We celebrated another exciting year at Hidden Valley Camp during the Friends of Hidden Valley annual meeting.
The Sept. 19 event included social time, dinner, a ribbon-cutting ceremony/dedication for Brookside Bridge (read Gwen Macpherson’s Ode to Brookside Bridge below), and recognition of the many dedicated volunteers who keep our camp going. We also confirmed the election of four returning board members: Jenny Gleason, Karen Lassman, Mindie Paget and Cindy Riling.
Special congratulations to Friends of Hidden Valley Board Chair Gwen Macpherson, who was named Volunteer of the Year!
Other award and recognition recipients:
Scientists dedicating their expertise to Hidden Valley, including Terri Woodburn, Caleb Morse, Jill Baringer, Jim Bresnahan, Gwen Macpherson, Margaret Townsend, Marcia Schulmeister, Sherry Kay, Hank Guariso, Dong Eifler, Courtney Masterson, and Susann Collins.
Behind the Scenes Award: Rod Hoffer, for always magically making things happen at camp.
Fill the Big Shoes Award: Mindie Paget, for helping fulfill communications needs for Friends of Hidden Valley.
Best New Friend Award: Bob Topping, for engaging withMorning Song Forest School students and helping repair and maintain camp.
Honeysuckle Warrior Award: Tom Guba, for volunteering consistently and tirelessly since 2019 to help eradicate invasive honeysuckle and use his arborist training to trim featured trees around camp.
Honorable Mention: Lauren Yoshinobu-Buskirk, for taking over as Day Camp director in 2023 and dedicating many years of varied service to Girl Scouts and Hidden Valley.
Ode to a New Brookside Bridge at Hidden Valley Camp
By Gwen Macpherson
At camp, streams cut deep, the water, after rain, rages downstream slicing into muddy root-bound banks. How many times a bridge was built here to ease the way for people always wanting to be on the other side
is unknown, records and memories lost. We don’t even know the first bridge but it was some time after 1958 when the second 20 acres of Hidden Valley was bought that included Quail Creek and some time before 1988 when vandals damaged the bridge. 30 years it lasted, perhaps, if it was the first, or even longer if the vandalism was repaired. Next, we know, 1994, arsonists burned the bridge (and more). It was rebuilt. 7 years until a large cherry tree branch broke it in 2001. Old poles from the electric company, carried by hand from the entrance to the creek, winched by hand across the creek, made the new base for the bridge built by Scouts and adults. Footboards, a rope railing, and once again crossing the creek was easy if a little unsteady, the water far below benign, raccoon tracks in the sand and mud. 23 years and then, in 2024, another cherry tree fell, broke the bridge again. This time, professionals with power tools, heavy equipment, hired hands, added concrete footings but still used donated old poles from the electric company, but sturdier footboards, real hand railings; no more swaying on this bridge. It is safe. Walk across. Go, with confidence, on your way.