With camp just 100 days away, we thought you should know these 100 facts about Camp El Tesoro:

1. Camp was founded in 1934 – that’s more than 80 years of helping youth get back to nature!

2. We have lots of room for exploring – 223 acres to be exact.

3. ‘El Tesoro’ means “The Treasure” in Spanish.

4. Camp was originally purchased for $12 an acre and was 90 acres.

5. The first campers arrived in 1934 – there were 12 staff and 60 campers.

6. We say WoHeLo as a greeting – it stands for work, health and love.

7. We were an all-girls camp until 1978 – the boy and girl split is about 50/50 now.

8. Our original Live Oak cabins were built in 1934 – and they are still there!

9. No two Live Oak cabins are the same size.

10. The cabin ‘Del Rio” was not in the building plans, but was built by mistake and subsequently donated by the builder and is now referred to as “the lost cabin.”

11. During the early years, mail was sometimes delivered by a small airplane which dropped letters from the sky.

12. Campers swam in Shannah’s Lagoon, part of Fall Creek, until the first swimming pool was built in 1938.

13. By 1939, first year counselors were paid $1.00 per week.

14. The first swinging bridge over Fall Creek was constructed in 1953; it would wash away and be re-built every 13 years – 1966, 1979 and 1992, when the height was raised. Since that time, the water in Fall Creek has not risen above the bridge.

15. Look closely at the boards on the swinging bridge, many of them feature a brass plate with the name of a donor that helped fund the latest version of the bridge.

16. Campers have sleepovers on the bridge, which has become an icon of El Tesoro.

17. El Tesoro was accredited by the American Camp Association for the first time in 1953, one of the first camps in Texas to gain such accreditation. It has maintained that accreditation ever since.

18. El Tesoro de la Vida, a one week grief camp was developed in 1988 for children who had experienced a death in their family. El Tesoro de la Vida has grown annually and continues to serve more than 100 campers each year.

We have:

19. 150 species of birds,

20. 23 species of native trees,

21. 47 species of reptiles

22. 45 species of mammals

23. 33 butterfly and moth species

24. and 1.6 miles of waterfront.

25. We do more than just summer camp. El Tesoro hosts the Texas Outdoor Education Center (TxOEC).

26. The TxOEC welcomes students with their schools to engage in outdoor education.

27. Teachers can pick from 200 TEKS-aligned curriculum tracks to be studied.

28. We offer nature-based classes during the day, and at night!

29. 2072 students participated in the TxOEC in 2016.

30. El Tesoro can be rented by families, groups, businesses and more!

31. In 2016 we completed a capital campaign which raised $10.9 million for camp renovations and construction. Watch our virtual online tour to see all the updates.

We built:

32. 20 new cabins,

33. a new dining hall (WoHeLo Lodge),

34. a health house,

35. staff offices,

36. an Equestrian Center with a 12,000 sq. foot covered arena,

37. a multi-sports court,

38. and a high ropes challenge course with a 35’ climbing tower.

39. We have three sections of camp – lower, middle and upper.

40. Our three units of new cabins are named after Texas Rivers, Native American history and Texas history/species.

41. We have 6 hiking trails. Nature Trail, Redwood Trail, Cedar Trail, Mt. Loma Trail, Horizon Trail, Discovery Trail.

42. The Nature Trail is the longest hiking trail on camp.

43. The Point is a popular spot on camp for reflection around the fire.

44. Mt. Loma is the highest location on camp.

45. We have two bodies of water available to explore – Fall Creek and the Brazos River. Camp is located on the Brazos River below the De Cordova Bend Dam, completed in 1969, that forms Lake Granbury.

46. The swinging bridge suspends over Fall Creek.

47. We have an 8-week Counselor-In-Training Program for juniors and seniors in high school.

48. We welcome approximately 150 overnight campers per week in the summer.

49. Each week our Inclusion Program welcomes up to five campers with special needs.

50. For campers looking to take a leadership role in activities, we offer a Torchbearer Program.

51. Lockheed Martin provided a film crew during the very hot summer of 2011 and developed a video for El Tesoro de la Vida’s 25th anniversary. The video was named a finalist in the New York Festival’s International TV and Film Competition. During filming, cameras had to be iced down to work, as they were designed for temperatures up to 103; actual temperature was 114.

52. The salad bar in WoHeLo is made from a 1954 Old Town canoe donated by Patricia A. Vaughan; you can find her initials in the symbolism on the side of the canoe.

53. There are fossils over a million years old that are part of the interior rock walls in the dining hall. El Tesoro campers participate in educational units about these and other fossils found on the property.

54. Campers have 24/7 access to nugget (aka “Sonic”) ice and filtered water.

55. The equestrian center includes reclaimed tin from the roof of the old stables.

56. The Louisa Haun ‘Main’ Lodge fireplaces are built from rock salvaged from the original Main Lodge porch rock archways that was built in the 1930’s.

57. The Haun Lodge was named after Louisa Haun, who served as executive director of Camp Fire First Texas from 1958 – 1978. El Tesoro hosts a Nature Day Camp for younger youth during the summer and spring break.

58. Families can join the camping fun and sign up for Fall Family Camping and Spring Family Camping events.

59. Companies and organizations can book team building retreats at El Tesoro.

60. Santa Claus makes a special stop at El Tesoro each December for a Breakfast with Santa event.

 

61. Two cabins share one footprint in our newly built designs; each cabin accommodates 10 campers and 2 staff.

62. Cabins include restrooms and showers, heat and ceiling/attic fans.

63. There is a Wishing Well located on the Nature Trail; and the story goes that after a long hard rain if you stare into the well with belief you may see a beautiful Indian maiden.

