Camp Stidwell invites community to explore

By DAVID GUNTER

Feature correspondent

SANDPOINT — There was a time when Camp Stidwell was a lakeshore jewel that only a chosen few knew about.

Located on 160 acres surrounded on all sides by U.S. Forest Service land, with 2,000 feet of waterfront along the southern tip of Mirror Lake, the privately owned rustic campground was for decades the exclusive playground of youth groups and a handful of lucky people who were in on the secret.

“It used to be busy from June until August and then the place was all mine for seven or eight months,” said Bill Ouimet, who has been caretaker for the camp for almost 40 years. “Now, it’s all year long — we’ve been discovered.”

That’s to be expected, since the Sandpoint Kiwanis have stepped up their game at Camp Stidwell, adding amenities such as new signage, a day camp area and, last year, a brand-new, $30,000 dock paid for by money raised from the timber harvests conducted about every 15 years on the property.

“The new docks are great,” said Sandpoint Kiwanis President Dick Vail. “They have benches and swim ladders and, when you step on them, you don’t get your feet wet any more.”

On Saturday, Sept. 10, the service group will host an open house from noon-4 p.m. to show off the docks and other recent improvements at Camp Stidwell — including the creation of two, distinct camping areas, each with its own pavilion. According to Sandpoint Kiwanis, the event provides an opportunity to “learn its past, see its present and participate in the future.”

Participation has definitely been on the uptick over the past couple years, as more people use the campsites for everything from weddings to family reunions. Add those to the camping trips by youth groups and the numbers start to mount up.

“In 2015, we had 3,000 user days,” said Vail. “And this year, we’re already ahead of that.”

The first chapter of Camp Stidwell was written in 1947, when a group of concerned citizens, led by Kiwanis members, saw the value in preserving the site as a youth camp. It took its name from legendary Farmin School principal Charlie Stidwell, who was also well known as a local Boy Scout master.

Improvements such as fire pits and designated campsites were made over the years, but regular episodes of vandalism were a problem until Ouimet came on as caretaker in the winter of 1977.

Since that time, he has met — and often befriended — generations of families, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Cub Scouts and Camp Fire Girls.

“I’ll be here 40 years in January,” he said. “A lady came up to me recently with a baby on her hip and said, ‘Hi, Bill!’ I looked at her and said, ‘Brownies, right?’ She told me, ‘No, that was my mom. But she told me to say hi if I saw you.’”

It seems unusual that a camp that has to be so frugal when it comes to making upgrades — major improvements generally have to wait until the next timber harvest cycle rolls around — can afford a caretaker at all. The reality is — it can’t.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that Bill has been there 40 years and has never been paid a dime in salary,” said Vail, adding that Ouimet fills that position in exchange for a residence in lieu of rent.

In 1977, the place was basic, at best. The new caretaker took up residence in a cinderblock building built in 1971 to be vandal-proof. Whatever its attributes on that front, it was also free of any kind of insulation and had an outhouse instead of an indoor bathroom.

“Oh, it was nice in the winter,” Ouimet joked. “It made you want to get real close to the woodstove.”

In 2005, the Kiwanis built a new structure on the site, this time with considerably more creature comforts, funded once again with dollars from timber sold from the land.

Now cozier than ever, Ouimet insists he has no plans to leave the lakeside life.

“I tell people I’m going to be buried out there,” he said.

When he is in town, the caretaker said he runs into people who know him, primarily, from Camp Stidwell. As Kiwanis president, Vail said his discussions tend to follow a similar direction.

“When people find out I’m in Kiwanis, they first ask me about the camp and then they ask, ‘Is Bill still there?’” he said.

Camp Stidwell is just one of the club’s notable investments in the community, some of which go back nearly 90 years and are still going strong today. In 1927, Sandpoint Kiwanis was the original sponsor for the Bonner County Fair, starting that event off on property where the Bonner County Historical Museum and Lakeview Park sit today. In 1935, the service group became the charter organization that sponsored the formation of local Boy Scout Troop 111, later going on to support the formation of additional troops in the area.

Now supporting multiple community causes — including the Bonner Community Food Bank, Bonner Partners in Care Clinic, The Festival at Sandpoint, Jacey’s Race and Head Start, to name a few — the club maintains a single-minded approach to its management of Camp Stidwell, according to Vail.

“The Sandpoint Kiwanis motto is: ‘Serving the youth of Bonner County,’” he said. “The youth has first-come, first-served reservations through March and it’s reserved by availability after that.”

At Saturday’s open house event, guided tours will begin at noon to show off the two camping areas — Camp Angell, named after Don Angell, who played an important part in the camp’s growth in the 1980s; and Camp Ouimet, named in recognition of the caretaker’s four-decade history there.

“We named it after Bill because I got tired of naming things out there after dead people,” Vail deadpanned.

“We’re going to have a special ceremony at 2 p.m. on the meadow of Camp Ouimet, where we’ll want to gather everyone together,” he added. “But we have to be out of there by 4 p.m., because another group is moving right in when we’re done.”

The Camp Stidwell open house is free and open to the public. Those attending are invited to bring their own picnic or purchase food and refreshments from the Kiwanis concession trailer on site. Walking shoes are suggested.

Camp Stidwell is located about 10 miles from Sandpoint. In Sagle, turn east on Sagle Road, travel 1.3 miles and make a slight right turn onto Talache Road. From there, drive another 4.5 miles and the entrance to the camp is well marked on the left.

Information: 208-255-6642