Summer Sessions: Young people spending their summers in the forever wild Adirondacks.

Learn more about our trips and camper sessions, what a day is like at camp, and all that the Unirondack community has to offer.

Jump to: Gender Inclusiveness Arrival & Departure A Day at Camp Camper Safety Camp Philosophy Staff Food Cabin Life Grounds

  • Barton

    For ages 9-12
    JUNE 30 – JULY 6, 2024

    Barton is our youngest full week session. It’s a great introduction for camp and our staff make the most of measures to address homesickness and make sure campers at this age are well taken care of. We begin learning what it means to build a camp community together and start lessons for future years. We know that this age can be tough for kids to be away from their parents and encourage parents of Barton campers to reach out with any needs you may have!

    Learn more & register

  • Channing

    For ages 12-14
    Channing I: JULY 7 - 13 , 2024
    Channing II: JULY 14 – 20, 2024

    Channing is a special week, combining the energies and perspectives of campers of both elementary school and middle school ages. By breaking through the presumed age barrier between elementary and middle school, campers will develop new understanding and respect for each other. Through the facilitation of our professionally trained staff of caring young adults, campers work closely with each other to develop a close-knit community capable of making decisions together and working as a team.

    Learn more & register

  • Moose Trip

    For ages 13-15
    JULY 21 - 27, 2024

    Moose Trip is a hiking trip for campers ages 13 – 15 taking on a middle-sized section of the Adirondack High Peaks most prized views… The infamous Great Range! Campers will tackle Wright Peak, Algonquin, Marcy, and navigate the beautiful passageway of Wallface Pass. Campers seeking to register for Moose Trip should have some previous hiking experience and be willing to hike between 5 and 10 miles in a day with a medium-sized backpacking pack for personal belongings, camping supplies, and some food.

    Learn more & register

  • Parker

    For ages 14-16
    Parker I JULY 21 - 27, 2024
    Parker II: July 28 - Aug 3, 2024

    Parker gives both junior and senior high school age campers the chance to explore the common threads that run through young adulthood. Our trained staff of caring young adults work with campers to develop a close-knit community capable of making decisions together about their camp experience. All aspects of both our Channing and Ballou sessions are incorporated. A carefully cultivated atmosphere of trust and caring produces the safety that allows campers to explore themselves and try new things. Like our Ballou sessions, Parker 1 & 2 focuses on discussions of issues that are important to teens, outdoor activities, and creative expression in many forms.

    Learn more & register

  • Beaver Trip

    For ages 15-18
    August 4 - 10, 2024

    Beaver Trip is a classic challenge of the Adirondacks and merely the first leg of a 740-mile trip that carries on to Maine, the 90-miler has been paddled for centuries. Starting Monday only 30 miles from camp, this continuous route from Old Forge, takes the Moose River through the Fulton Chain Lakes, to Raquette Lake and the Raquette River to Forked Lake, Long Lake and finally via the Stony Creek Ponds to Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac lake and ends at Lake Flower. Finally, campers return to camp on Friday to join the rest of camp for banquet dinner and the dance!

    Learn more & register

  • Ballou

    For ages 16-18
    Ballou I: AUGUST 4 - 10, 2024
    Ballou II: AUGUST 11 - 17, 2024

    Ballou campers quickly develop a close-knit community. Campers have a substantial voice in creating their camp experience, and through skilled facilitation, they learn to accept and value the unique contribution of each individual. A carefully cultivated atmosphere of trust and caring produces the safety that allows campers to explore themselves and try new things. This session focuses on discussions of issues that are important to teens, outdoor activities, and creative expression in many forms. Our extraordinary, professionally trained staff helps campers develop the tools they need to make good decisions independently. We provide an excellent staff-to-camper ratio that allows significant individual attention for each camper.

    Learn more & register

  • Queer Youth Advocacy Retreat

    Our Queer Youth Advocacy Retreat is a weekend designed to bring together young Queer and Trans leaders, advocates, activists, organizers, school club members, and aspiring allies. The weekend offers a place for young people to connect with one another, exchange ideas, build knowledge and skills, think critically, and work together toward LGBTQIA+ justice.

    Learn more & register

  • Covid Policy

    Interested in what we are doing to keep campers safe during the COVID19 Pandemic?

