Scout camp to be renamed after Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley's father

KAMAS — To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the LDS Church's affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America, the Great Salt Lake Council will rename its East Fork of the Bear Scout camp next year after Bryant Stringham Hinckley.

Hinckley was the father of Gordon B. Hinckley, late president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the board for the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association and made a case for the church to affiliate with the Scouts.

The BSA's Great Salt Lake Council plans to hold an ongoing fundraiser to rename the camp and to make improvements to it.

"We are asking people to donate to rename the camp," said Don Bean, senior development director for the council. "We're still in the process of figuring out how much we want and what we want to do."

Bean said they are still in a preliminary stages of the fundraiser.

There are currently three separate Scout camps at East Fork of the Bear, but they will be combined when the camp is renamed the Bryant Stringham Hinckley Ranch.

"Right now we have Tomahawk, Frontier and Evergreen as three separate camps and we'll combine those and have one program camp," Bean said.

He said Scout leaders aren't sure how long it will take to make improvements to the camp because of a short building season.

"We can only build around the boys during the summer, and we really don't like doing that, so we try and do it before and after," Bean said. "Depending on the snowfall you only get a couple weeks before and then maybe a month or two after."

Twitter: @FinleyJY