Overnight Nature Camp! Blue Ridge Outdoor Education Center at Camp Mikell

Spend two days and one night at beautiful Camp Mikell -- 460 acres of mountains, valleys, waterfalls, and Little Toccoa Creek (http://campmikell.com)

I’ve been working with their Director to create a special experience for our older homeschool kiddos (ages 7+) at their Blue Ridge Outdoor Education Center (http://www.blueridgeoec.com). Their guides will be able to take the kids out on tours, hikes, and team building adventures, leaving parents (or guardians) and younger siblings to spend their own quality time together, enjoying the property and spending time in the private cabins.

This is NOT a drop-off camp, so please plan to stay.

Kids over age 7 will sleep in bunk beds in the the dorms (separated by gender). All meals will be provided.

Arrive at 10:30am on May 11 and depart at 1:00pm on May 12.

The plan is to give our older kiddos a chance for some independent, parent-free, camp time. Of course, if there are special reasons you feel you need to join your kiddo, you’ll be more than welcome to! Parents will have some alone time and hopefully that leads to some great bonding time for us to get together, or a chance for you to finally catch up on that book you’ve been wanting to read! 

Again though, if you have kids under 7 and you’d like them to come, please plan for them to stay with you. The camp may have enough staff to organize special activities for them, but they can’t guarantee it at this point.

Here’s the working schedule (subject to change a bit)

WEDNESDAY 

* 10:30am Arrive (move into cabins and dorms) 

* 11:00am Food Waste talk and Adult meeting 

* 12:00pm Lunch 

* 1:30pm TREK (a creative problem solving adventure that combines hiking with team building exercises)

* 4:45pm Recreation/Free time 

* 6:00pm Dinner

* 7:15pm Night Walk (We'll take a walk outdoors with flashlights to learn about nocturnal animals and their adaptations) 

* 8:00pm Bonfire and Camp Songs (bring guitars if you have them!) 

THURSDAY 

* 7:30am Move out of dorms 

* 8:00am Breakfast 

* 9:00am Visit to the Nature Center to learn about wildlife, forrest ecology, and sustainability 

* 10:30am Low Ropes Course 

* 12:00pm Lunch 

* 1:00pm Departure

Cost:  $79 per child age 7 and over (includes all experiences, overnight accommodations, meals)

$133 per parent/guardian (for a private cabin and all meals)

$66.50 per child ages 4-6

Children under ages 3 are free

** We need two parent volunteers to sleep in the dorms with the kids. One male/one female (background check required) Volunteers get to go completely free of charge! **

We have only 30 slots available for the kids age 7+ so please RSVP soon if you'd like to reserve your spot!

We hope this is the start of an annual tradition of overnight summer camp for our group.