    Vaccination: All staff, campers, and summer volunteers will be required to show proof of up-to-date vaccination as currently defined by the CDC including the vaccine that has been released as of October 2023. This is a board policy and summer staff are not permitted to make exceptions.

    We do allow a medical exception with a note from a physician and encourage you to reach out with any questions you may have.

    Read About Our Covid Precautions

INFO ABOUT CAMP:

Gender-Inclusivity/LGBTQ initiatives

While not exclusively, Unirondack is a queer community. Members of the LGBTQ+ community make up most of our leadership team, and this is usually true of our larger staff community as well. This is reflected in our policies and procedures. By default, our cabins are all-gender spaces, although we do offer single-gender housing as well. All of our bathrooms are all-gender spaces, including both single occupancy bathrooms and multi-stall restrooms and showers with private stalls. Campers and staff exchange pronouns at the beginning of all our activities, and we openly welcome campers to try on new names and identities while at camp. Our medical staff are aware of the importance of trans-inclusive healthcare and the needs of our trans campers, and we welcome ongoing feedback. Our goal is to celebrate our experiences and create an environment where campers can leave worries of discrimination and discomfort at the door, and experience euphoria in being themselves in a supportive community that celebrates them. Here, all youth can focus on the important things: which silly hat to wear and what they should paint in the artshop - things we really want our kids to be thinking about!

Why offer gender-inclusive cabins?

This is a long answer with many parallel philosophies. In short, to separate children into two gender categories reinforces a gender binary that we simply don’t believe in. To divide campers through a binary lens of gender would guarantee that every summer we end up with campers who are in the wrong cabin. Additionally, it reinforces a heteronormative assumption about our campers when we separate youth by gender as an antiquated safeguard against romantic attraction. Furthermore, we believe that EVERYONE can benefit from sharing space in an all-gender cabin. Separation is one of the foundations of inequality. When campers of ALL genders share space, they learn that they are more alike than different - and that breaks down harmful barriers. Something we’ve realized is that a child’s gender may actually be the least interesting part of their personality. Why reduce them to it? Especially when we could instead create cabin groups based on common interests (which we do!) for an easier friend-making experience. In the end we believe in the maturity of our campers to behave appropriately regardless of the gender identity of their cabin mates and our track record of hundreds of campers who have participated in all-gender cabins without issue is a testament to that.

Does a camper have to identify as trans, non-binary, gender-fluid, etc…

Nope! Gender-inclusive cabins are just what they sound like. They are open to campers of any gender.

How do campers sign up for gender-inclusive cabins?

Campers are placed in all-gender cabins by default. If a camper would prefer to be placed in a single-gender cabin, an option is available to select this on the registration form. Campers are welcome to change their preference at any time. We do not require caregiver permission for campers to change their housing preference, however we are happy to talk with caregivers if they have specific concerns and we will do our best to address them in a manner that is satisfactory.

What if my camper feels uncomfortable with their cabin preference once the week begins?

The answer is the same as it would be for any camper, if a camper isn’t comfortable with their cabin space we will make all efforts to switch them to a cabin they would be more comfortable with. We’ve never run into a scenario in which we were unable to make this happen. One thing that might be helpful to know is that all cabin groups begin the week with a cabin discussion in which campers are encouraged to talk about their needs and boundaries, and work together to come up with agreements for the cabin space for the week. This is a great time to bring up concerns or worries, and to work on solutions with the help of a counselor and a supportive cabin community.

How many cabins are gender-inclusive?

This number changes depending on what caregivers indicate on their registration. We generally have 6 all-gender cabins and 2 single-gender cabins (one boys’ cabin and one girls’ cabin). Sometimes, we do not have enough campers who have opted for a particular type of single-gender cabin in order to offer one, and so this option may not be available. If the type of cabin you have requested is not available, we will contact you ahead of your arrival to discuss options.

Where do campers change their clothes, shower, etc…

Same as other cabins, all campers have access to private spaces to change their clothes and showers are in a separate showerhouse building that offers private stalls. Campers are also allowed to change their clothes within appropriate boundaries in the cabins if the entire cabin has discussed this and come to an agreement about it.

Arrival/Departure

Arrival is between 2PM and 4PM on Sunday.
Departure is between 10AM and Noon Saturday.

