Camp Alumni- Dowling- Wehinahpay
ca. 1925 Minor Huffman, first Southeast New Mexico Council Scout executive, with unknown Boy Scout, in the old Wehinahpay lodge.
Minor Huffman conducted the early summer camps at Pine Lodge, in the Ruidoso area, before locating and purchasing the Calkins Ranch and additional property to build Camp Wehinahpay.
“We-Hin-Nah-Pay” means “The Place Where the Morning Sun Gathers”
ca. 1960– The old Callkins house was located near today’s Shooting Sports ranges at Wehinahpay.
While an intriguing place to visit, the abandoned house was off-limits was to Boy Scouts and later burned down.
Wehinahpay Alumni
Tom Arthur
I was presented with the invitation to attend Camp Wehinahpay for one week out of the entire season as a replacement for the Shooting sports gun range assistant under Doyle, a great man, and became hooked, I look forward to attending Camp Wehinahpay for a whole camping season this coming year,
One of the best things about Camp W. is the therapeutic sense of accomplishment, of peace really. If you need to get away from the troubles of this life even just for a week, Camp Wehinahpay is the place to do it, if you want to be on the staff or attend simply as a Scout or Leader or Parent then please, download the forms or call the Scout Office in Roswell, New Mexico the number is 575-622-3461 (conquistador@scouting.org)
Personally, I went up there to just get out of Roswell just for a few days and try and get a little peace and rest, but I found that it was by far the most reinvigorating experience I’ve ever had, a sense of peace, a sense of accomplishment from seeing that my actions had positively impacted a young child’s life, and that the lessons they learn here will hopefully and most likely follow them for the rest of there lives, and when I went back home, reluctant to leave might I say, I was ready and rejuvenated to attend to those things,
Another really cool thing about Camp Wehinahpay is that they embrace the Scouting Pillar of Reverence, they have a beautiful chapel up on a hillside and Staff Chaplains there, not only are they there for chapel and to say thanks for the food but also there to help out if needed to talk to, so if you are looking for a peaceful environment to “just get away from it all” or a place to take your child or troop to learn valuable life skills, and don’t forget the merit badges.
Give Camp Wehinahpay a serious consideration, I may have only been up there for one week but I proudly say I worked up there, look forward to working up there again, and always try and wear my Wehinahpay belt buckle so people can see that’s its more than just a camp,
I hope this has been helpful or inspiring, as the camp and the staff has been to me, May God Bless you in all that you do.
Wehinapay Alumni
Steve Scarano, 1962
I worked as a “ranger” at W and also as an instructor at the Carlsbad Aquatic Camp in 1962. The resident Ranger was Fred Maldonado, a transplant from Philmont, who I am so far unsuccessfully attempting to get the Council to recognize with a plaque at the flagpole circle near the “messhall” (I have been back there a couple of times with my family from our home in the San Diego area and saw the memorial circle). We did visit Fred and wife Priscilla at their home in Springer about 10 yrs ago, and once there at Wehinahpay many years before that. One day while working with him on the roof of the rifle range he told me that he hated 3 types of people: liars, braggers, and thieves. We staffers had an amazing degree of responsibility, I think far more than is presently considered acceptable, and consider that summer one of the most formative events in my life (I retired as a police captain after 30 yrs of service in a coastal municipal department). My buddy Carlos (now an Albquerque attorney) applied real first aid to an axe accident victim, I saw the camp director panic when a kid fell off a monkey bridge and injure his back, and I used lemonade powder to wash my clothes for the summer, thinking it was a barrel of detergent. We worked hard and laughed a lot. I love the place.
Some leaders may remember these Scouters, the council staff of 1967.
Front row: Doyle Boyd, Jack Stoltz, Bill Tarter
Back row: George Miller, Bill Law
Scouting alumni may want to share some stories about Scouting in 1967. Please send comments to conquistador@scouting.org
This is a painting of the early Wehinahpay lodge. Only the stone pillars and fireplace foundation remain, near today’s Lake Lodge. There are no known photographs of the lodge which was built about 1927 on the original Wehinahpay property in Potato Canyon.
This painting, along with another, are in the S.P. Yates Scout Service Center.
Peter Hurd, well known New Mexico artist from the Hondo Canyon area (San Patricio), painted this picture of Scout cooking over a campfire. The picture was used for the cover of the 1960 camp capital campaign.
