Austin Council #564 First Annual Hikes or Summer Camps

In the tradition of the actual first annual hike of Troop 1 of Austin in 1911 to San Marcos, Austin Council conducts their first hike in 1912 to Old Setters Camp Grounds in Georgetown from August 8^th to 18^th.  We have A. O. Watson, Council President of the Austin Council, comments on the trip, “The camp grounds are ideal for the purpose of the Scouts. Plenty of fine shade trees give splendid shelter. There is a fine clean, cool spring of water to satisfy the thirst and a nice lake for boating and swimming. The boys are well disciplined and are given exercises and instruction that will be helpful to them… They are well fed, having plenty of good, substantial, well cooked food each meal, and some to spare. The different duties are assigned from day to day, so that each boy will serve in every capacity during the camp, rotating where possible, to give equal service to each boy.”  The hike included 22 scouts from troop 1, 2 scouts from troop 4 attached to troop 6, 15 scouts from troop 5, and 9 scouts from troop 6. (F. O. Maxwell, Scoutmaster of the Belton Troop helped plan the event and spoke at the start but it is not known how many scouts from Belton participated.)

The other annual hikes or summer encampments as they were called for Austin Council were:

1913      New Braunfels, TX

1914      Round Rock, TX

1915      10 days, Landa Park, New Braunfels, TX

1916      New Braunfels, TX

1917      9 days in September, Round Rock, TX and the first time cooks were hired instead of older scouts.

1918      San Marcos, TX

1919       Special encampment on State Capitol grounds Boy Scout Week, June 8^th to 14^th

1919      13 days in September, San Marcos, TX, named after C.B. Anderson leader of first fund raising for council to fund 3 years of operations. A patch was issued after the camp from the proceeds of the cantina. A group picture was taken at the camp showing almost 100 participants. Same site as 1918.

1920      San Marcos, TX

1921      Waco Springs, New Braunfels, TX.  A picture was taken at the council office prior to departure.

1922

1923      Gruene, TX

The encampments for Austin-Travis County Council #564 were:

1924       Lampasas, TX

1925       Lampasas, TX

1926       Gruene, TX

1927       Sattler, TX

Austin Area Council #564 encampments were:

1928       Sattler, TX

1929       Camp Stage, Llano, TX

1930       3 separate weeks in July, 9 miles West of Llano, TX on Llano River

1931       2 separate weeks, Camp Comal, New Braunfels, TX

1932       2 separate weeks, Camp Rio Blanco, Wimberly, TX (San Marcos Baptist Academy)

1933       Wimberly, TX

Capitol Area Council #564 had a new camp donated to the council in 1934 but Camp Tom D. Wooten was not ready for long term camping till 1939 so summer camp was held in these places:

1934       Lampasas State Park, Llano, TX

1935       Camp Mason, Mason, TX

1936       2 separate weeks, Spicewood Springs, TX  (future Camp Tahuaya) OA Lodge is formed.

1937       Cancelled due to epidemic of infantile paralysis but 12 known different sites most 1-2 troops only met the need for annual summer camp.

1938       3 separate weeks, Camp Ben McCulloch, Austin, TX (private camp grounds still in operation today for special events)

Troop 1, Austin

The first annual hike took place from July 26^th to August 1^st in 1911. Twenty-five scouts with Scoutmaster Pat Vardell and Commissioner Lyman Bailey starting at 6:15 am in Austin makes Buda, Texas their first night bivouac.  A wagon carried their provisions and bedding which helped the group make such a distance in one day.  On the second day they pitched their tents on Thompson’s Island in a pecan grove alongside the San Marcos River.  Scoutmaster Vardell wrote in a letter about the encampment “That not a single untoward incident has married the adventure, and that the joys of roughing it, camping out, sleeping in the open, grazing upon new scenes, swimming and fishing in the cool, shaded streams… all so dear to the boys heart…have been enjoyed to the full.”  The troop packed up after three days and started their trek back by a different route to see more of the beautiful country side.