Historic Hood River
Summer Days
8-25-2026
Notes
In the waning days of summer it’s nice to know other than swimsuit fashion some things don’t change. This is Olga Plog and friends floating in a lake in August 1923. Images captured two weeks later are labeled “Boy Scouts Camp Wahtum Lake.” Do you think this is the same spot?
BethH
Nope. You have to hike down to Wahtum lake about 1/4 mile. Never been buildings near it. There was a guard station along the old road ( now trail) between Wahtum and Rainy Lk. Gone now, but there’s a wide spot in the trail on the ridge where it was.
Peter
This site has some information and photos about a Boy Scout camp at Wahtum Lake in the 1920s, which apparently burned down: https://sites.google.com/view/recreatingthecrh/historic-columbia-river-highway/eagle-creek/camp-chinidere-at-wahtum-lake
Arthur Babitz
Thanks Peter– the Boy Scout Camp in the Plog images from two weeks later match the one in the link you provided, which apparently burned in 1925. This structure doesn’t look like that one, so I am comfortable saying this image is somewhere else. Not sure where though!
BethH
Wow! Very cool- always like to find out about places like this.
Now I want to find some remnants of where this sat! Maybe the chimney at least…
The NW side of the lake is flatter, it must of been over there. Chinidere would be a hike to the west from that spot.
The trail on that side does follow an old road bed.
Arthur Babitz
Yes Beth, I had the same thought about going up to Wahtum Lake to identify the location. I’ll post a nice image of the Boy Scout structure with some good context next week. I didn’t realize it was such a short lived structure (sounds like it was around for <5 years before burning)
Arthur Babitz
Beth, turns out we’ve discussed this before. Some good info on the location of the camp: https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org/boy-scout-camp/