page_title: Camp Winton
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Camp Winton / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Large rock protruding out of Lower Bear River Reservoir, and serves as a place to hold flag ceremonies for Camp Winton, BSA.
context_page_description: Camp Winton is a summer camp of the Boy Scouts of America, belonging to the Golden Empire Council. It is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at an altitude of 5,800 feet, approximately 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe, close to the town of Pioneer, California in Amador County. It was founded in 1958, built in the El Dorado National Forest, which land was formerly managed by the Winton Lumber Company, from whence it obtained its name. It is built on the south bank of Lower Bear River Reservoir, and takes pride in its staff and adherence to traditions passed through the years.
  Camp Winton is usually closed to the general public, but opens during the summer months to Boy Scout troops.
context_section_description: As the camp grew in size, the flag ceremonies were moved from Dedication Point to a large protruding rock on the shore, now named "Flagpole Rock."
  The environment also could no longer handle the amount of waste produced by the camp. To solve this problem, a staff member named Karl Heimberg, who was a German WWII tank driver on the eastern front, rented a backhoe which he drove into camp through the forest. With it he excavated several locations throughout camp and built improved vault toilets in the 1980s.
  The only medical and emergency response at the camp consisted of a camp medic, who had a tent for the purpose of housing the sick and medical supplies after the original medical lodge degraded and had to be condemned. Karl Heimburg once again drew up plans for a permanent "Medical Lodge" building. Since the camp could only be accessed by boat or by foot, Karl, a mechanic by profession, built a temporary steel barge in 1996 big enough to fit 2 pallets of building materials without sinking. Over the course of a few months all the needed materials were boated into camp. The barge was nicknamed "Das Boat" in honor of Mr. Heimberg, and it has never left the lake since. To this day it is still used to carry troop gear. In the fall of 1997, a dirt fire road was built into camp, making access easier.
  Another building was also built, later named the "Duff Holt Trading Post" (for one of the camp directors, who ran the camp from the late 1980s through 1998) which includes a small store, maintenance room, and storage space. Three small cabins were also built in camp for visiting officials or other people of importance, and have since been replaced with three newer buildings for the same purpose. The majority of scouts and staff sleep in tents.
  In 2008 the entire lodge and many areas of the camp, such as the septic system and showers, were extensively remodeled thanks to donations. The lodge was renamed "The Wagner Lodge," after the largest donor.
caption: Picture of Flagpole Rock
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