The memories we have as Scouts in camp are some of the best we will ever have. As the years go by, some of those memories fade away. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have mothers who kept all of our stuff, forced us into making scrap books, or those of us who personally enjoyed collecting Scouting memorabilia now have something tangible to hold onto. Items which have survived over the years and are now collectible include photographs, patches or badges, neckerchiefs (Camper and Staff), neckerchief slides, T-shirts and sweat shirts (Camper and Staff), coffee mugs, stationary, brochures, maps, hat pins, money clips, etc.

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1939

This was the first known camp patch or badge. It was made with dark blue felt and white flocking. The camp was apparently not called "Wolverton" yet. Instead, before World War II, it was apparently called either the Sequoia camp or the High Sierras camp. ("Sierra" is a Spanish word; the correct term is the singular High Sierra, not the plural High Sierras.) The Crescent Bay Area Council issued a patch very similar to the Wolverton "1939 High Sierra GOOD CAMPER" patch for climbing Mt. Whitney; that patch says "14,495 CLUB CRESCENT BAY CNCL, B.S.A." 1939 Patch

1940

This is a white sateen diamond-shaped patch with green flocking; it has a cardboard backing. It says "1940 HIGH SIERRAS." A combination of green, red, and blue ribbons were added to the bottom of this patch to show awards won, or activities participated in, during the Scout's week in camp. 1940 Patch

1941

This is a dark blue rectangle-shaped felt patch with gold ink lettering. It also shows a gold sequoia tree, possibly the General Sherman Tree in Giant Forest, and says "1941 SEQUOIA" 1941 Patch

No known patches were issued during the summers of 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945 because of World War II.

1946

1947

At least two varieties of patches issued in 1947 were 3-1/2 inches in diameter instead of the normal 3 inches diameter. There is no year on these patches. The oversized patches are white and blue felt with no canvas backing. There should also be a gold patch for this year. It is very possible that the gold patch for 1947 is the 1946 patch without the year. There may have been so many of this undated gold felt patch made that they were probably used through the summer of 1949. 1947 White Patch 1947 Blue Patch 1947-49? Gold Patch

It is important to note that patches were made without a year on them so leftovers could be used in following summers. At this point in the Camp's history (from 1947 through 1952), it becomes very difficult to know exactly when a patch was made and for how many summers was it issued. It is suspected that some patches lasted several summers while others may not have even lasted through one summer.

It is also important to note that although the 3-color series of undated felt patches from 1947 through 1952 may look the same at first glance, there are actually several differences. The oldest patches were made without canvas backing. The canvas backing probably started with the summer of 1949. Also, there are several varieties of bear design that were used during this period. It is easiest to tell them apart by the jags in the bottom of the bear's neck and by the dimple mark at the end of the smile line. And, some of the patches were made with just ink on the felt while others were made with flocking added to the ink. Each of these varieties are the result of new art work and manufacturing differences at the factory each time more patches were ordered. It is unlikely that the varieties were intentionally requested by the Council.

1948-51

There were a lot of varieties of the gold, white, and blue felt patches made during these four years. There are about ten known varieties for these years. Some of the earlier patches have no canvas backing and the size ranged from 3 inches up to 3-1/4 inches diameter.

1952

There are at least two felt patches that are believed to have been made for this year; a gold and a blue patch. These 3-inch diameter patches were heavily flocked and have a canvas backing. They are fairly easy to identify because there are two large jags at the bottom of the neck. 1952 Gold Patch 1952 Blue Patch.

It is unknown if there is a white patch with the two large jags. There is, however, a different white felt patch that was reportedly issued in 1952 which is also easy to identify. This white patch, also heavily flocked and with a canvas backing, is unique in that there is no curved dimple above the smile line. 1952 White Patch

1953

This year was different because the old design was inked onto a canvas/twill material instead of felt. Also, this year used only red ink while the previous felt patches used both red and black inks. There are gold and blue canvas patches known to exist. 1953 Gold Patch 1953 Blue Patch. It is unknown if a white canvas patch was made or if left over white felt patches were used in 1953.

1954

This is the first year the Camp Wolverton patches were embroidered. It is also the first year that there were no longer three colors of patches to signify camp-veteran status. And, this year started a three-year run of patches with the year on the patch. A matching staff segment (also known as a "rocker") patch was issued for the camp staff. 1954 Patch

1955

This was a dated white patch (instead of the traditional gold patch). A matching staff segment patch was issued for the camp staff. 1955 Patch

1956

This was the first year the camp patch had a "rolled edge." It was also the last year the patch had a date until 1968. 1956 Patch

1957

This was the first time the council name was included on the camp patch. There was no date; all lettering was embroidered in red. It is possible that some of these patches were left over and used again in 1958. 1957 Patch

1958

This patch was very similar to the 1957 patch except that the council name was embroidered in black threads. There was a "camper 1958" segment and a "good camper 1958" segment available to those Scouts who earned them while in camp. This was the last year for the "Hamms Bear totem" in the center of the patch. 1958 Patch

1959-60

A new design was started this year. It matched a similar design used at Camp Emerald Bay. The bear head was reduced in size and put into a small gold circle at the lower right side of the patch. "Camper" segments were available for 1959 and 1960; there were probably "good camper" segments too. 1959-60 Patch

1960-61

This was a re-order of the 1959-60 patch but it was a slightly darker blue color. Also, the background twill material was slightly different. "Camper" segments were available for 1960 and 1961; there were probably "good camper"  segments too. 1960-61 Patch

1962

This was the first year of the new bear-face and mountain background design. Lettering was embroidered in white and green. 1962 Patch