I know you’re excited to be at camp but please do us a favor and don’t arrive early. We don’t mean to be rude but we have so much to do on the morning of camper arrival day and we need every bit of time to get set up to welcome you! We will have a staff member at the end of camp road to greet you and they will let you know when we are ready for campers and parents to arrive. When you pull in, you’ll be directed by our staff to find parking and make your way to our check-in table for cookies and paperwork. (What’s that they say about a spoonful of sugar?) 

A Day at Unirondack

Each week, campers pick their morning workshops, and each day they pick their afternoon activities. We offer a diverse and ever-changing selection or programs each day to provide a balance between active programs, creative programs, intellectual programs, and pure fun and silliness. In general, we try to offer campers as much control over their camp experience as possible.

During camp activities we require a minimum of 1:10 staff to camper supervision ratio which changes to 1:8 during swimming and boating activities with a minimum of two staff members. Our meals are communal and family-style with all staff and campers joining to break bread together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dining hall seats 100 and is often buzzing with energy, and we offer (take out ‘some’ - we have quite a lot now!) outdoor seating for campers who would like a break from the crowds.

Our cabins are rustic wooden cabins with bunk beds and range in size from 6 beds to 16 beds. All our summer cabins have toilet facilities and campers utilize a central showerhouse. In contrast to many summer camps, most of our campers stay in all-gender cabins at Unirondack. Campers have the option to opt-out if they would prefer a single-gender cabin. Cabins are staffed with 2 or 3 counselors per cabin who sleep in staff bunks in each cabin.

 

Daily Schedule

7:30 - Wake Up

8:00 - Breakfast

8:30 - Cabin Cleanup

9:30 - Flex Time Programs

11:00 - Workshops

12:30 - Lunch 

1:00 - Cabin Hour

2:00 - One Shots

3:30 - Free Time

5:00 - Camp Council

6:00 - Dinner

6:30 - Indigestion Activities

7:30 - Evening Program

9:00 - Campfire

10:15 - In Cabins

10:30 - Lights Out

Camper Safety

Any summer camp will tell you that at the top of their list of priorities is camper safety. At Unirondack we operate under the standards and requirements of the New York State Department of Health and our rigorous Health & Safety Plan. Below, for your viewing, are the NYS DOH standards as well as our Health & Safety Plan.

Camp Philosophy

 

Following the philosophy and values of Unitarian Universalism, Unirondack strives to be a place that is open and welcoming to all individuals regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, economic standing, sexual orientation, gender presentation, physical ability, size, experience, and religion. Of course, we are not perfect. But goals are what we strive for, not what we have already achieved. Through daily conversations as a staff and with our camp community regarding policies, decisions, and activities, we try to keep these beliefs and the camper experience at the center of our decision making process as much as possible. While we are not evangelical in our promotion of the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism, they are near and dear to our heart and mission.

  • Belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

  • Support of justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

  • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

  • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

  • The right of conscience and use of the democratic process in camp and in society at large.

  • The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

  • Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

  • To affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

Unirondack is constantly searching for ways to be more effective at being responsible citizens of our global world. Our food is as locally sourced as we can afford, our staff are trained to listen to camper’s troubles with an open mind, our programs work to upend the constant pressure that our capitalist patriarchal world puts on our young people, and we challenge heteronormative and cisnormative social structures daily. We push our campers to question their own beliefs and the beliefs that we have in our camp and invite a peaceful and productive dialogue about them.

Finally, we cannot overstate the importance of silliness and fun in the creation of an educational setting. We do believe that camp is a place where opinions can grow and develop and dreams can be realized but it is within an environment that is safe, creative, and wildly rampant with imaginative fun. We believe in weaving humor and levity into all areas of camp and always aim to assume best intentions in our neighbors in the camp community.

Staff

Our staff is recruited through word of mouth within our community as well as job postings in national camp publications. We staff a kitchen, a maintenance staff, support staff, and a large program staff. All staff, regardless of their position at camp are interviewed about their educational philosophy and are expected to be active in the larger camp community with campers. Our program staff consists of 20+ counselors and program specialists which gives us a counselor to camper ratio of 1:4 and a staff to camper ratio of 1:2. Our counselors are 18 years old or older and our leadership staff are at least 21 years old.

Before camp begins our staff attends a rigorous 7-10 (update) day orientation depending on their position in the camp. During staff week we cover all state-mandated health and safety policies and procedures, emergency protocols, program planning, event management, sanitation and cleanliness, camp traditions, activity facilitation, and obviously our social and philosophical goals.

