About Cub Creek Science Camp

We're Not Your Typical Summer Camp

Cub Creek Science Camp is the only residential summer camp in the United States with its own private, hands-on zoo featuring more than 300 animals and over 100 species. Located on Bear River Ranch in the Missouri Ozarks, Cub Creek combines the experience of a traditional sleepaway camp with extraordinary opportunities to learn about, care for, and interact with animals.

Unlike a zoo camp where children visit a public zoo during the day, our animal facilities are part of the camp itself. Campers live, learn, and play surrounded by animals in dedicated habitats throughout the property. They can participate in animal care, prepare food and enrichment, learn about animal behavior, and experience species they might otherwise only see from the other side of a zoo enclosure.

But Cub Creek isn't just an animal camp.

Campers don't have to choose between an animal camp, vet camp, science camp, adventure camp, or traditional summer camp. At Cub Creek, they can experience all of them. Campers build their own schedules from a wide variety of activities, including animal care, veterinary science, reptiles, nature, chemistry, rockets, high ropes, swimming, fishing, arts and crafts, and much more.

That freedom is an important part of the Cub Creek experience. One camper may spend the week immersed in animals and veterinary science, while another may divide the day between animals, adventure, science, and creative activities. Kids have the opportunity to explore what already interests them while discovering interests they never knew they had.

Most importantly, Cub Creek is a place where kids can be themselves. We want campers to make friends, try new things, build confidence, become more independent, and discover what excites them. The animals may be what first brings many kids to Cub Creek, but the friendships, experiences, and sense of belonging are what make camp unforgettable.

Our History

Cub Creek Science Camp began with two people who met at summer camp.

Scott and Lori Martin met in 1985 while working at an overnight summer camp. They married in 1988, sharing a love of camp and a belief in the extraordinary impact that a summer camp experience can have on a child's life.

Lori also had a lifelong love of animals, nature, and working with children. She envisioned creating a different kind of summer camp—one built around children's natural curiosity and giving them opportunities to explore the subjects they genuinely loved.

In 1993, that idea became Cub Creek Science Camp.

During the early years, Lori continued working full-time while using her vacation time to operate camp each summer. Then, in 1999, Scott and Lori purchased the property that would become Bear River Ranch. Scott left his full-time career and used his engineering background to design and build the permanent home they had envisioned for Cub Creek.

In the summer of 2001, Cub Creek Science Camp moved from Babler State Park to Bear River Ranch.

Since then, the camp has continued to grow and evolve. New animal habitats, cabins, classrooms, activity areas, and programs have been added over the years. The animal collection has grown to more than 300 animals representing over 100 species, while generations of campers have made Bear River Ranch their summer home.

Yet the idea behind Cub Creek has remained remarkably simple: give kids a safe place to be themselves, surround them with people who encourage their curiosity, and give them opportunities to discover what they love.

More than three decades after our first summer, that's still what we're doing.

And we're still not your typical summer camp.

COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER CAMP