Retreat Camp

Ever had a secluded place where you sometimes went to be by yourself – just to meditate and get away from it all?  Retreat Camp was that place for me.  I came across this spot – clad with scrub oak and hidden from direct view of the city by a knoll – while I was hiking the west slope of Strongs Peak.  Located approximately one mile east of my Ogden home, reaching this spot involved a climb of about 1,260 feet to reach an elevation that I calculated to be about 6,125 feet.  According to more recent GPS readings, it is located at 41.185° North 111.92189° West (NAD-27).  Though I never actually slept a night here, I often packed a lunch and hiked to this spot to enjoy the surroundings of nature.  It wasn’t uncommon to see deer feeding in a more wooded area just to the north of this secluded spot.  During the winter months, hiking to Retreat Camp would sometimes take me above the city smog during a temperature inversion.  Retreat Camp is a place you won’t see published on local topographic maps of the area – it exists only on the mental map of my brain – yet I share it as a quiet place I used to go while growing up in Ogden.

Hiking to Retreat Camp above the
city smog below during winter

Retreat Camp from Ogden home on
lighted knoll at end of rainbow