the Spring of 1955, The original area around Owasippe Lake had its own Post Office~ OWASIPPE,MICH. Then, from the Summer of 1955, it became OWASIPPE RURAL STA., WHITEHALL,MICH. A number of years later OWASIPPE RUR. STA. became part of the Twin Lakes, MI 49457, Post Office. Owasippe's own PO ceased to exist in the early 1980s. Only a few, other Scout Camps can boast of having their own Post Office at one time or another!

(posted on Jun 24,2004)

Not only is our beloved Owasippe America's OLDEST continually operating Scout Camp, but from 1924 thru the Spring of 1955, The original area around Owasippe Lake had its own Post Office~ OWASIPPE,MICH. Then, from the Summer of 1955, it became OWASIPPE RURAL STA., WHITEHALL,MICH. A number of years later OWASIPPE RUR. STA. became part of the Twin Lakes, MI 49457, Post Office. Owasippe's own PO ceased to exist in the early 1980s. Only a few, other Scout Camps can boast of having their own Post Office at one time or another!

(posted on Jun 24,2004)

This summer (2004) i attended owasippe for the first time, it was so incredibly awesome i have applied to staff there next summer, Owasippe has great waterfront,tons of sites...it even has its own horse ranch...the Diamond O ranch... i am 16 years old nearly eagle scout rank and i have been to Philmont and i must say Owasippe easily matches up to Philmont.and if you go ask for camp wolverine "ZAXIE"

(posted on Sep 20,2004)

2006 will be my 3rd year summer camp at Owasippe,
our troop scoutmaster our council office, and other leaders ask why dont you go to camp at our council owned camp? answer visit Owasippe and then you tell me!! Camp Blackhawk GO

(posted on Apr 30,2006)

Reality Check - Owasippe is a grand camp with a proud tradition but has anyone looked at the Chicago Area Council lately? Unlike other metro cities like Houston & Atlanta, all of the affluent areas around Chicago have their own councils & camps. What is left is the inner city, an area with a declining number of scout troops, at least anything that we would recognize as a Boy Scout Troop. What you have left is a ton of "Scoutreach" and Learning for Life groups, most of which have no interest in heading off to a camp 200 miles away in another state.

It does not matter how many grandparents remember those good old days when the camp had their own Post Office. The Chicago Area Council today is a much changed organization, raising funds to pay for thousands of regisrations for Learning for Life in order to justify their existance. The entire existance of the council now is to woo enough Fortune 500 donors to sustain Scoutreach & Learning for Life. For the professionals and council leadership your Camp Owasippe is just an expensive, far away albatross they want to be rid of.

It is truly shocking to see Owasippe operate as a summer camp for just three weeks, and even then only with the help of a number of out of council units.

Since Chicago Area Council wants the camp to end they are not going to invest in marketing the camp (which could more than double it's revenue and weeks operating).

The only way to really save this camp is to change the demographics of Chicago Area Council or suck in about five of the surrounding affluent councils (and that is certainly not going to happen) and somehow convince them to support going to Owasippe.

This is truly a sad situation but there is hardly any scouting left in this council that would even want to support your camp.

It is time to dispose of the property, hopefully to a council that still has a strong cadre of real Cub Scout Packs & Boy Scout Troops that want and can support a camp like Owasippe.

(posted on Jul 28,2007)

In response to that last comment: You have no idea how many people you would anger if they read this. How dare you say they should sell a camp that brings happiness to 4,000 campers a summer. It is the oldest scout camp in the nation. And to correct you. We are open for 6 weeks a year. From Late June to Early August. You say it is too underused, well then support the OOEC, they want to buy the camp and continue it as a boy scout summer camp, but also use it year round for other activities. Please choose your words carefully next time and get your facts straight!

(posted on Aug 21,2007)

The comments posted a couple of messages above are simply based on misture of incorrect information [such as number of weeks operating] and the opinion that Scouting can not appeal to boys other than those in "affluent areas" [from the comment, not my wording].

