Sara Sutterfield, “The Wilkeson Weigh”

Correction: In the print edition of this article, it was indicated George Kepka Jr.’s wife, Janet, sold pottery of her own making at Sunset Lake Camp. The pottery was actually made by George.

East of Wilkeson, a redeeming slice of heaven rests on a hilltop.

The 400 acres of Sunset Lake Camp and Retreat Center, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, stands as a testament to the hope that youth can bring to our divided world.

Through the entrance, banners encourage campers forward with four words: GRACE, COMMUNITY, ADVENTURE and BELONGING.

Camp curriculum invites youth to experience growth through inclusive community and outdoor adventures.

“Our ‘grow’ is to grow campers physically, mentally, socially and spiritually, because that is part of our mission, as well,” defines David Yeagley, Executive Director of Sunset Lake Camp and Retreat Center, during an interview at the campground last month, “Our goal is to really help these kids, create a place for these kids to feels safe, where they belong. Belonging is the foundation of our camp experience.”

The campers come to stay for a week, Sunday afternoon to Sunday morning.

Youth will choose one specialty class (like horseback riding, challenge course, high ropes, rock climbing, waterfront, archery, arts and crafts, culinary, sports, BMX and ATV) as a daily focus. They will be able to try all the other classes throughout the week.

Spiritual worship begins each day, and a campfire program ends the day. In between, classes and All Camp Recreation after supper make for a full day.

Kids all around the lake head to bed with their various camp groups. They are led in song, different echoes across the water.

Sunset Lake runs their camps for eight weeks of the summer season. Other organizations rent the property for private retreats. Meeting areas are available both indoor and outdoor and can seat up to 500 people. Lodging encompasses private or villages of cabins as well as tent and R.V. sites.

For over fifty years, Seattle Children’s Stanley Stamm Summer Camp has been utilizing Sunset Lake’s grounds to give youth with unique and complex medical needs the opportunity to attend an outdoor summer camp. Seattle Children’s Hospital also provides funds for the fish of the catch-and-release lakes.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department hosts a camp completely run by police officers for underprivileged and at-risk youth.

“There are kids that come, and they’ve never had a bed to sleep in so staying in a cabin is no issue. They have a bed and that’s more than they have at home,” said Yeagley.

Lake is integrating First Nations’ histories into their camp program so that kids are more exposed to those cultures. The camp is in the final stages of building a longhouse to honor local American tribal communities. The Muckleshoot Tribe provided a grant and is assisting in the build. A totem pole and carved door (provided by the Lummi Tribe) accompany the structure.

The Pathfinders and Adventurers co-ed youth clubs, through the Seventh-day Adventist Church, offer programs including camping, age-appropriate leadership training, and community outreach. The symbols within the totem pole at Sunset reflect the pledge in law of the clubs.

The campground has grown from when it was first homesteaded as a pig farm and apple orchard by Samuel Snell and his family.

Coal was discovered around this time, and the nearby town of Wilkeson was born.

In the mid-1920s, the Snells sold the property to George Kepka, Sr. who turned the orchard into Sunset Lake, one of the many lakes he created for hobby. George, Sr. also built an open-sided dance hall, known as Timber Lodge and proudly signed the building for posterity.

According to an expenses ledger that George Kepka, Sr. kept from 1926-1928, the land was known as Snell’s Ranch. The ranch became a community recreation property with tent camping, swimming and fishing.

Three apple trees still line the lakeshore opposite of the Main Office and Gym. One of the trees is from the original orchard, it is said, and the other two grafted from that original.

Most of the property went up for sale in the late fifties. At this same time, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was looking for a camp of their own and purchased Sunset Lake in 1957.

George Kepka, Jr. maintained ownership of the lower section of the land, which included Double Rainbow Lake Resort. Here, trapping demonstrations and trout raising techniques were offered to the public.

“George [Jr.] was interesting to talk to,” shares David Yeagley, “He had a lot of history. I had him take me down to the lower property. I didn’t know there was a little community down there called South Willis. There was a hotel, he said. You can see remnants of where they kept the explosives for the mine still down there along the coke ovens.”

Yes, a second batch of coke ovens in Wilkeson.

South Willis was its own company-owned mining town equipped with coking coal plant. The South Willis coke ovens still exist and are over a decade older than the remaining ovens down the road.

Currently, twenty-three of the original twenty-five South Willis beehive coke ovens remain.

Not much is known of South Willis, and I have only been able to find two photographs portraying existence of the townsite.

Great effort has been put into reclamation of the land and conserving legacy within the Sunset Lake grounds, with more to come.

While the pandemic hit camps hard across the state, Sunset Lake used the vacancy of campers to get their trails up and install new signage offering clear directions and historical highlights.

For many years, the Wilkeson community used to hold an “Old-Timer’s Picnic” at Double Rainbow Lake, where the oldest residents of the Carbon River coal country would share stories of the mining days with the younger folk. Rebuilding this relationship with the local community is something the camp would like to explore again.

After selling the Double Rainbow Lake Resort to Sunset Lake, George, Jr. and his wife Janet continued to volunteer at the camp. Janet would run the camp store, including selling pottery of George’s own craftsmanship. George used his portable sawmill and provided siding for the buildings. When he hit a million board feet, the camp had a celebration. Double Rainbow Lake was renamed after him and a plaque credits the Kepka name on the Timber Lodge.

This resourceful building extends throughout the camp.

In June of 1928, George Kepka, Sr. dismantled the Shaughnessy Hotel at Wilkeson and used the lumber to build the first cabins.

When the main truss in Timber Lodge failed, Sunset was able to harvest timber from their own property (having the lumber graded) to preserve the character of the old dance hall.

The camp even has its own municipal water system. As out of place as it seems, fire hydrants sit snug throughout the forest and are pressurized by gravity alone.

Sunset Lake Camp would like to learn more of their earlier coal mining and logging history and incorporate those teachings alongside environmental educations within their nature program.

“There is a strong sense of the value of our history,” shares Yeagley, “For us, we start off every staff week talking about the history of this place. We want you to understand that you stand on a lot of shoulders when you come to work here in the summer.”

The camp’s staff come from Adventist colleges and universities across the country, and include the support of a mental health intern.

Camper-wise, the majority are coming from nearby urban and intercity areas, with about fifty percent members of the Seventh-day Adventist church and the rest from other backgrounds — some Christian, some not.

“One of the things that is part of our mission is helping kids who are struggling to find some stability, to find some solid ground underneath them,” Yeagley speaks of the sky-rocketing issues of anxiety and depression within young people, “Camp is a unique environment where a lot of things come to surface. We want to have the resources available to help them process some of that. And, ultimately, then to help parents when your kid comes home.’”

In a world promoting individuals to boost themselves before others through disassociation and extortion, humanity often finds itself unsupported.

I have witnessed the consideration of grace and belonging being taught to and exemplified by the camp’s youth. I thank Sunset Lake for sharing their grounds with me.

For community’s sake, we must foster the hope that future generations can bring.

As the Mundy’s, first caretakers of the Sunset Lake Camp and Retreat Center, wrote in a letter over 50 years ago, “There is no greater work than that of our young people for they are our workers of tomorrow. “

There is good at the top of the hill. All are welcome to it.

Not much is known about South Willis, which was its own coking coal company in the Wilkeson area. On the land remains its own coke ovens, which are older than the remaining Wilkeson Coal Coke Co. equipment. Photo courtesy of the Robert and Laurine Peloli Collection