Camp activities include aquatics, shooting sports at three ranges (archery, rifle, and shotgun shooting), handicraft, nature study, and Scoutcraft skills (including a Skills Patrol area). The dominant features of the camp are the old growth Coastal Redwoods and the North Fork of the Little Sur River. They received high ratings for the improvements they had made to the camp.Ībout 50% of the known population of the rare Dudley's lousewort is located within the camp's boundaries which led to some friction between the former council and environmentalists. It published a vision for the camp that seeks to "appreciate, learn, and practice how we coexist with the beauty of nature around us." In 2013, after the merger was complete, the new leadership invited inspections by public and private organizations. The new council leadership began a collaborative process with environmental and regulatory agencies to safeguard the camp environment. Expenses related to the fish ladder and the new Hayward Lodge dining hall significantly contributed to the Monterey Bay Area Council's debt, leading to the dissolution of the council and its merger with the Santa Clara Council in December 2012. The council responded by installing a $1 million fish ladder and other modifications that satisfied the regulators and allowed the council to continue to use the dam in following years. An inspector found fault with how the council filled the dam and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration threatened to fine them up to $396,000. The dam limits the ability of steelhead that frequent the river to swim upstream.
In 2002 the camp was impacted by a change in state regulations governing seasonal dams on California rivers that affected the council's dam on the Little Sur River. Prior council leadership struggled to adhere to government regulations affecting rare and endangered species. In 2008 and in 2016 the camp was evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the fires. The three fires burned entirely around the camp.
The camp has been repeatedly threatened by fire, including the Marble Cone Fire of 1977, the Basin Complex fire in 2008, and the 2016 Soberanes Fire, which were successfully kept at bay by fire fighters. Historically, the camp area was visited regularly by the Esselen American Indians, whose food sources included acorns gathered from the Black Oak, Canyon Live Oak and Tanbark Oak in the vicinity of the camp. It is located at 800 feet (240 m) elevation on the North Fork of the Little Sur River south of Carmel, California. The camp vicinity is an ecologically diverse and sensitive environment containing a number of unique animal and plant species. In April 2022, the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council announced that the 18 acres (7.3 ha) camp and its buildings were for sale for $1.8 million, and also offered an adjacent 350 acres (140 ha) of undeveloped wilderness for $1.6 million. Monterey County has been unable to budget the funds required to fix the road.
The camp was closed following the Soberanes Fire in 2017, and remained closed after Palo Colorado Road was severely damaged the following winter. The land was donated to the Boy Scouts by William Randolph Hearst in 1948 and the camp was opened in 1955. The camp is surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest, the Ventana Wilderness, undeveloped private land owned by Graniterock, and is located astride the pristine Little Sur River. It is operated by the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council, of the Boy Scouts of America, a new council formed as a result of a merger between the former Santa Clara County Council and the Monterey Bay Area Council in December 2012.
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