Camp Whitsett

I attended with my son's troop this summer and came away disappointed. This camp has a lot of potential, with a location at about 4500' in a ponderosa pine forest in the southern Sierra with a creek and a pond. There were many excellent staff members with decades of Scouting experience. The shooting sports and crafts were some of the best parts of camp. There were plenty of boats to paddle around the pond. The adult training programs were useful. There's a good hike before breakfast to Sentinel Peak. The campfire programs were lively. The adult restrooms were clean and had heated showers part of the day. The camp welcomed both boy and girl troops and had both boys and girls as counselors. We had very little difficulty with biting insects. The price is a bargain compared to non-scout camps.Some of the negatives include:* Insufficient equipment: counselors lacked the materials they needed to teach properly. They lectured scouts about water treatment, but didn't have a filter or tablets to demonstrate. The axes were too large for younger scouts to use safely. The camp offered the Fishing merit badge, but didn't stock the lake and nobody caught a fish needed for the badge.* Understaffed and undertrained junior counselors: the Swimming merit badge counselors didn't teach the strokes needed, and camp lacked swim instructors to teach non-swimmers. The Trail to First Class program should have been separated by ranks and better focused on junior scouts mastering specific skills needed to advance. Some badges were taught by young teen counselors with limited knowledge and were poorly planned and timed, frustrating our younger boys.* Fire damage: it wasn't publicized well that parts of the camp burned last fall, along with most of the valley around camp. The entrance gate burned and the sign hasn't been replaced yet. * Heat: the camp is at low elevation in the southern Sierra's desert edge, and temperatures were over 100 degrees each day in the shade. (This was a warmer than average week.) Scouts spent a lot of time standing in lines in the direct sun. Staying cool became a primary focus of attention.* Sanitation: many places around camp reeked of sewage, including some near the dining hall away from the restroom. The hand washing stations were regularly nonfunctioning at the start of mealtime. Cows roamed through camp and poop in the pond where kids swim.* Tents: undermaintained, with leaks in the canvas, huge splinters on the floor, and non-functioning velcro on some of the doors. Many cots sagged due to missing springs.* Information sharing: we missed many daily announcements because staff weren't loud enough to hear. They got a bullhorn midweek but didn't use it consistently. Remembering verbal announcements over multiple days is also difficult. If the camp would have distributed a one-page printed schedule of activities to all participants on arrival, it would have been easier to plan for and keep track of opportunities.* COVID: there was no effort to control the spread of COVID, and very limited testing. People are packed tightly during meal times. People who became ill were treated for dehydration, not COVID. At least a third of our troop tested positive in the two days after returning home.* Food - the worst I've seen at scout camps. Underwarmed frozen burritos, undercooked french toast, fruit salad that had gone sour. Several of the picky younger boys wouldn't eat. Long slow lines. But they did offer seconds!I think many of these issues could be solved by raising camp prices slightly to invest more in staff, facilities, and food. However, our troop is going elsewhere next summer.

I worked staff there in the 1970s this is a great canp it is in our family my father in law help build the camp & knew old man whitsett in the 1940s my brother in law staffed there in 1976 my son attended there in 2009 he has since then made eagel scout it is a great place & well run I can see why it has been around so long .

I wish I was a Boy Scout so I could spend a summer week here. We camped next to this place and although it was deserted...they were still getting it ready for the season, it looked like fun. A river running through it, their own lake, cool military style tents, an archery range and a whole lot more.Oh, and their fresh, clean Andy Gumps came in handy. Sorry we had to break them in a few weeks early.And the lake is full of hungry wild trout. Two guys caught about 10 12-inchers in about an hour.http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fbbs.keyhole.com%2Fubb%2Fdownload.php%3FNumber%3D741142&om=1&ie=UTF8≪=36.000611,-118.53658&spn=0.01354,0.018153&z=16

