Camp Singing Pines was a popular Girls Scouts camp from the early 1940s to 1993, established by the Pasadena Girl Scout Council. The site is located a just up the Santa Clara Divide Road.

Main Campfire Ring (top L), Staff cabin (top R). Inside view of the Lodge (lower L). The Long House (lower R)
Map of Singing Pines. Credits: Peg Ackerman, Beverly Speak, Nancy Robb FB group “Girl Scout Camp Singing Pines”

It hasn’t been operated as a Girl Scout camp for almost 30 years. The neighbor camp (Angeles Crest Christian Camp) bought the lease in the early 2000s to use as staff housing and storage but with sufficient funding they plan to restore it as a fully operational camp. The owners of the Christian Camp rent out a “Skoolie” which is a converted short bus with sleeping accommodations at Singing Pines. You’d have a private meadow with a short walk to a small lake where you can kayak or fish.

Prior to 1840: The Indigenous inhabitants of the San Gabriel Mountains included the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples, and the Yuhaviatam band of Serrano people. Squaw Canyon — “as the story goes” — is where Indigenous women and children camped while their men hunted at Buckhorn (John W. Robinson, The San Gabriels, 1991).

Rock Creek Map 1940 depicting location of Camp Singing Pines. (In 2022, Squaw Canyon was renamed Hukaht Canyon. “Hukaht” means “deer” in Serrano)

In the early 1900s, the area known as Squaw Camp became very popular as a hunter’s camp due to the fact that there was water in the spring most of the time. In 1918, a trapper’s log cabin at Squaw Camp was built by Otto L. Roberts. He used the cabin for several years as a recreational camp for himself and friends and also as a base for trapping and hunting in conjunction with his other camp (Roberts’ Camp) in Big Santa Anita Canyon. He led hunting trips into the backcountry before the San Gabriels were proclaimed a game preserve.

Roberts’ hunting cabin at Squaw Camp.

Prior to 1938, the Girl Scouts of Pasadena had a camp at Big Pines. They then relocated in the early 40s after acquiring the land at Squaw Camp. The first camp session began in 1941 on the cusp of the US entering WWII.

Roberts’ trapper cabin, also used as a trading post. Credit: Nancy B. Robb, FB group “Girl Scout Camp Singing Pines”

Historical Plaque for the Roberts’ trapper’s cabin. Photo by Corina Roberts, 2013. 

The nearby Hidden Valley Camp became an outpost unit of Singing Pines for older girls, entering seventh grade and above (1958). Singing Pines was used continuously for decades while the GSA councils merged and restructured. In 1968 the Pasadena Girl Scout Council integrated with other councils to become the Sierra Madres Girl Scout Council (later called the Mt. Wilson Vista Council in 1993, and in 2008 became part of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles). Likely the internal structural changes and underfunding (as well as safety and potential hazards and wildlife encounters) led to the abandonment of the camp.

Variations of the camp patch

Camp Singing Pines Counselor-In-Training (CIT) in 1946. Photos by Betsy Vigus

Scenes at John Dee Lake where many girl scouts learned to canoe. Credit: Peg Ackerman (L) and Teresa Ann (R), FB group “Girl Scout Camp Singing Pines”

For a few years after 1993, UniCamp ran Camp Singing Pines. They were a charity sponsored by UCLA designed to give low-income youths a chance to experience the outdoors.

Today, Angeles Crest Christian Camp has made significant improvements into renovating Singing Pines and are actively seeking volunteers (particularly if you were a Girl Scout at Singing Pines) to help rebuilt the camp.

Changing signs

A Forever Home in Hearts: The Legacy of Singing Pines
While the camp may no longer be a Girl Scouts camp or look the same, the spirit of Camp Singing Pines lives on in every girl who had the privilege of calling it home for a summer. The camp was more than just a backdrop for outdoor adventures, it was a place where laughter echoed across the lake, where stories were shared under the stars, and where girls sang songs around the campfire. The spirit of camp is woven into the fabric of every Girl Scout and it’s a reminder that the memories we make along the way are those that last a lifetime.