Madera County, officially the County of Madera, is located at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. It features a varied landscape, encompassing the eastern San Joaquin Valley and the central Sierra Nevada, with Madera serving as the county seat. Established in 1893 from part of Fresno County, Madera County reported a population of 156,255 in the 2020 census.
Scouting in California has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs related to their environments.
A log flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations preferred flumes whenever a reliable source of water was available. Flumes were cheaper to build and operate than logging railroads. They could span long distances across chasms with more lightweight trestles.
Hume Lake is a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, within Sequoia National Forest and Fresno County, central California.
Nelder Grove, located in the western Sierra Nevada within the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, California, is a Giant sequoia grove that was formerly known as Fresno Grove. The grove is a 1,540-acre (6.2 km2) tract containing 54 mature Giant Sequoia trees, the largest concentration of giant sequoias in the Sierra National Forest. The grove also contains several historical points of interest, including pioneer cabins and giant sequoia stumps left by 19th century loggers.
Camp Tawonga is a 160-acre residential Jewish summer camp located on the middle fork of the Tuolumne River, a few miles west of Yosemite National Park, in the Stanislaus National Forest. The camp operates as a non-profit organization and is affiliated with the Jewish Community Center Association. The camp is located in Groveland, California, although the nearest town is actually a tiny area called Buck Meadows. Tawonga has its main office in San Francisco. Many attendees come from the San Francisco Bay Area, but attendees from Israel, Los Angeles, and other states are often present as well.
The Fresh Air Fund is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency founded in 1877. At sleep-away camps in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, visiting volunteer host families along the East Coast in NYC-based programs, children get to have new experiences, learn new skills and gain new perspectives. Fresh Air children also participate in year-round leadership, career exploration and educational programs. The Fresh Air Fund has served more than 1.8 million children since its founding.
Shaver Lake is an artificial lake on Stevenson Creek, in the Sierra National Forest of Fresno County, California. At elevation 5,500 ft (1,700 m), several smaller streams also flow into the lake, and it receives water from the tunnels of Southern California Edison's Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. The town Shaver Lake is located on its south-west shore.
YMCA Camp Fitch is a year-round camp in North Springfield, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by the YMCA of Youngstown, Ohio. Prior to 1914, all summer camps operated by the YMCA of Youngstown were experimental and temporary in nature. Since its founding in 1914, Camp Fitch has hosted campers every year to date. Originally a program of the YMCA's downtown branch, Camp Fitch now exists as a YMCA branch owned by the YMCA of Youngstown.
Converse Basin Grove is a grove of giant sequoia trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada, in Fresno County, California, 5 miles (8 km) north of General Grant Grove, just outside Kings Canyon National Park. Once home to the second-largest population of giant sequoias in the world, covering 4,600 acres (19 km2) acres, the grove was extensively logged by the Sanger Lumber Company at the turn of the 20th century. The clearcutting of 8,000 giant sequoias, many of which were over 2,000 years old, resulted in the destruction of the old-growth forest ecosystem.
Camp Anokijig is a residential youth summer camp located in Plymouth, Wisconsin on Little Elkhart Lake. Founded in 1926 by the Racine YMCA, Camp Anokijig is now independently owned and operated by the non-profit group Friends of Camp Anokijig, and operates year-round. Camp Anokijig is accredited by the American Camping Association.
YMCA Camp Mason is a YMCA summer camp located in Hardwick Township, New Jersey. The 650-acre site is located next to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Camp Mason annually serves approximately 800 campers in its summer camp programs, and 7,000 participants at its outdoor center.
Located on 150 acres on Cedar Lake in Chester, Connecticut, Camp Hazen YMCA provides positive youth camping experiences for over 1500 boys and girls each year from throughout the state. Group camping includes over 6000 participants annually. Camp Hazen YMCA serves youth from throughout Connecticut, New England and many states around the country. Each summer, Camp Hazen YMCA is also home to campers and counselors from more than 25 different countries. Campers come from all socio-economic backgrounds, and range in age from 5 to 18. Over 800 campers were provided with financial assistance in 2009. These funds, over $205,000, were provided through the generosity of individuals, foundations, businesses and service clubs.
Balch Park is a county park in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California that features a grove of Giant Sequoia trees. It also has archaeological sites relating to the early Native Americans of the area, and to the late 19th- and early 20th-century logging industry that cut down many of the big trees in the area.
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch hydroelectric dam. However, the company also engaged in destructive clearcutting logging practices, cutting down 8,000 giant sequoias in Converse Basin in a decade-long event that has been described as "the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world."
Shuteye Peak is a mountain located in the Sierra National Forest in Madera County, California on the highest point of Chiquito Ridge. It is home to the first permanent fire lookout built in the Sierra Nevada.
Camp Jones Gulch is a YMCA summer camp in La Honda, California, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded in 1934 and encompasses 927 acres (375 ha) of redwood forests and meadows. During the summer, the YMCA of San Francisco operates overnight youth and family camps, and during the school year, the camp hosts retreats, in addition to weekly environmental education field trips operating as San Mateo Outdoor Education. From 1956 to 2020, it was also the home of San Joaquin County Outdoor Education.
The Madera Sugar Pine Company was a lumber company that operated in the Sierra Nevada region of California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company distinguished itself through the use of innovative technologies, including the southern Sierra's first log flume and logging railroad, along with the early adoption of the Steam Donkey engine. Its significant regional impact led to the establishment of towns such as Madera, Fish Camp, and Sugar Pine, as well as the growth of Fresno Flats and the formation of Madera County.
Camp Mather is the 337-acre (136 ha) Sierra Nevada family summer camp in Mather, California run by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department which welcomes nearly 10,000 campers each summer. Founded in 1923, the camp opened in 1924 and offers nearly three months of week-long camping experiences each year.
The Sugar Pine Lumber Company was an early 20th century logging operation and railroad in the Sierra Nevada. Unable to secure water rights to build a log flume, the company operated the “crookedest railroad ever built." They later developed the Minarets-type locomotive, the largest and most powerful saddle tank locomotive ever made. The company was also a pioneer in the electrification of logging where newly plentiful hydroelectric power replaced the widespread use of steam engines.
