At summer camp, merry, merry queens of the bush were we

“I’m happy when I’m hiking, pack upon my back

“I’m happy when I’m hiking, off the beaten track …”

Today’s Summer Fun Guide got me hiking down the dusty trails of my memory to a summer more than 50 years ago at Camp Paumalu in the forested ridges above Sunset Beach. And with Girl Scouts of Hawaii celebrating its centennial this year, there’s no better time for a summer camp flashback.

It was 1965, and for most of us it was our first time away from home. A recently uncovered photo shows a 9-year-old me standing next to my mom’s yellow Malibu convertible at the drop-off point near Ala Moana Center, bright-eyed and eager for adventure in a crisp white camp shirt, Girl Scout-green shorts and knee socks, white tennies and a G.S.-approved sun hat.

The 135-acre Camp Paumalu was donated to the Hawaii Girl Scout council in 1951 by Hawaiian Pineapple Co. and remains in use today. In 1965 the camp units comprised spacious canvas tents on wooden platforms, and there were central facilities such as a dining hall and infirmary, and even horse stables.

I was fortunate enough to be assigned to the only unit that had a flush toilet, which made us the envy of all — until a truck busted the water pipes and there was no running water for a few days. At night if we needed to use the bathroom, we had to wake up a buddy and trek to the nearest unit by flashlight.

The food apparently was very good, as I mentioned it in every letter home: “For breakfast we have stuff like pancakes and french toast.” And what’s Girl Scout camp without campfires and campfire songs like “Kookabura,” “Make New Friends” and other classics?

I can’t remember how many weeks we were there, but in true Scout fashion, I put on a brave front for my loved ones back home, writing, “I’m sort of homesick. But only a little bit. Love, Cricket.” (That was my camp name.)

My most vivid memory is of our return to civilization. By the end of our time at Camp Paumalu, we were quite a smelly, ragged bunch. Limited to only two showers and lacking laundry facilities, the Scouts and our belongings had the stink of wet clothes forgotten in the washer for a very long time.

Steeled by our shared experiences and all that tramping through the woods, we were determined to greet our parents as the camp-hardened Scouts we’d become. Three blocks from the rendezvous point, we launched into a hearty camp song, but as the bus rolled into the parking lot and we got the first glimpses of our parents, our sturdy voices dissolved into a chorus of sobs.

Thirty years later as a troop leader, I led my daughter and her fellow Girl Scouts on a weekend at Maui’s Camp Piiholo, where we slept in A-frame tents, made tie-dye T-shirts and chowed down on meals cooked in foil packets. And on our nature hikes around the property, we sang …

“Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty miles a day

“Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp …“

“She Speaks” is a weekly column by the women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@staradvertiser.com.