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By Bill Reichle Dick Kessell ’53 and his wife Doris ’55, of Watsonville, first visited the California Alumni Association’s Lair of the Golden Bear in 1964 with their three daughters. “We weren’t sure what to expect. All we knew was that it was an affordable vacation for families,” recalls Dick. Their summer vacation turned into a summer tradition that continues to this day. In 2004, four generations of the Kessel family stayed at Camp Gold. “In our busy lives, Camp Gold is the one place where our whole family can spend time together,” says Doris, “and best of all, I don’t have to cook all week.” Much of the Lair’s appeal lies in its timelessness. A camper who had not visited in decades could walk in to the Lair today and feel right at home. The camp’s first incarnation near Shasta in 1948 gave way the next year to a location in Pinecrest where, today, nearly 10,000 Cal alumni and their families visit the Lair’s three adjacent campgrounds--Gold, Blue, and Oski--every summer. Many campers return to the same week, to the very same tent, with the same fellow campers. While activities have evolved slightly over time, the camp is still staffed by students from Cal and other campuses, and many time-honored traditions persist. Probably none of the 1,350 campers in attendance in 1949 would have guessed that the Lair would provide cherished summer memories for the next 55 summers. But those summers have produced a fair amount of wear and tear on the Lair’s facilities. In 2000, Lair Director Tuck Coop ’67 recognized the need for significant improvements. “Although the camps are used only four months out of the year, the Sierras are a rugged environment, and many of the facilities are showing their age,” he says. “Rather than rebuild things one at a time, we decided to study the entire facility and try to rebuild the camp intelligently.” Just figuring out where to start proved to be a daunting task. The Lair covers 85 acres of land, with nearly 300 structures and numerous roads, parking lots, and athletic facilities. Initial research revealed that no accurate map existed, and no one knew the precise location or status of all of the plumbing and electrical systems. So, in 2002, the CAA commissioned an extensive study. A team of professional architects, landscape architects, engineers, foresters, and traffic planners, along with representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, long-term campers, and former staffers came together to assess and document the current Lair facilities and make recommendations.  The process of developing a master plan stretched over 18 months and included input from more than 1,200 Lair campers and close involvement with the U.S. Forest Service, from whom the Lair’s land is leased. Coop says, “While some changes were mandated by new building codes, and some were requested by the Forest Service, we heard loud and clear from our campers that they like most of the Lair the way it is. Our guiding principle became to update the facilities in order to preserve the Lair experience for future generations.” The resulting Master Development Plan for the Lair of the Golden Bear calls for more than $17.5 million in improvements to the camp over the next 15 years. “When people first hear that dollar figure, they fear we are changing the Lair into a fancy resort,” Coop says. “While we hope that campers will notice improvements to their comfort and safety, the overall atmosphere of the camp will still be the Lair.” All new construction will comply with the health and safety codes that have evolved over the years since the original facilities were built, and the plan makes several recommendations for lessening the impact of vehicle and foot traffic on the forest and stream areas. Specific recommendations include rebuilding all dining halls, bathrooms, and many tents, as well as removing roads from the middle of camp and relocating parking lots. The entire Master Plan for the Lair of the Golden Bear can be viewed online at alumni.berkeley.edu/lair. “Everyone who hears about the plan is excited about some aspect of it, whether it is the new bathrooms or getting cars out of camp,” says Coop. “Taken together, the plan proposes one objective: to make sure that the Lair is around in order to create summer memories for the next five decades.” Bill Reichle ’83 has camped at the Lair since 1961 and worked at Camp Gold from 1979 to 1983. He is now a partner at Twist, a marketing and design agency in San Francisco. |
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