The son of a Métis mother, Marie Louise Perreault, and an English father, George Camp, Frank Camp grew up with an appreciation of the wilderness. Born in 1926 on his Grandad's homestead west of Edmonton, Frank Camp moved with his family to Jasper in 1930. The great Depression had closed in on most homesteaders and his father had decided to return to his previous seasonal employment as a trail hand for the guides and outfitters operating out of Jasper. He worked there until he was appointed Park Warden in 1940. This gave his son an opportunity to get to know many old-time mountain men and learn about the early history of the Rocky Mountains. He also spent two years in the North Atlantic as a seaman during World War II.

Returning to home to Jasper, Frank Camp joined the Park Warden service. In 1951, he married Edna Dubord and over the years they raised a family of three girls and four boys. After numerous transfers to many of the western National Parks, he retired in Ucluelet, British Columbia, in 1981, completing 35 years as both a Park Warden and Park Superintendent. Camp's first book, Roots in the Rockies, recounts the early days of the Park Warden Service and his role in the transition from horses to helicopter. It gives the reader a factual and credible insight into a period of National Park development. With their family grown up and away from home, Frank and Edna followed up on their many retirement plans. The stories in Frank's second book, Sea Solos and Horse Tales, are about adventure after retirement and the opportunities of living a second full life. Frank Camp died in 2003.

BOOKS:

Roots In The Rockies (Frank Camp Ventures, 1993)

Sea Solos and Horse Tails (Frank Camp Ventures, 1999)

[BCBW 2004] "Outdoors" ILMBC2