The summer that almost didn't happen turned out to be a refuge of adventure for Camp Backcountry staff and campers alike.
This summer at Camp Backcountry almost didn't happen. COVID-19 threatened to halt the fun, the exploring, the adventure. But, we took the steps and rewrote our plans to make sure Camp Backcountry was a safe place for our camp families to find some "normal" this summer. Sure, we had temp checks and masks. Yes, we had a six-faucet hand-washing station. But, our staff and our camp families rallied and cooperated to make sure we didn't lose Summer 2020. As the news cycle infiltrates our days with stats and numbers, we collected a few facts of our own.
We had 752 campers participate in our Nature, Horse, and Art camp sessions throughout the summer of 2020.
And ...
8,200 acres of wild to explore
1,013 bugs caught
864 arrows shot at archery
528 lassos thrown
481 shelters built
178 exploratory hikes taken
165 ice cream sandwiches eaten
146 water games played
133 t-shirts tie-dyed
79 faces painted with mud
64 pizza-dillas hand-crafted over the campfire
58 days spent outside of 4 walls exploring in the wild
57 bones and skulls found
41 days roaming the forest at Fort Wildwood
39 piles of scat dissected
32 journeys to the Fairy Forest
24 horseback trail rides
21 energetic high school LITs (Leaders-in-Training, who tallied 2,520 community service hours
16 horses ridden, groomed, and loved on each week
14 hard-working and silly camp counselors, 7 of whom were back for their 2nd or 3rd season with Camp Backcountry
13 hens’ eggs collected daily
12 groups that dashed through the orienteering course
5 goats who gave countless snuggles
4 bigfoot sightings
1 summer full of adventure!
Camp Backcountry Summer 2021 registration opens Tuesday, December 1st!
If you're a summer camp veteran, you know that as soon as the sun begins to set a little earlier it's time to start thinking and planning for next summer. If you are new to the summer camp registration season, it typically starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. For Camp Backcountry, families can guarantee the best prices and most available sessions when they register starting on December 1.
For 2021, we will be offering all brand new session themes including: Lost!, Living off the Land, Camouflage Craze, and Ranch Adventures. Spots will fill quickly. Early bird pricing goes through January 31st. Check out all of our newest offerings and register here.
Don’t forget to become a Friend of the Backcountry—at the Fox Level or higher—to receive more than 10 percent off all Camp Backcountry sessions, in addition to other perks like Backcountry gear and discounts on other programs. Not only do you get the biggest discounts (for both Highlands Ranch residents and non-residents), but you also support wildlife habitat conservation and environmental education opportunities in your community. After you register one child for two weeks of camp, the tax-deductible membership pays for itself. Find out more here.
Can’t wait until next summer to get back out to Base Camp?
As the summer draws to a close, the adventures at Camp Backcountry keep rolling! We offer single-day camp off-season camp registration for Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, and Spring Break, in addition to single School Break days when the kids are out of school. Join us to build pumpkin chuckin’ catapults, go on a hayride through the fall foliage, have snowball fights, learn winter survival skills, build giant snowmen, do seasonal science experiments, and cozy up around the campfire to sip on hot cocoa and roast s’mores.
AnnaKate Hein is the Backcountry Wilderness Area Programs Supervisor. She is a Georgia alum—once a dawg, always a dawg—where she was a member of the marching band and on the crew team. She worked for Save the Bay in Rhode Island before moving to Colorado. She and her husband can be found in the mountains or the desert chasing their next big adventure—mountain biking, skiing, hiking, climbing, camping, and, most notably, living the river rat life on their SUPs all summer.