Overnight Youth Camp at Lake Sammamish for ages 9-16
Voted Best Wild Nature Day Camp in the last Golden Teddy Awards run by parentmap.com surveying the Puget Sound Region.
You asked, and we answered, with this low-barrier overnight camp we nicknamed the “Bite of the Wilderness” that introduces literally all the skills in which we specialize here at Wolf Camp. During this great week to kick-off summer break, your overnight camp group will work in tandem with our Wilderness Skills Sampler day camp, and then remain overnight at the beautiful Lake Sammamish Hans Jensen Group Camp to get more familiar with the variety of wilderness skills Wolf Camp offers: wilderness survival, wild foods, herbal medicine, wildlife tracking and all the other the practical outdoor skills in which we specialize. Now more than ever, young people need real outdoor connections, and the Wilderness Skills Sampler is the perfect way to do it.
Monday Itinerary:
Morning: Wildlife Safety, Nature Awareness Skills & Games – increase your senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing to get your bearings in the wilderness. We’ll also practice what to do in case of encounters with bears, mountain lions, and other scary critters, as well as provide you with a foundation of outdoor risk management skills.
Afternoon: Firemaking – getting to know the trees and practicing the best way to make a fire with a variety of materials for tinder, kindling, and wood for cooking.
Evening: Waterproofing Tents, Tying Tarps, Hanging Hammocks; Knots, Campfire Songs & Stories;
Tuesday Itinerary:
Morning: Voices of the Birds – learn to quickly identify birds and how birds communicate, both with one another as well as with other animals and humans, getting to know where those big animals are moving through the forest.
Afternoon: Wildlife Tracking – recognize tracks and signs of the big and little animals living in the wildlife preserve where camp is being held; start with an investigation of a “tracking scenario” consisting of track “cut-outs” to solidify your understanding of track identification and interpretation of what animals are doing; practice how animals move with “animal forms” which is critical to really understand how tracks get laid on the ground;
Evening: Tracking Experience – embark on a real-life tracking foray into the depths of the park, trailing what we find.
Wednesday Itinerary:
Morning: Wilderness Survival and the 10 Essentials – get all the skills needed for any short term survival situation, whether that is a day hike gone wrong, and start building a survival shelter you can sleep in tomorrow night if you want.
Afternoon: Natural Navigation & Compass Training – start with the Top 10 ways to navigate and our practice the special Wolf Camp 4 Step Method of using map and compass.
Evening: Navigation Challenge & Campfire Knife Skills
Thursday Itinerary:
Morning: Wild Edible Food Plants – practice honorable harvesting methods and as we select plant parts we need for nutritional value; learn when and where to look for the Top 10 Edible Plants of our region, and how to prepare at least one of them.
Afternoon: Wild Plants for Natural First Aid – discover the myriad wild medicinal plants and garden herbs for herbal medicine, processing at least one to add to your first aid kit.
Evening: Survival Shelters & Knowing the Dark
Friday Itinerary:
Morning: Nature Artists & Artisans: Wildcrafting Plants & Animals – discover natural resources used for rope, baskets, musical instruments, natural paints and dyes, processing sinew and bone tools, rawhide, leather, and other crafts for natural living.
Afternoon: Trade Circle & Closing Presentations
Pick-Up & Drop-Off Times, Camp Schedule & Directions
Please arrive between 8:30-8:45 am on Monday morning, and pick-up between 4:00-4:15 pm on Friday, 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.
7:00-8:00 Wake-Up & Help Make Breakfast (Tues-Fri)
8:00-9:00 Breakfast & Clean-Up (Tues-Fri)
9:00-9:30 Songs, Stories, Stretches & Late Check-Ins (Mon-Fri)
9:30-12:00 Morning Lessons with snack break at 10:45 (Mon-Fri)
12:00-1:00 Lunch & Games (Mon-Fri)
1:00-3:00 Afternoon Lessons with water break at 2:00 (Mon-Fri)
3:00-4:00 Camp Crafts, Creek Time & Berry Picking (Mon-Fri)
4:00-5:00 Take Turns Making Dinner, Practicing Archery & Studying Wildlife (Mon-Thu)
5:00-6:00 Dinnerime (Mon-Thu)
6:00-8:00 Evening Lessons & Field Trips (Mon-Thu)
8:00-9:00 Campfire Songs, Stories & S’mores (Mon-Thu)
Camp Leaders
Kim or Chris Chisholm will be on site all week directing staff instructors at our hallmark 6-1 average student-teacher ratio that’s so 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.
Tuition
Cost for the Wilderness Skills Sampler overnight camp is $1,175 including all applicable taxes and fees, meals and most camping gear, although participants are encouraged to bring their own pillow, sleeping bags, pads, and tent if they have them already. We accommodate almost all food restrictions (our staff has many) but you may want to send along food for campers who are picky. Tuition includes choice of orienteering compass, recommended field guide, firesteel and other outdoor essentials depending on number of camps attended, age and availability.
Discounts are available including $10 off per additional week you attend this summer, and $10 off per additional family member attending this summer. For those who are on a tight budget, we have plenty of tents, sleeping bags, pads and other gear on our recommended packing list for overnight camps. Or click here to apply for financial aid from the Max Davis Scholarship Fund.
Registration Process
STEP 1 – Reserve your spots in camp by $200 deposits per overnight camp week via one of the following methods:
• Zelle using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us, or follow up right away with an email;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up via email;
• Or use Credit Card or Apple Pay by clicking here and follow up with an email;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone;
• Or use PayPal system appearing below….
STEP 2 – If this is your camper’s first year with us, complete our once-in-a-lifetime Registration Form within one week of making your deposit. In case you’re having trouble downloading or making a copy of our Google Doc , please email us for a Word or PDF version of the registration form, and again, complete within one week to maintain your reservation. If your camper has attended Wolf Camp in the past, a new registration form is not needed.
STEP 3 – Pay balance during your summer camp weeks. We’ll email you an invoice this spring with camp prep info and balance payment options. All payments are non-refundable unless we refuse your registration. However, if you cancel (at any time for any reason is fine) we will save your payments as credit for you to use in future years, or you can choose to have us move the funds into our scholarship account if you prefer. The best practice is to make the minimum deposits to register, and then wait to pay the remaining balances during summer, but you are also welcome to pay your balance in advance if you prefer.
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, Health Protocols and FAQ’s
Recommended Packing List for Overnight Camps at Lake Sammamish (or click on your camp week for specialized packing lists when taking place at or traveling to other locations)
Agreements for Participation in Overnight Camps
Homesickness Protocol & Prevention
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.)
Hygiene protocols will remain the same as last year as long as there’s still little evidence of Covid/Cold/Flu transmission in the outdoors with room to spread out. To start each day, campers must pass our health screening. If there are reports of group participants who came in contact with an infection, we may provide n95 masks to wear when less than 3-6 feet from others. As before the pandemic, we require hand sanitizing when sharing tools and materials, before entering toilets, and we train campers with proper hand washing after campers exit toilet facilities with 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) considered the most important in the field of 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.
Read our FAQ’s for more details and register asap to give yourself or a loved one the gift of camp! Or email us to be put on our our list for this program in the future. We always keep your information absolutely private, and will never share it.
Do you offer scholarships?
Yes, please click on https://wolfcamp.org/about/max-davis-scholarships/ and email us with a registration form and answers to the questions on that page to get started. Thanks!