Summer 2014: Beautiful property but VERY poorly run, especially the dining experience , with poor quality (all frozen and mostly fried) and quantity (unless you can beat the line for seconds) of food. Dining is in a shoddy looking circus tent, where the hand washing stations and drinking water dispensers have generally not been filled with water before 450 people converge there to eat. Grace is said at lunch but not heard, as the masses are lined up around the building out of earshot. You'll wait 20 min+ if you're in back of the serving line and another 10 min to busfyour dirty dishes to the single file line. It's like nobody ever cared enough to take SIMPLE steps, like buying a few bus tubs, to make the dining experience better. When you ask kitchen staff to refill croutons, about 75% of the time you'll get a "not my job" attitude and no refill. The eating experience alone will keep us from returning to this camp. Program area staff are mixed between superstars and those who will tell you anything to get you to go away. This must be very frustrating for those who do care. It certainly is for visiting leaders. Staff run campfires were REALLY good with talented musicians and well executed classic Scouting skits and songs. Bikes at the high adventure facility were in very poor repair, and several in our group who had reserved were not able to go on the trek because of equipment failures among "all the bikes we have". Internet at this camp is almost non-existent--worst of any of six camps we have been to. No wifi and the connection goes down about mid day each day because "the bandwidth allotment has been met". Really? You mean the camp can't afford a better contract for what we pay to be there? Again, no concern for the guest experience. Most shameful is that this beautiful property could boast one of the best camp experiences anywhere with minimal added cost to the host council if only they cared enough to create solutions and hired staff that improved the camper's experience. I'd be much more forgiving in this review if I'd felt, after spending a week there, that the management of Camp Whitsett cared more about the creating the kind of summer camp experience that Scouts deserve.

So far I've been to this camp five times as an adult scout leader. It's a big, beautiful camp with facilities for various activities. Twice I've taken scouts here for summer camp and three times in the off season for other activities/training. The staff is friendly, helpful and competent. The facilities are kept up in working order. They have an archery range, a shooting range, and a river which gets dammed to create a lake. The lake is used for swimming, fishing, kayaking, and small boat sailing. There are hiking and biking trails.There is also whitewater rafting if weather permits. The food is at par with other BSA camps (kid friendly but unimpressive). It's a great camp for earning merit badges and having a good time.

My Men's group from Church use this camp for 4 days during the early Summer, The area is beautiful and quiet, the lake is well stocked and the use of Canoes and kayaks as well as mountain bikes is fantastic, the lake is a blast to swim in and the hiking trails are too numerous to number, the gun range and archery range rock as well, we supply are own food and supplies so not much interaction with the staff unless you get out of line. It is a national forest and 10 minutes away is a grove of sequoias , dont miss this place. I certainly recommend it to all the men at our church

Attended a cub scout camp out here recently. They had several activities for the kids to perform and the individuals working the camp did an excellent job. I thought the food was great considering there were 500+ people there. Yes, you will wait in lines and yes some of the activities were very busy, but I don't think this distracted from my son having a good time. I am giving the campgrounds 2 stars because the tents they provided were horrible really needed to be replaced. Our tent had several holes in it that were between 3-6 inches in diameter. We didn't mind it too much until it started raining and that forced us to pack up and leave a day early. Several of the families in our pack had to do the same thing due to the holes in their tents as well.This was probably a great place to camp in the past when the tents and facilities were in a better condition, but you can tell they haven't performed the upkeep that is really needed.

I had many summers here as a boy scout. The absolute best times of my life. This was mid 70s. Not sure what it is like now. Swimming, canoeing, archery 22 rifles arts and crafts. Great camp fires. Any boys dream vacation

This camp offers a great variety of Merit Badge classes you can take. The bad part about this camp is the dining experience and the Waterfront. The dining experience isn't that great because the food here is terrible, its not properly cooked. What's bad about the Waterfront is the lake. The lake has these specie called leeches, they are harmful to the body because they suck blood. This camp isn't best recommended to come to

The Best. I have wonderful memories of Camp Whitsett from my days as a Boy Scout in the early 1950's