Camp WaBak’s Cabins

Although I am a Georgia girl through and through, I have found myself developing quite an affinity for Camp WaBak. WaBak is located just north of Marietta, SC near the SC/NC border off of 25.

Did you know Camp WaBak’s cabin sites are named after former GS badges?

I pulled the following information from these three publications:

• Girl Scout Collector’s Guide: A History of Uniforms, Insignia, Publications, and Memorabilia (Second Edition)
• The 1953 Girl Scout Handbook
• How Girls Can Help Their Country: Handbook for Girl Scouts
  

Other citations are noted within this blog post.  If you have any information to change or add, please let me know!

Rambler

Each of Rambler’s cabins have names, like Whipoorwill II or Squirrel II. I asked why they were sequels, and I was told that the original ones were torn down and renamed with the 2^nd after their name. If you are assigned Rambler, then you are living the good life at WaBak. Rambler cabins have air conditioning and heat! The bathrooms are INSIDE the cabins! So no walking out in the darkness if you have to tinkle during the night!

The Rambler badge first showed up in 1926 as an off-shoot of The Scout Naturalist Badge. It was redesigned in 1947 with the same basic design but with additional daisy petals.

At some point before 1963, it was completely retooled into this footprint design:

The first GS lettering/daisy design featured above was adopted by the Prints badge at some point.

I’ve got a copy of a 1953 handbook, and here are the Rambler requirements:

I’m assuming the footprint design was incorporated in 1980 into the Foot Traveler badge since it has a very similar design. It was discontinued in 1991.

Gypsy

Gypsy’s cabins are much like Rambler’s, except there’s no air or heat – just screened windows.  You’ve got to leave your cabin if you need to use the bathroom or shower. Sorry Charlie.

I have no information on this badge other than it was available between the years of 1963 through 1980. I did find the requirements on this website: http://www.thebadgelady.com/gypsy/

1. Help your patrol, troop, or camp unit plan and go on two all-day hikes. Plan where to go, what to wear and take. Get necessary permissions.
2. Know how to walk and rest correctly, how to walk in a group on street, highway, or country road.
3. Use good outdoor manners: On the way. At hike site. On trails. Do an outdoor good turn on each hike.
4. Plan and carry your lunch for one hike and cook part of it yourself. On the other hike cook something for a group.
5. Help make and use: Fireplace. Woodpile. Fire.
6. Dress for expected weather and activities. Have rope, eating utensils, and bandana.
7. Learn one new campcraft skill: How to tie knots, handle a knife, use a compass, or lay and follow a trail.
8. Be able to teach a game to play on the way. Know a hiking song.
9. Help keep troop first aid kit ready to use. Know what to do if you cut or burn yourself.
10. Watch a sunset, look wide around a hilltop, or discover something interesting in nature. Find a poem or story about the out-of-doors or about the way it makes you feel to share with your patrol.
11. After each hike, talk over the hike and what you need to learn or practice before your next outing.

Pathfinder

The Pathfinder section of WaBak is a large cabin with a screened in porch. There are bunk beds in the commons area with a side room for leaders. Pathfinder’s bathrooms and showers are also outside of the facility, like Gypsy’s.

Pathfinder was one of the original badges featured in the original 1913 publication “How Girls Can Help Their Country,” the first handbook for Girl Scouts:

Alas, Pathfinder did not make the 1938 cut. It perhaps turned into the Explorer badge? Again, if you have more information to add or correct, please let me know!

Pioneer

And then there’s Pioneer! Pioneer at Camp WaBak consists of platform tents. Woe to the girl assigned Pioneer during the South Carolina summers. Once I stayed in Pioneer during a Mountain Magic October weekend, and the temperature at night dropped down to 42 degrees. Thankfully, I had brought my alpaca blanket, and even though I felt like I was weighed down by twenty cats lying on my chest, I was quite snug in my sleeping bag, alpaca blanket, fleece hat and ear warmers. Only my nose was cold. My friend Jen and I woke up to a very large wolf spider perched over our beds.

Like Pathfinder, Pioneer was also one of the first badges and has only a few requirements:

On a side note, dang, check out Rifle-shot!  Somebody start filling out the Safety Wise documents, stat!  😉

According to the Girl Scout Collector’s Guide, Pioneer was recommended as one of the badges for First Class Girl Scouts or girls at least sixteen years or older.

By 1938, Pioneer’s design changed to a teepee:

Here are the requirements from the 1953 handbook (click on the picture to zoom in):

Pioneer looks like it was phased out by 1980.

10/30/15 addition:  Here’s a short video by GSUSA about the Pioneer badge.

Adirondack

There’s also another section of WaBak with Adirondack cabins.  Addendum 2/9/18:  According to Lois G, they were built in 1985 or 1986 by the “WaBak Challenge Group,” a work crew of girls.  They haven’t been in use for years (at least that I know of).  I don’t believe they are even available to be rented.  There are also no facilities nearby, so you’d definitely have to hoof it if you needed to tinkle, or just do you think in the woods.  That’s where they send the bad Scouts. And it’s haunted by ghosts. I KID, I KID!!!!! REALLY, I DO! I never start ghost stories at camps! I swear!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post as much as I did researching it.  I’m by no means a GS historical expert, so if I’ve gotten anything wrong or you’d like to add something, please feel free to leave it in the comments.

Addendum 12/30/17:  Added a picture of the Adirondack cabins.