Classes
Courses
Zip Line - Definitely the most popular element of the Ropes Course, Zip Line offers an introduction to our elements. This wild ride takes campers all the way to the Back Pastures and right over Malachi the Camel!
Rappel Wall - Campers will learn to safely descend from the top of the taller Ropes Course tower to the ground on their own! With the instructions from both Facilitators, campers gain confidence in the skills of rappelling.
Big Swing - Also called the Giant Swing, a group of campers will work along with the Facilitator to help hoist each camper into the air using a pulley system! Once the camper being lifted has reached the desired height, they let go of their end of the pulley system, and go for a great swing!
Leap of Faith - This element is the most daring on the Ropes Course! Campers will be placed in a full body harness, balancing their way as they walk out a horizontal pole, 30ft high! If they are able to make it to the end, they can take their leap of faith at hitting a ball hanging 6 feet past the end of the pole! Campers who take the Leap of Faith and hit the ball, get a special surprise! Because this element requires campers being able to safely fit into a body harness, it is only offered to **Senior Campers**.
Crate Stacking - Starting from the ground up, campers are challenged to stack crates beneath them... as they balance on their own tower! The current standing record for most crates stacked by a camper is at TWENTY SEVEN! Can you beat that?
Climbing Wall - With both beginner and advanced options, the climbing walls in the Ropes Course offer campers a chance to practice a popular outdoor hobby. Campers who can make it to the top of the wall, can ring the bell, letting the whole camp know!
Archery
Archery Basics and Safety - A full class is dedicated to the safety behind archery. Campers learn the commands that the Instructors will give regarding collecting bows, loading their arrows, shooting, and collecting arrows from their targets. The rules of the range are laid out and expected to be followed all week.
Target Practice - Through the course of the week, campers are given the chance to shoot and assess their skills. They will learn how to tally scores from their targets and aim higher! With different challenges and games, campers will be able to show off their abilities. Some campers will notice that they are really great accurate shooters by being able to shoot the ultimate target - the Bullseye. Others may notice that they are better precision shooters: hitting the same spot multiple times with intent. By the end of the week, we hope all will see improvements in their abilities!
Riflery
Survival Skills
Fire Starting - Though the goal is to learn how to start a fire with nothing but what you can find in the woods, in this class, campers learn the many ways that you possibly could! Beginning with what to use and how to place your materials, campers practice the different ways to create a sustainable fire.
Shelter Building/Knot Tying - Using sticks, leaves, and tarps, campers are challenged to build a strong and sturdy shelter. With different methods, campers learn how to protect themselves for a night in the woods from all the elements.
Advanced Fire Starting - Campers will review beginner fire building and then be introduced to different methods of starting a fire using various strategies that do not include matches or lighters.
Orienteering and Signaling - Spending time in the woods requires attention to detail and knowledge of how to guide yourself without the help of a modern GPS! By using a map and a compass, you can go anywhere!
Searching for Food and Water - Critical to surviving in the woods is finding food and water! Campers will learn the many plants that are edible and rich enough to keep their energy up. Though we teach them how to find food, they are given basic meal rations on their Survival Campout!
Caving - Spencer Cave is a huge cave located on our extended camp property. It is about a 1/2 mile hike from base camp, but well worth the trip! This cave is lots of fun to explore and involves as much or as little mud as you like. Because of its vast size and side chambers, we offer two levels of cave exploration: basic and extreme caving. Both are two hour classes that allow campers to see and enjoy the cave formations as well as a variety of cave inhabitants, including bats and salamanders. For the basic caving class, campers can walk through the cave with very little need to bend and not need to crawl, unless campers choose to explore the Banana Room, at the very end that requires a short crawl. Extreme caving explores a side tunnel and involves crawling through 3-4 foot tunnels that lead to a massive echo chamber room. Did you know that wintergreen lifesavers spark when you bite them, and that you can create sparks from static electricity when you rub a balloon across your hair? We try several short experiments while we have the advantage of complete darkness.
Survival Campout - Campers who are ready to test out the skills mastered in the Survival Skills are able to spend a night in the woods putting those skills to the test! Campers will build their own shelter, create and sustain a fire, and cook their dinner over their fire. ** Senior Campers Only **
Geocaching - Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game. Campers follow clues or navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache container hidden at the location.