Owasippe continues to operate and welcomes units from anywhere in the Scouting world. The natural enviornment of the 4,700+ acres [and 9 miles of lakeshore] that is owned by the Council is only a part of the facility. Owasippe is also a gateway to the adjacent Huron-Manistee National Forest with more than 1-million acres of public land and recreation facilities, including 7 rivers, several of them designated as National Sceneic Rivers.

Yes, it is true that the Chicago Area Council has been attempting to sell the Owasippe property over the past several years.

No, they have not been successful in doing so and have committed to continue to operate the Owasippe facility.

The nation's oldest Boy Scout Camp still welcomes another generation of Scouts and there is no reason to believe that plans to camp at Owasippe to mark it's 100th Anniversary [2011] should be cancelled.

Many more people who want Owasippe to grow and prosper are involved compared to the number of BSA Professionals and Executive Board members who want to cash-out the Council from owning any camping properties.

Sign-up your Unit for a week or more at Owasippe! Let the majority of the comments from above be your guide.

Your need for a "Reality Check" will be at the end of your stay at Owasippe. It's all that a Scout summer camp should be....and more than many.

(posted on Mar 14,2008)

GREATEST B.S. CAMP EVA
CAMP BLACKHAWK GO!

(posted on Sep 19,2008)

Camp Wolverine on the Owasippe Scout Reservation (Chicao Area Council). The camp is near Muskegon, Michigan. Oldest scout reservation in the country and still doing it right after 90+ years. Don't be afraid of the "hot pack" meal system --- it was wonderful and the food was very good. Hot water showers and flush toilets in EVERY campsite (Michigan law) was nice, too. Mature staff and merit badges had to be earned. Opportunities to do special group activities like horseback trail rides and river tubing floats. Open scheduling for MB classes provided tremendous flexibility for scouts.

(posted on Oct 21,2008)

I was a scout in the early to mid 50's from the northwest side of Chicago. We went to scout camp at what I thought all these years was Camp Dan Beard near Whitehall, MI. Is Camp Owasippe the same camp? We went by train, by the way.

(posted on Feb 16,2009)

Camp Dan Beard was one camp of several that are known as the Owasippe Scout Reservation. I start my camping at Owasippe in the late forties at Dan Beard. Might have met you there. Camps Beard, Stuart and West were sold off years ago. That's when 12,000 acres shrunk to 5,000 acres. We have a new team of Professionals and Board members and the current 4,700 plus acres will remain intact for scouting use and off season use. No place like it on Earth.

Reinhard Plaut C.A.C. Board member and longtime camper.

(posted on Jul 19,2010)

Owasippe Scout Reservation holds many fond memories for me from 1966 to 2010. I attended for many years as a youth and have returned for many more years as an adult. The camp property, lakes and the trails are second to none.

If your unit is looking for a wonderful summer camp experience, come to Owasippe in 2011 for the camps 100th anniversary. This is a camp experience and program that you will always remember.

It always provides me with a great week of "sanity" and childhood memories and new experiences every year.

Camp Blackhawk, GO!!

Bob Lagerquist, Troop 42, WD Boyce Council

(posted on Jan 3,2011)

As an old timer who started camping there in 1947
when the Reservation owned 12,000 acres and only missed
a year when the army drafted me, I would echo
that even today with it's 4700 plus acres it is
unparalleled both by its beauty and more
importantly by the program opportunities it
provides to the scouts. Don't miss it.

Camp Blackhawk Site 4 5th period
Troop 923 Chicago
See at at camp Bob.

Reinhard Plaut

(posted on Jul 11,2011)

Camp Wolverine "ZAXIE" is my second home. I love the staff as family, and the same goes for the reservation. I had a blast at the 100 year centennial celebration in 2011. I'm looking forward to go back summer 2012

(posted on May 1,2012)

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