1963-64

This patch was the same design as used in 1962, except with a red border instead of brown, and with all white lettering. 1963-64 Patch

1965

A new phrase appeared on the (undated) 1965 patch; it was "Mountain Men."  This phrase indicated that Boy Scouts became Mountain Men after a week at camp. Also, this patch reflected the beginning of an era when the camp was just called "Wolverton", not "Camp Wolverton." 1965 Patch

1966

This was the same patch as 1965 except it had an orange border instead of a red border. 1966 Patch

1967

This was the same as the 1966 patch except the words "Mountain Men" were embroidered in white instead of green. 1967 Patch

1968

This year marked the 30^th summer of Camp Wolverton. The camp patch included the dates 1939 and 1968. There was also a segment which was earned for hiking the "Twin Lakes Trail." 1968 Patch

1969

The 1969 patch also commemorated the 30th anniversary (even though it was really the 31st summer) by including the dates 1939 and 1969. 1969 Patch

1970

The 1970 patch went back to containing no date. This was the only patch with "High Sierra" embroidered in green on the brown mountains. 1970 Patch

1971

This patch looked just like the 1970 patch except it had the "High Sierra" embroidered in white again. There were several hundred of these patches left over at the end of the summer, and they were used occasionally over the next 10 years or so when other patches were not available. 1971 Patch

1972-73

A new design was started in 1972. It was called the "pig-bear" by some of the staff. This patch has a light blue background. 1972-73 Patch

1974

This patch was a re-order of the 1972-73 patch but it came out of the factory with a medium blue background. 1974 Patch

1975

This year used the same design but the background was changed to pale blue and the border was changed to dark blue. 1975 Patch

1976

This patch was similar to the last 4 years except the "Mountain Men" lettering was replaced with "Great Western Council." This was the last year for the "pig-bear design." 1976 Patch

1977-79

This was the beginning of a design that showed a full bear in side profile. The camp was called "Wolverton BSA" across the top of the patch, and "Sierra Mountain Men" was on the bottom of the patch. This patch was the first to be embroidered on felt (medium brown color) instead of embroidered on cotton twill material. This patch was used for about 3 years. 1977-79 Patch

1980-83

It was about this year that the 1977 patch was re-ordered. It was almost the same except that the felt background color was a very light brown. This patch was used for about 4 years. 1980-83 Patch

1984-85

This patch was similar in design as the previous 7 years, but it had a white border and the "Mountain Men" was replaced with "Mountaineers" at the request of Margaret Stowell to respect the fact that women also used and worked at the camp. 1984-85 Patch

1986-87

This patch was a re-order of the previous patch. It is almost identical except this patch has clear plastic on the backside of the patch. 1986-87 Patch

1988

A special design was created for the 1988 patch to commemorate the 50^th summer of Camp Wolverton. The years 1939 and 1988 are on this rectangle patch. Also, this is the only patch with the council name "Western L.A. County Council" on it. 1988 Patch

1989-97

There were no new patches made during these years. Left over patches from the 1986-87 years were sold until they ran out about 1994. There were no patches sold at camp again until 1998.

1998

The 1986-87 patch was re-ordered and sold at the camp. This patch was the same design except the brown mountain has horizontally stitched threads instead of the previous vertically stitched threads. 1998 Patch

1999

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the camp, a new patch utilizing several designs from the past was made. This patch has the "Hamms Bear"  from the 1940s and 1950s, and a mountain background design from the 1960s and 1970s. The years 1939 and 1999 were embroidered on the patch. Campers could purchase a brown border patch and the camp staff each received a red border patch. 1999 Camper Patch 1999 Staff Patch

2000

Leftover 1998 patched were used for this summer.

2003

Frank Glick produced these patches. Campers have a black border [on left] and Staff have a blue border [on right]. Due to scanning technology, the blue border is washed out.

Hiking and Trail Patches

Hiking between Camp Wolverton and Mt. Whitney is a challenging activity! Such a trip could take one to two weeks to complete. Some groups commemorated their trip with a patch. Examples of those patches include an Explorer Pack Trip felt patch from the 1950s and an embroidered Troop 42 patch from 1971. Wolverton-Whitney Patches

Another popular Wolverton hiking trip that was commemorated with a patch was the "Silver Bearpaw." This was a 62-mile hike that began and ended at Camp Wolverton. Four patches were issued for this trip beginning in the 1960s and ending with the square patch which began its use in 1972. Silver Bearpaw Patches

Also beginning in 1972 was a patch issued for the "Silver Cloud Trail." That hike was similar to the Silver Bearpaw, except that instead of hiking through Deadmans Canyon, the hike went further by hiking through Cloud Canyon and incorporating a good deal of crosscountry travel. Silver Cloud Patch

The Scouts also issued patches for hiking trips that started or ended very close to Camp Wolverton. Often the Scouts would stay at Wolverton before or after such a trip. Hiking trips such as these with patches were known as the  "50-Miler," the "High Sierra Trail," and "Giant Forest to Mineral King."

Training Patches

Other Patches

Many Scout camps in the 1940s through the 1960s had a camp brand. Wolverton was one of them. The Camp Wolverton  "CW" brand was used by Scouts to make their own leather patch. Wolverton Brand

Although winter use of the camp was not sanctioned by the Council or the National Park Service, over the years several Scout groups and staff men would visit the camp and the park in the winter time for skiing, winter camping, etc. From the early 1980s through the mid 1990's, the Park sold a patch called  "Ski Wolverton." It was common for the Scouts to purchase that patch to commemorate their trips. Ski Wolverton Patch