In my home town, hidden in the chaparral of the towering ridges above St. Matthew’s Day Camp was a cave rumored to contain buried treasure.

The loot had been abandoned by pirates who once sailed the lawless waters of Santa Monica Bay.

One day our camp counselor led us on a hike up to the cave to explore.

The booty had already been pillaged, and subtle signs of the bandits were everywhere.

It was likely by the time we got there, roughly 1970, that the pirate treasure had been uncovered long since, and then used for trade with local Indians.

Wolves, bears and other feral humanivores probably occupied the cave.

We took our lives into our own hands that day, and still were back down the mountain in time to sing the camp’s theme song with other kids that afternoon.

The plot thickened a day or two later, when someone stepped on a bee hive as we descended a different ridge.

Campers noisily rushed down the hillside like water breaking free of a dam, some of us stung, some not. It was harrowing.

On other days, I remember sitting at the bottom of the St. Matthew’s swimming pool, releasing bubbles on my descent in order to sink through the water properly, then resting on the smooth cement for as long as I could.

Of course, there were arts and crafts classes (snore), Red Rover and the infinitely more strategic Capture the Flag, both of which were contested on a vast meadow.

That was then.

Two years ago, on a visit to see my parents in suburban Los Angeles, I decided to drive to St. Matthew’s to see how things looked.

I could see the pirate’s cave from the parking lot. It was perhaps a three-minute walk up the hill from the main campus.

Bee Hive Ridge was dwarfed by higher ridges that now held new homes.

The vast meadow was just an athletic field.

I guess everything was larger than life in summer camp days, which are back again for the fortunate in 2009.

If your organization offers a summer camp in Napa County, we want to see your listing in the newspaper and our Web site.

You can load in all the information about your camp, including photos of activities, at http://tinyurl.com/napacamp or through the Virtual Newsroom feature at the bottom of our home page (Choose category “calendar listings”).

Once you do, it will be just a matter of hours before the information is posted on the Internet for all the world to see.