The first year fully open to guests is shaping Camp operations going forward—that, and a few falling trees. Read on for the latest news from Camp and the Conservancy.
Many Tiny Boots on the Trail
2025 was the first full year back in the guest business for Sturtevant Camp, and amidst all the numbers was something obvious and irresistible: lots of kids! Continuing into 2026, couples, friend hiking groups, and a few school / scout groups have shared the main Lodge with families with kids as young as 18 months old. Ok, so they all didn’t hike ALL the way, but they got their photos on the Big Swing just like everyone else.
Looking at 2025 year-end numbers, the Camp was at 56% occupancy, with kids (under age 18) 24% of all guests. Math geeks can play with: the Camp is open approx. 100 nights per year, and there are 34 “pillows” in six different lodgings. But the tree fall on Cabin-2 last September cut capacity to 26 pillows per night for the last quarter.
However, capacity is not the definitive number: rainfall is. The ‘green ceiling’ of the Camp is how much water it can get, store, treat, use and manage after use. So far, the San Gabriels continue to show a good supply of water after several years of wet weather; but it still has to make it into the Camp’s storage system at a rate that is renewable compared to use. Recently, 15 guests in Camp drained one full water tank in 20 hours, but their dishes—even the kids’ sticky pancake ones— were really clean, thank you!
Big Trees – Friend or Foe?
The Bigcone Spruce of the upper Canyon make a ‘cathedral of trees’ in and around the Camp, drawing hikers and guests to stand in awe and admire. But they are also kinda lousy wood, prone to growing big and brittle and dropping monster branches in modest storms. That has been true since Thanksgiving last year on through Valentine’s Day this year.
The results included a huge treefall between the upper cabins and bathhouse, fortunately without hitting anything, knock on (solid?) wood. It was followed by lots of labor-intensive clean-up along with all the blowdown in Camp and on the trails.
Thanks to our volunteers, already working on the major treefall damage to Cabin-2, who added the new clean-up to their chores, plus roof repairs on other smaller treefall onto other cabins. Mother Nature can sure be cranky!
2025 Volunteer of the Year
Each year, a motley crew of volunteers makes Sturtevant happen; we could’ve said “diverse” but that’s a big understatement. Numbers are recorded in several ways: individual persons, how often they volunteer, and for how long (how many days/overnights.) Hosts, docents, ‘techs’ and straight-up volunteers are all eligible; members of the Board of the Conservancy are not, but their numbers are included in the relative math.
By these numbers, 30 distinct persons volunteered in Camp, working for a total of 237 days and at least 1017 miles hiked in/out of Camp. Excluding the Board Directors, 24 people were in Camp 90 days of last year earning their Camp GSD degrees— ‘getting stuff done.’
At the top of the class, the Conservancy is pleased to recognize Susan Foley as the 2025 Volunteer of the Year, with this special note: she only started volunteering in October! And when she did, she came in hard and fast, known for carrying in lumber for repairing Cabin-2 one board at a time, every time! At her pace, if she’d started in January last year, she would have topped all the directors except one.
Congratulations and thank you Susan! We can report she is already hard at work on getting an advanced degree in 2026. If you want to get in the game, sign-up here.
“Discussions Are Ongoing”
The Board of Directors of the Sturtevant Conservancy met in South Pasadena in mid-January for their official Annual Meeting. Standard year-end reports generated plenty of discussion on issues that emerged in the first year back in operation: these included the pros/cons of the linen service (rental sheets), implications for amending the dog policy, and the urgent need for a detailed emergency communications protocol, especially in light of recent Search & Rescue incidents, combined with emerging technologies. No decisions just yet, but discussions are ongoing.
In formal business, the Board recognized Dr. Paul Witman for completing his maximum term as a Director, going back to the earliest days of the founding of the Conservancy. Although termed out, Paul will continue as Site/Operations Manager; and as everyone agreed, he needs no title, and no one can keep him from charging up the trail with the Most Loaded Pack to work repeated miracles in Camp. Thank you Paul!
The Board agreed to let Paul’s vacancy stand for the time being, and with all other members continuing, acted to elect officers for the 2026 year: continuing in service are President/CEO Gary Keene, Vice-President Sarah Barron, Recording Secretary Kelly Ann Davidson, and as CFO, Sarah Barron with CFO Pro-Tem, Jennifer Berry; Teah Vaughn-Piscopo and Brent Pepper Directors at large.
2026 Getting Busy-er
With 12 weekends open for business by the end of March, the Camp has already been at 84% occupancy; if that trend continues, the Board’s emphasis will be on recruiting and training more hosts and docents to welcome rising tide of guests.
Down-the-hill administrative work will prioritize updating the reservations system and website, implementing revised polices (dogs, linens, emergency communications, etc.) and hosting new Camp-sponsored events (moonlit sound-bath on the heliport anyone?)
For all the latest including weekly updates, follow Wilbur Sturtevant on Facebook and Sturtevant Camp on Instagram.
Happy Trails!
