August 1967. Eleven-year-old Andy Thompson has one week at Camp Spirit Lake to prove he’s ready. Ready to swim. Ready to use a map and compass. Ready to paddle a canoe, cook over a fire — and, if everything goes right, earn First Class before his twelfth birthday. But the week beside Mount St. Helens becomes far more than a list of Scout requirements. There are competitions to win, friendships to test, freezing water to conquer, trails to explore, and even a mysterious creature swimming through Spirit Lake. Along the way, seven boys begin discovering something their Scoutmaster has been trying to teach them all along: they are capable of more than they think they are. Richly illustrated and grounded in the author’s memories of Camp Spirit Lake in the summer of 1967, Thirteen years later, Mount St. Helens erupted—and the camp disappeared forever. Before the eruption, there was the adventure. Welcome to Spirit Lake, 1967.