Staff Training: Our 10-day staff training is one of the most extensive in the industry. With a combination of trainings offered by our leadership and hired professionals, we have more than 40 hours of combined training for our staff, in addition to their job-specific workshops. Among the topics covered are the following sessions:

Norms and Lore, Habits, Traditions, Stories etc…
Staff Week Intro / Staff Living in Community: Responsibility, Accountability
The Unirondack Way: Philosophy & Approach
Building the Unirondack Community
Nuts & Bolts Parts 1 & 2
COVID-19 Protocols
Accessing Empathy as a Caregiver
Tour of Camp for Missing Camper Drill
Incidents and Emergencies, UESP Forms
Physical, Conversational, & Emotional Boundaries
How to Clean Unirondack
Politicized Policies: Camp as a political environment
Living in Community: Responsibility, Accountability, and Opportunity
Staff Expectations/Accountability
Unwinding Overworking Culture
Social Intervention Awareness
Anti-Colonial Toolkit - Caleb
Anti-Racism at Unirondack - OAARS
Camper Needs: ASD, Panic Attacks, Downs Syndrome, Auditory Processing
LGBTQ+ 101 for Unirondack
Advanced Queer Theory at Unirondack
Sex Education
Disabilities, Ableism, and Accessibility - Parker Reid
Professionalism & Expectations
Camp Systems: Walkie Talkies, Logs, Comm, Slack, Sound Systems

Food

Unirondack food is not your typical camp food. To think that conscious food creation is not an essential part to building an intentional community runs counter to any successful camp world we know. Unirondack creates as many dishes as possible from whole ingredients and thinks about the nutritional diversity of dishes each day and week. Meals like spaghetti and macaroni and cheese are camp classics but we also pride ourselves in more diverse dishes such as peanut soup, Thai-style stir fry with pad Thai, spanakopita, sushi, and jerk chicken and tofu.

We are exceptionally adept at accommodating vegetarian and vegan diets that are not just removing meat but providing tasty replacements using tempeh, tofu, seitan, and vegetables and are always happy to accommodate our dairy-free and gluten-free campers. We are seasoned in meeting the needs of those with allergies of all kinds and are happy to work with your camper directly to create a food plan that meets their needs including those of campers struggling with eating disorders.

Additionally, we know that ingredients matter. All of our meats are locally sourced, we do not use high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils in any dish, and we use as much pesticide-free and organic ingredients as possible.

Camp/Cabin Life

Our cabins are rustic wooden cabins with bunk beds and range in size from 6 beds to 16 beds. All our summer cabins have toilet facilities and campers utilize a central showerhouse. In contrast to many summer camps, most of our campers stay in all-gender cabins at Unirondack. Campers have the option to opt-out if they would prefer a single-gender cabin. Cabins are staffed with 2 or 3 counselors per cabin who sleep in staff bunks in each cabin.

Campers are deeply involved in the process of developing norms, expectations and agreements within their cabins. On the first night of camp, campers sit together with their cabin mates under the guidance of their counselors to share their needs, boundaries, hopes, and worries. Together, the cabin community builds a set of agreements about their space, including things like a visitor policy, expectations about changing clothes in shared space, noise, daily routines and more. In this way, we seek to give campers the opportunity to create their own cabin experience, while learning about the importance of taking care of each other and honoring boundaries in shared spaces.

Physical Grounds

Unirondack is located on a 9-acre plot of land on a small peninsula on Beaver Lake in the Western Adirondack Park in Upstate New York on land once occupied by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, specifically the Mohawk and Oneida Nations. The camp is comprised of nine cabins in five buildings, a large presentation/theater space, a small recording studio, a field for large group activities or sports, a gaga pit, a swingset and small basketball court, a large Adirondack-style lodge, a large heated dormitory-style building, a dining hall which can seat 120 people, and has a lakeside artshop. We have a boathouse which has 14 canoes, 10 kayaks, and 2 sunfish sailboats as well as a small beachfront with a dock and swimming area.

During the summer the average temperature is about 68 degrees in summer with 3.5 inches of rain per month in July and August. We are a remote camp, located 30 miles from the nearest town of Lowville. This provides us a breathtaking night sky as well as a feeling of true oneness with nature that we feel is essential to our camp experience.