Originally written in February 2006 for the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association.
"Through all ages man has had his triumphant returns. This thought brings to mind Kia Kima’s triumphant returns of the many treks led by their fearless trek masters. Starting with the first trek masters, Jim McWhorter and Dorris Goodman in 1951 and the last trek master Steve Horne in 1958. Many a tale has been told of their strength and stamina such as McWhorter taking a 30 pound cast iron grill strapped to his back pack and Horne hiking 50 miles in one day, leaving his crew of marines far behind eating his dust."
Built in 1928, theThunderbird Lodge is a two-story building of native Arkansas fieldstone that served as the historic headquarters of Kia Kima. It is located at Old Kia Kima.
Originally written for the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association.
"Well, let me think. It was either late May or early June of 1960. I was 19. Turned 20 in July. I had planned to ride my old Schwinn Black Phantom to Kamp Kia Kima from Memphis."
Many of the structures at Old Kia Kima feature stonework architecture, which is distinctive of the Hardy, Arkansas region. The Arkansas Register of Historic Places lists Old Kia Kima for “its use of Rustic Style architecture with local significance.” Built in the 1920s, many of the structures were designed and built by Scouts.
From the Zuni language, Kia Kimatranslates as "eagles' nest" and has been in use since the camp first opened in 1916.
The camp originally was going to be Camp Chickasaw, but it was named by the first Camp Director, Edward Everett, while on a trip to the property in 1916 to prepare for the summer camp season.
Kiakima was an ancestral Zuni village or pueblo at the southwest base of Dowa Yalanne, a mesa outside of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, on the Zuni Indian Reservation.
Originally written for the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association.
"By the next summer, 1964, my dad was the Scoutmaster and was determined that we would get to camp. When the process started we were scheduled for old camp Kia Kima. The campsites had names and we picked one that sounded good. By the time summer rolled around, the land exchange had taken place, and old camp Kia Kima was history. We came up during the dedication week—remember that? I still have my neckerchief slide and the triangular patch. It was the best experience of my life to that point."
The Kia Kima Grace is the official interfaith prayer offered before meals at Kia Kima. It was written in May 2010 by Kia Kima Staffers, Adam Howard and Josh Weeden, during Staff Training Weekend held at Camp Currier.
The official flag of Kia Kima Scout Reservation follows the standard design for Boy Scouts of America summer camps, which is a dark blue flag with the gold BSA emblem in the center, the name "Kia Kima Scout Reservation" at the top and "Chickasaw Council" on the bottom. This flag was first adopted in 2016.
The Kia Kima flag has two additional items that makes it stand out from other camps: a veteran insignia and four gold memorial stars.
Originally written at camp in 1926, the Alma Mater is the official camp song or hymn of Kia Kima. It is traditionally sung at closing campfires, and the original author is unknown.
The song is based off of the Vanderbilt University alma mater which is in turn based off of Cornell University's alma mater, Far Above Cayuga's Waters.
Originally printed in the Old Kia Kima Newsletter, November 1997, Volume 3, Issue 3.
"At the request of some of you, I will attempt to reconstruct some of the beginning phases of the re-opening of Kia Kima in the summer of 1948. As you have already noted in your newsletters, Kia Kima had been a Memphis council camp in the 1920's and 1930's and it operated up until 1941. At the start of WW2 it closed. At the urging of many ex-campers still active in Memphis Scouting, Kia Kima was then re-opened in 1948."
The first stand-alone Kia Kima patch was issued in 1941 when the Chickasaw Council had moved its summer camp program to Camp Currier and Eastern Arkansas Area Council leased and operated Kia Kima. The Eastern Arkansas Area Council printed these first patches on the back of leftover patches from the EAAC's 1938 and 1939 summer camps at Camp Crowley, Camp Robertson, and Camp Frierson.
