Advanced Wilderness Survival Day Camp

August 14-18, 2023 at Lake Sammamish for ages 10-15 (and nine year olds with older friend/sibling in group) with prerequisite at least two prior camps with us in a prior weeks or years. Qualified campers may also stay with us Monday-Thursday nights for our Survival Side of the Mountain overnight camp in its 26th year.

This week, participants will embark on wilderness challenges at a survival encampment. Shed the modern luxuries that you learned to value during introductory camps and put your skills to the test by trailing animals, foraging for food, purifying water, making fire and herbal medicines, crafting stone tools, and more while keeping your community’s camp safe. Transform your struggling colony into a thriving wilderness village!

Camp Goals & Skills

Traditional Survival Shelters, such as the Wickiup and Thatch Hut;
Practice Bow Drill method of fire-by-friction;
Natural Water Purification [seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs];
Honorable Harvesting Methods, cooking, and eating the Top 10 Most Important Survival Plants;
Medicinal herbs of the northwest;
Cooking over an open fire and practice Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects);
Spinning natural rope for your shelter, bow-drill kit, shoelaces, and fishing line;
Breaking rocks for stone tools;
Stealthy movement in emergency situations;
Community planning and population dynamics;

Prerequisites & Itinerary

Available for Ages 9-13 with prerequisites. Itinerary is uniquely designed by lead instructors based on advanced requests from campers and on the first day of camp.

Daily Camp Schedule, Pick-Up & Drop-Off Directions

8:30-9:00 Check-Ins & Morning Care (gate opens at 8:30)
9:00-9:30 Songs, Stories, Stretches & Late Check-Ins
9:30-12:00 Morning Lessons with snack break at 10:45
12:00-1:00 Lunch, Games & Archery Option
1:00-3:00 Afternoon Lessons with water break at 2:00
3:00-4:00 Camp Crafts, Creek Time, Berry Picking & Early Check-Outs
4:00-4:30 Aftercare & Final Pick-Ups (all-staff meeting starts at 4:30)

Suggested arrival time is 9:00 am, and best departure time is right around 4:00 pm, at the Lake Sammamish Hans Jensen Group Camp, 4460 East Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE, Issaquah WA 98029. The land is managed by the state park but not generally open to the public. Look for the hard-to-spot gravel driveway ACROSS THE STREET from the East Lake Sammamish BOAT LAUNCH – by the park ranger’s house – NOT THE MAIN PARK ENTRANCE.

Camp Leaders

Camp Directors Kim & Chris Chisholm are on site all week teaching groups and directing professionally-trained staff instructors at our hallmark 6-1 average student-teacher ratio that’s critical for safe and profound outdoor experiences. Read our FAQ’s for more details and check out camp testimonials dating all the way back to 1997.

Health Protocols

W e exceed the state’s pandemic era guidelines for day camps (2021-22 pdf will be updated when 2023 guidance is issued) and child care facilities, and to start each day, campers must pass our health screening before being allowed to exit vehicles. Parents may walk the property to see the lay of the land, but until pandemic restrictions are fully lifted, cannot accompany children to camp groups.

Hygiene protocols will remain the same as last year, but mask policies will be updated depending on whether there is any new variant or surge, and still no evidence of Covid transmission in the outdoors. We will still require campers to carry masks in backpacks, and likely have them wear masks in restrooms at least. If there is another surge, we would require masks whenever a line, or when seated less than 3-6 feet from others. As before the pandemic, we will continue requiring hand sanitizing whenever sharing tools and materials, before entering toilets, and we supervise proper hand washing after campers exit toilet facilities. Please click here for full details on our health and safety protocols during the pandemic era and see the latest CDC summer camp guidelines. As before the pandemic, we train campers in specialized “outdoor safety and awareness” skills and encourage appropriate boundaries, with redirection from staff when encroachment occurs.

Full vaccinations are strongly encouraged – we follow the scientific consensus. However, as part of that, we know that due to our 100% outdoor setting, combined with daily health screenings, contact tracing, supervised hand washing and mask when necessary, the risk of disease transmission is negligible at Wolf Camp, so vaccination records are not required at day camps. We do require vaccination records at overnight camps so participants can be partnered according to the wishes of parents and participants.

Camp Tuition

$595 tuition includes all expenses except food and personal gear. Discounts are available including $10 off per additional week you attend this summer, and $10 off per additional family member attending this summer. Or contribute $695 to be eligible for a $100 tax write-off and matching-donation programs, helping sponsor a camper receiving financial aid via the Conservation College – Max Davis Scholarship fund. Alumni may attend one week at our pre-pandemic tuition rate if camp is unaffordable this year, and anyone may apply for a matching scholarship. When the Conservation College or other funding source can’t cover a need, we provide in-house financial aid to ensure everyone who applies can access at least one Wolf Camp week based on demonstrated need.

You will need to pack a healthy lunch, water and substantial snacks every day. Tuition includes t-shirt at your first camp with us, then choice of orienteering compass, recommended field guide, firesteel and other outdoor essentials depending on number of camps attended, age and availability.

Registration

New Camp Families: Registration opens on January 2nd. In the meantime, click here to join our notification list for priority placement. After the new year, our PayPal registration system will appear below and you can use it to register, or see other options below for returning camp families. After making $100 per camp deposits, we’ll need you to complete a once-in-a-lifetime Registration Form (Microsoft Word or PDF or make your own a copy of our Google Doc, or choose our Bilingual Chinese-English Registration Form PDF / Word Doc) – one per new participant (again, not needed for returning in future years) – and we’ll need you to email it back for review by January 31st to maintain your reservation; otherwise, we will refund your deposit and open your space to our waitlist on February 1st.

Returning Camp Families: Reserve spaces anytime by sending $100 per camp deposits via Zelle to “kim@wolfcollege.com” with a note on camper names, dates and theme choices, or call us anytime at 425-248-0253 ex 1 or ex 2 to register over the phone with a credit card.

Deposits are non-refundable unless we refuse your registration (but if you cancel, we save all deposits as a credit for you to use in future years, or we can move the funds into our scholarship account if you prefer) so the best practice is to make the minimum $100/camp deposit to register, and wait to pay the remaining balance during your camp week via Zelle (free from your online banking account) to “kim@wolfcollege.com” in order to save us transaction fees, or use PayPal to the same email address, or give us a check or have us run a credit card on site during your camp week.

Or email us to be put on our list for this program in the future. We always keep your information absolutely private, and will never share it.

Refund Policy: Deposits are not refundable unless we don’t accept your application. If you cancel for any reason, you may receive a full credit good through the following calendar year on appropriate and available programs listed on our schedule, although an additional deposit may be needed to secure your spot in the future program. If a program you sign up for is canceled and not rescheduled at a time you can attend, you may receive a full refund except in cases of natural (weather, geologic, wildfire, etc) disasters, grid failures, epidemics, government shutdowns, conflicts or curfews, or other unforeseen emergencies making it unsafe for staff and/or attendees to reach or use program locations, in which case all payments made will be held by us without expiration date for your future use in appropriate/available programs of your choice. Reasons include the expenditure of funds (property rentals, advertising, materials, admin staff time, etc.) long before programs take place, i.e. deposits make it feasible for Wolf Camp to schedule programs in the first place, but our mutually understood agreement is that Wolf Camp will run the program at the safest available time in the future. Finally, no refund, nor credit, is given if a participant is a no-show without prior notice, or asked to leave a program for inappropriateness as determined by our kids, youth and adult agreements for participation.