Camp Moody: It’s for everyone

GRAND OPENING

The Camp Moody grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on May 2. Everyone is welcome to join.

But if you’re not a YMCA member, Camp Moody’s activities are still available through an adventure pass.

Activities provided by the adventure pass change on a monthly basis because each month has its own theme, like the Olympic theme in May. These $20-monthly passes allow their holders to attend two five-hour events every month.

These passes will include more activities and themes, as time goes on.

BY SAHAR CHMAIS

Finding an 85-acre camp within city limits isn’t a typical occurrence; but one exception sits on Onion Creek in Buda, Texas. Camp Moody preparations and construction will soon come to an end and will present exciting new adventures to families who live in Central Texas – or for anyone wanting to visit and participate in this camp’s new activities.

Plans to build Camp Moody began about fives years ago. The land was given to the YMCA by George Yonge in the late 90s. Now, this land will host many activities such as a day camp, a natatorium, fitness center, a child watch center, an art barn, hiking trails and more.

The camp will have two zip lines, side-by-side, so riders can race. They will have climbing towers that let participants climb about 55 feet. On the other side of the zip line will be a triangle that has 14 elements of challenging, obstacle-like activities such as a wobbly bridge.

The first month the camp opens overlaps with the Summer Olympics, so May will have many Olympic-style activities. There will be a 200-meter canoe sprint which is one activity that’s in this year’s Olympics. They will have potato-sack races, zip lines and more.

The next month will be an aquatic theme, so participants can play pool scrabble with sponges and dive in to get the letters. Participants will also be allowed to bring floaties and have floaty races.

CAMP MOODY, 6

Why is this camp so important?

Bret Kiester, executive director at YMCA Camp Moody explained that people are subjected to screens for hours in the day and can spend hours sitting in traffic. Kiester believes that the camp’s activities allow people NATATORIUM to disconnect from those daily nuisances Camp Moody will have a 25-yard by 25-yard natatorium, which will have and help them reconswim meets for Lehman, Johnson and nect with their loved Hays high schools. The pool will host ones and nature. swimming meets during the season and

Kiester spoke of all off-season. It welcomes other events and the activities that the will be accessible to YMCA members residential camp will and open for swimming lessons. offer but the most exciting experience to him is the connections campers can make.

“The cool thing about camp is it creates such opportunities for kids’ barriers to just come down,” Kiester said. “This is where really awesome relationships are going to be formed because they’re going to have some really impactful experiences that have an effect on them the rest of their lives. It did for me!”

ACCESSIBILITY

Camp Moody is in compliance with the American Disabilities Act regulations. The camp trails will be accessible for people with diverse abilities. Kiester gave an example of people in a wheelchair and if someone is walking by them, more space is needed than the width of their wheelchair and the space for a turning radius. So the trails will be wider than ADA recommendations.

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PHASE I NEARLY COMPLETE

This project is still in phase one, which cost about $16.2 million, according to Bret Kiester, executive director at YMCA Camp Moody. All of that donated money went toward the construction and ground work like piping and sewage work, building the natatorium along with the activity center and enriching the outdoor activities.

PHASE II

Kiester predicts that Phase II will take 24 to 48 months to come to fruition due to an additional $10 million needed to complete.

Phase two will expand camping from day camp to a residential camp with overnight camping facilities and a dining hall. They plan to add nine treehouse cabins, two cabin villages, each made up of twelve bunk cabins, an archery range, a 5,153 square foot multi-use open-air sports space, a low-ropes course, large amphitheater and performance stage built into the hillside. It will also add 2.5 miles of hiking and mountain biking to the already existing one-mile trails.

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Buda, Texas

– EST. 2015 –

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