July 2-8, 2023 Overnight Youth Camp near Mt. Rainier for ages 11-17 with prerequisite of previous overnight camp with us
This week is a combination of emergency survival training and traditional living skills. It’s filled with a variety of challenges where you take nothing for granted, learn to adapt, and focus on making good decisions in challenging circumstances. The camp is an intensely fun way to put your survival knowledge to the test, designed to replicate a life “off the grid” without the luxuries of the modern world. We’ll spend time practicing building good habits – something that’s key to survival, and a missing part of many other survival training programs. We’ll explore community living and traditional skills, gaining proficiency with the arts of foraging, shelter building, water purifying, food preserving and fire carrying as we travel into the wilderness to live off the land.
Participants will begin the week together at our privately rented outdoor camp to focus on survival skills, then by mid-week, hike two miles to a more wilderness location and set up “solo trek” locations within walkie-talkie communication of your instructors, choosing whether to live off the land without food, shelter and/or modern water containers. Beginning with our 10 essentials, we train participants to progressively live with fewer and fewer of them by removing one per day. At the end of every survival trek, we return with a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, what it takes to survive in true emergencies.
In the end, we will return with a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, our modern luxuries. While a number of traditional skills will be explored, the primary focus of this week is on community; what it means to be part of a community and “what it takes” to flourish. Instructors will guide and advise the group; ensure participant safety and well-being; and lead guided activities. The group will decide how intensely to best tackle community challenges, such as access to clean water, food, and shelters
Ages & Prerequisites
For ages 11-17 with prerequisite of one overnight camp with us the in previous years.
Please Note: If you don’t know whether you are ready for the Advanced Wilderness Survival Trek even though you did well at our overnight camps in the past, then we recommend attending Advanced Wilderness Scout Skills taking place simultaneously.
Pick-Up & Drop-Off Times & Directions
SUNDAY Afternoon Starting Points & Times: Arrive between 4:00-5:00 at the Faith Baptist Church Campground, 28514 SR 706 East, Ashford WA 98304, located 6.5 miles past Elbe WA and one mile before the town of Ashford on the road to Paradise on Mt. Rainier. Camp orientations, tent set-up, and camp cooking goes from 5-6 pm, with eating and clean-up time from 6-7 pm before the first evening camp session from 7-9 pm.
SATURDAY Morning Pick-Up Time: 11:00-11:30 AM at same location. We will be returning that morning from our primitive camping location, located a mile down the gravel road along the Nisqually River, where we spend the second half of the week.
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
Hygiene protocols will remain the same as last year as long as there is still no evidence of Covid transmission in the outdoors with plenty of room to spread out. To start each day, campers must pass our health screening before being allowed to participate in camp, and we still require all campers to carry masks in backpacks. If there are reports of group participants who came in contact with an infection, we require participants of that group to wear masks when lined up or 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 – doors left open between uses to ensure ventilation.
Full vaccinations are strongly encouraged – we follow the scientific consensus – with tetanus shot (usually given as part of the normal Tdap vaccine series) required since it’s considered the most unmitigated risk for outdoor education. Otherwise, we know that due to our 100% outdoor setting, combined with health screenings, contact tracing, supervised hand washing, bathroom ventilation, mask use when exposure has been reported in a group, and individual/family style tenting at overnight camps, the risk of disease transmission has been negligible at Wolf Camp, so other vaccination records are not required.
Please click here for full details on our health and safety protocols during the pandemic era, see the latest CDC summer camp guidelines, and the state’s pandemic era guidelines for day camps (2021-22 pdf will be updated if/when 2023 guidance is issued).
Tuition
Tuition for this camp week is $985, and as part of the wilderness skills training, you will need to purchase personal food and cooking gear, hiking boots, and water filter for your camper, as well as practice meal preparation, tent set-up and water filtration in advance of attending. Click here for the full packing list, and don’t forget to click on the second tab for food shopping. If your budget is tight this year, please click here to apply for financial aid from the Max Davis Scholarship fund administered by the Conservation College.
Registration
Reserve your space by sending $200 deposit 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. We recommend making deposits by January before spaces fill.
Payments are non-refundable unless we refuse your registration (but if you cancel, we save payments 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 deposit to register, and wait to pay the remaining balance the day camp starts 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.
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: Payments 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.
Camp Preparation: Agreements, Packing List and FAQ’s
Agreements for Participation in Camp
Homesickness Protocol & Prevention
Health & Safety in the Pandemic Era
Other FAQ’s – Frequently Asked Questions
Most Asked Question: What are bathroom and sleeping arrangements like? Bathrooms are primitive, and we train campers in wilderness hygiene and private outdoor bathing methods as part of their learning experience. We provide camping tents, and campers may have (or bring) their own, or share one with others, depending on pandemic protocols. We recommend you bring your own pillow, sleeping bag and foam pad, although we have extras if needed. Click on packing list above for more details.
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