Camp Guardian

Camp Guardian is what remains of a New California Republic Army encampment that was under construction in 2281. Located in the Mojave Wasteland, this fortification has its peak overlooking the Colorado River and Lake Mead and lies southeast of Ranger Station Bravo.

Background
Camp Guardian was to be a stable outpost in the Guardian Peak area to keep a watch over the Colorado River and intercept Legion forces attempting a more northerly crossing than Camp Golf. However, instead, it became a poster child for bureaucratic failure and corrupt nepotism. Under construction in October 2281, its 12-man personnel would not last until December, and all but one would be killed by lakelurks.

The NCR sent a survey team led by Burke, who vastly failed in their duties, managing only to climb the peak and check its view of the Colorado. After their declaration that the location was strategically sound, a single squad was sent to establish the camp under the command of Sergeant Banner.

By day three of their mission, the soldiers reached the base of the mountain and began to efficiently clear the ancient and long-neglected hiking trails. This was an effort made more difficult due to past landslides, which buried the trails so thoroughly that finding their own paths was a daunting task. By the fifth day, they managed to restore the trails to the first bridge. Unable to continue past this obstacle, they had to dismantle several shacks for materials to rebuild its crossing. It was that night that Jackson first heard mysterious howling, and he reported the incident to the Sergeant. However, Banner thought that it was only the wind.

After a week of clearing the paths, Kale and Banner were the first of the personnel to make it to the summit. The paths were mostly clear, and the camp had been established - for amusement, the soldiers altered the summit's pre-War sign. However, Jackson continued to hear strange noises. The three nights of reporting these incidents led Banner to believe them to be symptoms of PTSD, deciding to keep Jackson away from the munitions.

After some time clearing the last of the pre-War hiking paths, using the last remaining pre-War fencing as barriers for the most dangerous cliffs, the soldiers discovered some caves that the survey team missed. At the same time, the camp began to suffer from supply problems. A week after their official request for a radio from Camp McCarran, they still had received nothing. Seeking to acquire a way to contact their superiors, they sent a runner to Ranger Station Bravo (an hour-long journey at full sprint) to request any kind of radio equipment they could spare, even if it was a handheld. Sergeant Banner bemoaned his superiors as fools for expecting them to be able to contact them without radio equipment, comparing their command's expectations to the use of carrier pigeons and later lamenting that it was probably another politician's son.

The Rangers at Bravo gave the soldiers a handheld radio so they could use their equipment as a relay to Camp McCarran. Private Halford was put in charge of the handheld, as well as making their daily reports to Camp McCarran. With the handheld working well enough, they finished work on building steps up the steeper sections of the path so they could move the rest of their equipment to the top of Guardian Peak. Around the same time, Jackson came screaming into the tent, swearing up and down that he saw shadows moving in the water. Sergeant Banner sent half of the men in teams of two to search the area again. They came up empty handed, leading the writer of the camp logs to think that Jackson was unstable and needing counseling. However, they put off the official request to have him replaced for when they got their non-handheld radio from McCarran. When they finally received their radio, the Sergeant had it set up on the peak for overwatch duty.

Eventually, even Sergeant Banner started to hear the same noises as Jackson. He requested an additional survey from McCarran, but they blew it off as nerves. He knew that fish did not make that much noise, so he sent half of the squad down to the shore with lamps, but they could not see anything, nor could they find any other cave openings. He wished that they had some Cateye so they could see at night. Eventually, Collins came across a cave entrance right behind their tent, something the survey team should have caught if they had done a thorough job. With no knowledge of what was inside the caverns, nor enough manpower to deal with any serious pests, Sergeant Banner sent Frakes and Collins to scout out the caves the next day, planning to collapse the cave with explosives if he had to. In the meantime, he planned on having some choice words for Burke the next time he saw him, as it wasn't the first time that Burke chose to skip over details while surveying an area. That night, however, would be the end of the camp.

The lakelurks attacked Camp Guardian in the night, while some were sleeping in their tents. In the ensuing struggle, the camp was torn apart, and its logs scattered. The sole survivor of the attack was Private Halford. As the unknown beasts dragged all his servicemen away, he managed to record a distress signal over the radio while trying to reach ranger station Bravo. Before this, Private Halford believed the lakelurks were as make-believe as mermaids.

He claims that, at the time of the attack, he was cleaning his firearm, and was knocked down and dragged down into the caves. He managed to get his knife out and got a good throw into a lakelurk's back. Once the mutant was on the ground with him, he beat and choked the creature to death. In the fight, the creature inflicted some nasty lacerations and dislocated his leg joint. By this point, he was in the entrance of the cavern. Unable to travel far, he pulled himself to the back of the fork in the cavern path to hide from these creatures, and to await the reinforcements he believed were coming. Unbeknownst to him, ranger station Bravo did not even get his distress call.

Eventually, he lost hope of ever seeing another human face; these fears are tempered should the Courier arrive, although he will have reservations with how small the rescue party is. Should the Courier intervene, they can treat his injuries and convince him to help clear out the lakelurk nest. Whether he is convinced to help clear out the caves or not, when Halford leaves, he will go AWOL to travel back to California. He does not wish to die and is just plain sick of NCR incompetence. He will be satisfied once the creatures are dealt with, and will ask the Courier to return their dogtags to the NCR. He hopes that his squadmates will not have died in vain, and that his superiors will actually listen to what happened there so the men could be properly avenged.

Layout
Approaching the camp, the Courier may pick up a Camp Guardian distress call. The signal informs them of an attack on the camp by an unknown group of mutant creatures. The individual is now in dire need of help. In addition, the area surrounding Camp Guardian, on the path up to Guardian Peak, is populated by radscorpions of various types and a multitude of giant rats. A hollowed-out rock is next to the camp sign at the base of the mountain.

A pre-War sign displays an elevation of 2,667 ft, and has been modified to read "Camp Guardian Peak" with an elevation of "really high" and addition of population which is noted as "12-ish." A long man-made trail consisting of several bridges, stairs, and walkway fences guide the way to the summit, where Camp Guardian and the caves are found.

A large number of broc flower plants line the path to the top and can also be found in the camp itself. The camp's outhouse is situated next to the first bridge near a switchback containing two ammunition boxes. Along the way, one will find two campsites and various pre-War scenic overlook points.

Traveling up the narrow path will lead to Guardian Peak and the Camp Guardian caves. The camp consists of the main tent and a cooking area around a campfire. A Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap is on a crate near the campfire. A sleeping mat is nearby, next to the ham radio emitting the radio signal, which the Courier can turn off to stop the broadcast.

Several lookout points surround the camp, each with a chair, crate or table, and various detritus scattered around. One of the overlook points has a pair of binoculars. From the summit, each direction has reaching views of the Hoover Dam, Colorado River, Fortification Hill, and Lake Mead. The nearby cave system, Camp Guardian caves, contains the dead NCR troopers that were previously stationed at Camp Guardian.

Notable loot

 * Camp Guardian daily logs - Eleven scattered throughout the Camp Guardian and Guardian Peak area.
 * A hollowed-out rock - Near the sign at the Camp Guardian fast-travel point.
 * A Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap - Near the radio by the campfire.

Related quests

 * Help for Halford

Appearances
Camp Guardian appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes
Camp Guardian is based on the real world location of Guardian Peak, in the River Mountains along the north shore of Lake Mead in Clark County, Nevada.

Bugs

 * Sometimes the creatures will stay stationary and they will not be able to attack.
 * If the player character clear out the lakelurks before healing Private Halford, they will not get the dialogue to fix his legs and he will remain in the caves.