(Bill Beckett was an early day camper with the Skinner Brothers. As he sends in new stories, they will be added to the end of this article.)

Bill Beckett Memories, April, 2007:

I was a camper in 1962, 1963, and 65. After that I was a counselor and helper. This lasted to the early 1970's.

The camp was still “boys only”. Bob's sons came to camp and Monte's daughters were growing up. That would lead to Skinners going co-ed. We were there for the marriages of Ole and Karen, Courtney and Mary, and Quentin and Arleen.

My family came back for pack trips, my kids worked at Skinners, and I have a great sorrow that this era is passing, partly because it is a reminder of my passing time.

I was working a lot with Mike Luckett and Dutch Diffenbaugh, two guys about my age. We hardly ever came to town, and this was before a radio station, much less a cell phone. We moved the camp to the Green River for a week, doing this twice in a summer. We floated log rafts down the Green River. It was there that I earned the small wages paid to me because this was a dangerous environment. Those are some stories I relive with myself all the time. The horses were the other big part of my job at Skinner's. Also, we would go on the survival hikes and teach some of the lectures.

We were allowed to get wages after turning 16 and of course, they asked you to be a counselor. Monte waited all the way to the time I was on the train leaving Rock Springs to ask me. Like it just crossed his mind, he says, "So you'll be 16 next summer?" and I said “yea”, and he said, "Would you like to be a counselor for us next summer?” Golden words I had been waiting to hear.

My mother figured she had lost me, there was not a remnant of the good manners and character which I should have had. Instead my life was survival kits and razor sharp knives and climbing rope. I came home dirty beyond belief. With an old hat and a ton of stories. But I am sure that Mom was pleased at my confidence and skills, which have served me all my life.

The first story I would tell is about how the Skinners practiced ecological treatment of the wilderness, when most other folks did not care. We sort of made a game of it. The campsites we used above Burnt Lake were always cleaned up of any trace.

Not surprising, this taught us to look very carefully. We made a hole in the ground for the ashes and saved the turf of grass to replace over the hole when we left. And there was always the challenge of seeing any evidence of the last year's Skinner camp when we came in. The best of us left no trace. And this was long before that notion or slogan was ever heard of.

More Memories added June, 2007:

My memory of the evening rides brings smiles. We would take campers out around Burnt Lake and split up into two groups. The activity was called “war games” and the point was to ambush the other group.

It was a challenge to sneak around in the land and send out scouts and try to locate the other guys. Seldom was the end result a big surprise, but once Monte managed to trick my group. As it was, we had ridden all over the place, trying to find out where they had gone. Turns out, they had gone to a stand of aspen trees near the camp. And they had stayed still. When we were coming back, no one looked closely in the trees. As I was almost to the gate, a voice called, “Hi Bill.” We were unaware.

Clean-up was a big project. There was the kitchen, dishes, and more. The ongoing project was to fix up tubs for wash and rinse stations and racks to hold the trays and dishes. We collected the tubs from the dump. They were salvaged from old washing machines. Once we returned from the dump with more junk than we had taken, because we were returning with old washers with tubs in them. That caused somewhat of a fuss.

The dishwashing routine was assigned to groups. And there were several wash stations, rinse stations, and inspection at the end. I learned from Courtney that this could be a fun time, if you had the right attitude. He would join us and entertain us with stories. We heard bits and pieces of advice, say about their work ethic and care for the environment. It was really fun when there would be the recounting of a great adventure or a ghost story.

Dishes could be fun for the talk, but also for the challenge. Courtney pointed out the best thing to do was to have an attitude that you want to do the job right and look for ways to enjoy it. Part of the benefit that this had for me was that when I went places, I liked doing the dishes. The hosts, in most cases, liked the help. And we made it fun. To this day this has influenced some people. My son’s new wife is from a Korean family. Sam, the Dad, came to visit before the wedding. They stayed at our house and we did things our way. Turns out Sam had never considered that a guy could do the dishes. On arriving home, he announced after dinner that he would do the dishes, like Bill had done.