About The Camp

Camp Lackey was a summer camp in the Black Mountain / Idyllwild area between San Jacinto and Palm Desert, CA.  The camp operated from an unknown date before 1979 (my first year there) to around 1986 or 1987.  I think I was there for the very last year, but I’m not sure.  The camp ran for about 2 months each summer, with sets of campers attending 1 week at a time.  Staff members typically stayed for the entire 2 months.

Camp Lackey is located along a dirt road, about 11.5 miles off of Highway 243 between Banning and Idyllwild.  It was comprised of 23 buildings (6 boy cabins, 6 girl cabins, the boy’s head, the girl’s head, the dining hall, the infirmiry, 1 building next to the infirmiry for housing staff, the craft shack, the camp director’s house, 2 single-wide mobiles for staff housing, the pool shack, and the generator house).  The cabins (where the campers stayed) had 10 fixed bunks each and could accommodate 2 additional metal spring fold-up beds.  Each cabin typically had 1 counselor and 1 assistant counselor, leaving 8 to 10 beds per cabin for the campers.  The maximum bed space would have been 120 campers plus 24 counselors and assistant counselors.  I think the normal meal run in the cafeteria was around 120 to 140 plates per meal.