Girls Scouts and their friends from ages 2 to 90 showed up to hike and raise money to save the beloved Eagle Island Girl Scouts camp on Saturday, June 4.

The Friends of Eagle Island — a group comprised mostly of former and current Girl Scouts — invited the local public to participate in “Take a Hike for Eagle Island,” their first fundraiser, in three New Jersey locations.

The Friends are hoping to raise enough money to acquire the Girl Scout camp on Upper Saranac Lake, N.Y. For 70 years, the camp welcomed several generations of New Jersey girls. More than a dozen hikes will take place throughout the U.S. and abroad during the week of June 4-12, said organizer Chris Hildebrand.

Designed by noted Adirondack Great Camp architect William L. Coulter, Eagle Island was a summer retreat for  U.S. Vice President Levi Morton. In 1937, Henry Graves, of Orange, NJ, gifted the camp to the Girl Scouts of South Orange and Maplewood. The camp, which opened in 1938 and closed in 2009, provided top-notch sailing and boating instruction and wilderness camping experiences for several generations of New Jersey girls.

Representatives of the Girl Scouts have said that the camp became too expensive to maintain and was too distant from the troops it served.

With the Girl Scouts poised to sell the historic property in the Adirondacks, former campers have banded together as the Friends of Eagle Island, Inc., to acquire the historic property, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2004, and perpetuate the Graves family mandate that it always be a place for children to enjoy the outdoors, make friendships and learn leadership skills.

"We had 46 people in the South Mountain Reservation, from toddlers to a 90-year-old former Waterfront Counselor from 1940 from West Orange," said Hildebrand. "Included were a dozen campers who very much want to return to their camp and are working to help acquire it."

Hildebrand thinks the terrific turnout was aided by coverage on Patch and by a front page story in the Star-Ledger on June 4.

Results are still coming in on the other hikes. There is also another chance to participate: The Friends are holding a hike on the Asbury Park Boardwalk on Saturday, June 11, at 10:30 am. (Meet on the boardwalk at 7th Street.)

To participate, visit: http://www.friendsofeagleisland.org, click on Take a Hike for FEI or contact: Marilyn Graber at takeahikeathereservation@friendsofeagleisland.org. If the hike doesn't work for you, you can donate securely online via PayPal or credit card, or send checks to: Friends of Eagle Island, Inc., P.O. Box 245, Livingston, NJ 07039. Or, leave VM at: 973-996-8306.