r u o Y Not s ’ a m m Mo e r i f p m Ca W
hen we envision the idyllic summer camp experience, we might conjure images of s’mores around the campfire, canoeing with a sweetie, and learning archery using a bow with plastic feathers. Arts and crafts might involve making a dream catcher or two for Grandma back home. But the kids today have entirely
different options: they’re going zip lining, river kayaking, and playing paint ball. They’re learning survival skills and playing stalking games; give them a week and they’ll easily become better fishermen than we could ever dream of being. Kids today aren’t any different (we’re sure there are a few romantic rivalries solved on the paintball course), but the
16
of the Coolest Camps Around
camps sure are. In the following pages you’ll find the listings of sixteen of the area’s best camps for kids of all ages. You can consider it our gift to you: the kids will be out of the house learning incredible skills and having the summer of their lives. Don’t you wish you were 12 years old, now? We certainly do.
Watersports Echo Hill Camp in Worton, MD, offers a two-week-long residential camp for kids seven to 16, but a special water-based camp will be held August 21-27 when campers will learn about boating, fishing, crabbing, and waterskiing. Since the camp is on the Sassafras and Elk rivers, sea nettles aren’t an issue, thank goodness. echohillcamp.com Sandy Hill Camp, North East, MD, offers waterskiing, horseback riding, canoeing, speedboat tours, tubing, and,
ahem, magic, as well as other land-based fun. When campers are ready to relax, they can find space around the camp’s gigantic pool or sand volleyball court. Ultimate Watersports on the Bay, Northwest Baltimore County Campers aged nine to 16 who want to be on the water all day, every day, should consider this hydrocentric learning camp that hooks kids on windsurfing, sailing, kayaking, and stand up paddleboarding. Camps run Monday through Friday and
can last anywhere from one to eight weeks. For those who prefer more of a surf and turf adventure, check out the Rock n’ River camp where kids ages 1014 learn to rock climb and river kayak. ultimatewatersports.com YMCA Camp Tockwogh in Worton, MD, is a traditional residential camp that offers a specialty watersports camp for those campers with a need for speed. Campers aged seven to 10 wake up Still Pond Creek with waterskiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, or tubing lessons. For more information, click ymcade.org/branches/tockwogh YMCA Camp Silver Beach in Exmore, VA, is set on over 150 acres of pristine Chesapeake Bay woodlands and wetlands. A traditional camp that also boasts a 90-foot waterslide, Camp Silver Beach also offers a separate Ski School, where campers receive one-on-one instruction in kneeboarding, wakeboarding, waterskiing, and more from CoastGuard-trained counselors. Want more? They also offer karate. campsilverbeach.org
##Camper Tim Davis spent his summers growing up at Echo Hill Camp. Photo courtesy Alison Davis
46 March 2014 PropTalk
YMCA Camp Letts in Edgewater, MD, offers kids aged six to 17 the proptalk.com