The pioneers who developed GWP built its infrastructure on the natural assets of the site — the lake, the cove, and the deep East Texas pinewoods forest. Sixty years on, that is still what makes the place work.
An honest word about the camp. What GWP lacks in modern amenities, it makes up in authentic, rustic charm. That is deliberate — the East Texas Area Council has maintained this place as a classic Scout camp. If you are looking for air conditioning and paved paths, this is not that. If you want your Scouts to actually learn to camp, it is exactly that.
Central to the Scout camp experience, and sited to overlook a beautiful lake cradled in the pinewoods. The Cargill family personally funded its construction when the camp was built.
Additional restroom facilities are a current priority in the camp improvement plans.
The waterfront area harbors the camp's watercraft in one of Lake Murvaul's secluded coves. Lakefront property makes GWP a prime site for aquatics programming — many Scout camps simply do not have the facilities to train Scouts in handling watercraft.
The layout of fourteen campsites is designed to let Scouts build real outdoor skills — units camp as units, cook as units, and run their own sites.
Shooting sports can be experienced at various ranges across camp — archery, rifle and shotgun, each run under the supervision of qualified range staff.
Four storeys of it, standing above the pines. Scouts climb the face, rappel down it, and run the high-course elements rigged from the top.
Climbing is the program area where a Scout finds out what they will do when they are genuinely frightened and someone they trust is holding the rope.
The pool supports instructional swimming alongside the lake program. Resurfacing, non-skid deck paint, refreshed lane and depth markings, and a rebuilt pump and drainage system are all part of the current campaign.
Where the camp staff live and work through the summer. Turning it into a comfortable, year-round facility — electricity to every tent pad, finished cabins, a renovated shower house — is the council's highest improvement priority.
Snacks, cold drinks, ice, handicraft kits, and the patches Scouts go home with. The covered pavilion beside it is where a lot of letter-writing and quiet trading gets done.
Directions, what to bring, and who to call.
