Camp Wilderness is the flagship facility of the Northern Lights Council of the Boy Scouts of America, based in Fargo. Set in the woods of northern Minnesota, it has expanded its facilities dramatically in recent years, and needed a new map. It wanted that map to reflect the rustic heritage and camp style. An existing map from the 1980’s provided a guide to rough-hewn style.

The client wanted three deliverables from Hedberg Maps: a wall display for the Wanzek Scout History Museum, showing the camp’s development and current extent; a poster for sale in the camp store; and an inexpensive folded give-away for campers and guests, including a brief field guide of common plants and animals, a history of the camp, and basic safety information.

I developed a map style based on US topographic maps of the early 20th century, adapted to the much more detailed scale of this map. Staff and freelancers cleaned up the detailed contour information, which had been provided by the camp, and created a forest-cover layer based on recent aerial photos. Bird’s eye view illustrator Bob North of Mapformation drew a lovely view of the central camp area from aerials, and Ingrid Case wrote the text for the folded piece. I was able to source inexpensive illustrations from a variety of sources, and both historic and current aerial photography, and the whole thing came together very satisfactorily. The camp had all three pieces in hand in time for their 2012 opening on Memorial Day weekend!