64. We offer a LOT of activities for our summer campers, like: equestrian, outdoor cooking, sports and games, swim lessons, outdoor living skills, low and high challenge course, kayaking, canoeing, archery, arts and crafts, fishing, drama, astronomy, and so much more.

65. Camp El Tesoro is not religiously affiliated; however, two-week campers will attend a reflection service at our outdoor chapel area on Sunday morning. During this time, campers are asked to reflect on their week and discuss how they can grow as leaders.

66. Campers are not allowed to bring cell phones with them to camp (or mp3players, e-readers, or electronic devices of any kind – you know what? the campers love it!).

67. The most popular item in our camp store is a ‘Big Bopper’ ice cream sandwich.

68. Cabins have been known to play pranks on other cabins during their stay – this is encouraged, as long as it is all in good fun!

69. There is a hidden canoe buried in the ground in the far north section of camp. There is not a trail that leads to the canoe – to get there, you have tag-along with someone who knows the way.

70. It is in the long-term plans to build a lake next to WoHeLo Lodge.

71. The totem pole found in the trees on the edge of parking lot was erected in secret by a group of CITs in 1963 in what was then the Teepee Village.

72. RuLoHo is named after three former El Tesoro camp directors who were also council executive directors and went on to serve on the Camp Fire national staff: Ruth Teichmann, Louise Fargher and Hortense Geisler. RuLoHo is now our art center, but was originally the Upper Camp Dining Hall. Older girls dined there while younger campers ate at Main Lodge.

73. The Legend of Shannah’s Lagoon tells the love story of the chief’s daughter, Shannah, and a brave young warrior named Silverfox.

74. Legend has it around 1959 a group of picnickers along the Brazos River stumbled on a small metal box sticking out of the sand and discovered it to be a Spanish treasure box containing bits of map, glass beads and several gold coins which were later sold to a museum.

75. Council fires at El Tesoro are always started with the WoHeLo Call followed by the Camp Fire Processional – “We come, we come to our council fire, With measured tread and slow, To light the fire of our desire, To light the fire of WoHeLo, WoHeLo, WoHeLo . . .”

76. The mosaic recessed in the back wall of the Chapel was created by Ollie Shannon Stewart, who first attended El Tesoro in 1937. The Chapel was built in 1997 by her brother Jack Shannon and his wife, Pat. Done in the style of Navajo sand paintings, the mosaic is rich in symbolic imagery.

77. A horse named “Sweet Preserves” is buried under lower pool!

78. Additional acreage for El Tesoro was purchased from the sale of doughnuts in 1942. This purchase included land on the Brazos River; total camp area increased to 223 acres.

79. Legend has it that around the turn of the century a communal living group, called Kristenstead, located in the area of the orchard south of El Tesoro. One day it was discovered that the entire village had completely disappeared. Fires were still burning in fireplaces, food was still on the table slightly warm, yet no trace of them, footprints or anything, was left of their departure. No one knows what happened to them.

 

80. The Staff Medley includes lyrics from a song sung by Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.

81. El Tesoro counselors wear red counselor ties; on which small mementoes are collected from campers and friends. CITs wear ties made of another patterned material.

82. When a CIT graduates from the counselor-in-training program they ask their favorite counselor to “tie their tie” thus imbuing the counselor with the honor of passing on the tradition and adding the first mementoes to their new tie.

83. Friendship rocks, a natural rock with a hole all the way through, are collected and exchanged at El Tesoro. They are sometimes painted, added to counselor ties or just kept as a memory of a camp friend.

84. Campers that attend overnight camp for three summers receive a special walking staff. Each following summer the Tenure Tree design has a mark added to show the number of years a camper has come to El Tesoro.

85. Campers that attend 13-day sessions participate in “Color Wars” games over the weekend.

86. The Camp Store has a name – The Brazos River Trading Company.

87. Legend has it, that years ago, cattle rustlers had a hideout in the woods behind Horizon. Take a hike and see if you can find the hidden fire ring left behind.

88. The iconic original El Tesoro bell still stands outside the Louisa Haun ‘Main’ Lodge. The bell could be heard across camp to call campers to meals.

89. A second bell was added when WoHeLo Lodge was completed.

90. A fossilized dinosaur track can be found in the limestone bottom of Fall Creek if you know where to look.

91. A spring-fed waterfall can be found on the limestone cliffs of Fall Creek near the low water crossing.

92. Horizon Lodge features a round fireplace in the middle of the room.

93. Memorial trees are planted each year at the end of El Tesoro de la Vida grief camp. These trees are surrounded by rocks that campers paint. of their loved ones.

94. ‘La Amistad,’ our ceremonial site, means “Friendship” in Spanish. It is dedicated in memory of Louise Fargher, one of the earliest and most influential of El Tesoro’s camp directors.

95. El Tesoro features 2 archery ranges.

96. The section of the river where we canoe and kayak is a clockwise almost-complete loop in the Brazos River named De Cordova Bend after Jacob De Cordova.

97. El Tesoro is mentioned in John Graves’ book, Goodbye to a River.

98. Many campers attend El Tesoro on a “campership” or camp scholarship. We raise funds all year to help make camp available for everyone.

99. The Zuni cabin is rumored to be haunted; are you brave enough to spend the night?

100. The song sung by the counselors after the flag ceremony each day is a medley of Grand Old Flag, We’re at El Tesoro and a verse that changes with the year.