Worth Ranch The Big Adventure

Our history

Photo archive

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Before the fire

  • A line of Scouts in campaign hats stands at attention on the parade ground beside a tall flagpole.

    Scouts in formation on the parade ground, early years.

  • A native-stone building with a slate roof, framed by oak trees and a rail fence.

    One of the original native-stone buildings, early 1930s.

  • Black-and-white snapshot of a stone building with arched porch openings.

    The arched porches that became Worth Ranch's signature, early years.

  • A group of Scouts and leaders posed indoors with Daniel Carter Beard.

    National Scout Commissioner Daniel C. Beard visits Fort Worth Scouts, 1928.

  • Scouts in frontier costume with rifles and a coiled rope at the 1930 dedication.

    Scouts in costume for the dedication event, June 1930.

  • A man in a cowboy hat shows something in his hands to a group of young Scouts.

    An instructor and young Scouts, early years. Names unknown.

  • Two Scouts stand atop a rock outcrop; handwritten caption reads Camp Taylor, Palo Pinto, Texas, Summer 1922.

    "Camp Taylor," Palo Pinto, summer 1922, before Worth Ranch was founded.

  • A boy sits on a rustic gate beside a woman in a long coat and a man in a dark suit and hat.

    The Kidd family: Cap, Beryl, and son Jim, c. 1936 (restored composite).

  • A swimming instructor points across the pool while swimmers line the edge and a diving board extends over the water.

    Swim instruction at the filtered pool, 1940s.

  • Swimmers sit on the pool edge and diving board in black and white.

    The Worth Ranch pool, 1940s–50s.

  • Several canoes paddle down a calm stretch of the Brazos River.

    Canoes on the Brazos below camp.

  • Men stand beside a chuck wagon whose canvas cover reads Worth Ranch BSA.

    The Worth Ranch chuck wagon on the trail, early years.

  • A Scout in a hat stands with a burro in brushy country.

    A Scout and burro, 1950.

  • An elderly man in a white western shirt holds a straw cowboy hat.

    Henry McClure, June 1980.

  • Scouts in uniform gather at dusk around a blazing campfire in a stone-rimmed council ring, with two tall carved poles and the Brazos valley beyond.

    The Sunday welcoming campfire.

  • Scouts and staff in uniform walk in a line past the arched native-stone dining hall.

    Marching to meals.

  • Scouts in life jackets paddle a line of loaded red and green canoes down the Brazos River below wooded hills.

    A Brazos River canoe trek.

  • Bronze plaque for the Worth Ranch 50th Anniversary Conclave, March 29, 1980, marking a time capsule to be opened on the 100th anniversary.

    The 1980 time-capsule plaque.

  • A man in a hat studies a display case inside the museum, with a stone fireplace behind him.

    Inside the LeRoy Shuman Museum, before the fire.

  • A carved wooden sign inside a stone arch reading Worth Ranch Grace.

    The Worth Ranch Grace sign.

  • Duncan Dining Hall, a long building with a row of stone arches and a green metal roof.

    Duncan Dining Hall before the Ross Fire.

  • Hikers rest on limestone ledges high above a wide green valley.

    The view from Kyle Mountain.

  • Black-and-white view over the Brazos River valley from a hilltop.

    The Brazos valley from the bluffs, early years.

  • A long concrete stairway with green handrails climbs through woods.

    The Hernia Hill stairway, built in 1986.

  • Aerial view of two rectangular pools on a red deck.

    The pool complex, rebuilt in 1994 with a second pool.

  • A bronze sundial with an eagle relief and the words Worth Ranch, The Big Adventure.

    The Deren Wright sundial, 2018.

  • Stone pillar and arched sign reading Worth Ranch, The Big Adventure, Longhorn Council BSA.

    The J. Howard Davis entrance sign, 2015.

  • A stone shelter with a metal roof and a stone pedestal in front.

    A stone shelter near the camp entrance.

  • A restored chuck wagon with a white canvas cover and red wheels on the grass.

    The restored chuck wagon, June 2026.

  • Scouts hold a giant American flag as it rises up the parade-ground flagpole.

    Raising the garrison flag on the Jack Boyd Flagpole.

  • Slide showing the earliest felt Worth Ranch camp patches.

    The earliest Worth Ranch patches were made of felt.

  • A Fort Worth Area patch, a round Worth Ranch BSA emblem, and a red Worth Ranch pennant.

    Fort Worth Area Council and Worth Ranch emblems.

  • Tents among trees beside a small white building, black and white.

    Camp Todd, dedicated in 1947.

  • The WR brand burned into a red-painted wooden door.

    The Worth Ranch brand on a camp door.

  • A group of young men in T-shirts pose outdoors behind a sign reading The Good Ship Blue Star.

    "The Good Ship Blue Star" group in Big Adventure shirts, 1954.

  • Title page of the Report of the Building Committee of the Boy Scout Foundation, Fort Worth Area Council, on Worth Ranch.

    The Building Committee's report on the new permanent camp, 1930.

After the fire

Images released after the Ross Fire. Please don't enter the property or fly drones to take your own.

  • Aerial view of Duncan Dining Hall after the fire: the collapsed metal roof rests on the remaining walls.

    Duncan Dining Hall after the Ross Fire, Aug. 27, 2026.

  • The stone walls and arches of Landreth Lodge stand roofless amid ash.

    Landreth Lodge after the fire, Sept. 2, 2026.

  • The stone shell of the Holmes Infirmary, its roof gone, on scorched ground.

    Holmes Infirmary after the fire, Sept. 2, 2026.

  • The bronze Ideal Scout statue stands intact in front of the burned dining hall.

    The Ideal Scout statue survived the fire.

  • The stone entrance gateway of Worth Ranch with Kyle Mountain behind, under a smoky sky.

    The Worth Ranch entrance gateway and Kyle Mountain, Aug. 25, 2026.

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