Camp threatened after Guides’ gear stolen

Portage Inlet Girl Guides are hoping that members of the public will do them a good deed and keep an eye out for their stolen camping gear, worth about $2,000.

The tents and stoves were stolen overnight Monday from a Guide leader’s car after she returned from a camping trip, said Stacey Rumsby, whose daughter is a Guide.

“We have been spreading the word, asking for everyone to be on the lookout for two Big Agnes tents for sale, two blue camp stoves and two Coleman camp stoves that say Portage Inlet on them,” Rumsby said.

The equipment is sized to fit into a 25-foot-by-25-foot campsite for this year’s Spirit of Adventure Rendezvous, a weeklong provincial “back to basics” outdoor camp being held July 22-29 in Smithers.

About 2,500 Guides, Rangers and Pathfinders from Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere are expected to attend the camp, known as SOAR.

“The girls who are going to SOAR have been fundraising $1,000 each to be able to go to this camp and this gear is needed to go to camp,” Rumsby said.

If the equipment doesn’t show up, the Guides will have to sell another 1,800 boxes of Girl Guide cookies — and fast — to replace it.

A pre-SOAR camp-out, meant to let the girls practise setting up the campsite, was also scheduled.

West Shore RCMP have been contacted about the theft, Rumsby said.