Skylake Yosemite Camp

The BEST camp on earth — according to my 13 years old son. He looks forward to this camp every year and 2016 will be his third years at Skylake. From the parent’s point of view, Skylake is a very organized camp as compared to other overnight camp. You get daily update and photos of the camp’s activities. They post hundreds of photos every day and I will try to spot my son in those pics. :) I love reading their daily blog also. My son loves all of the counselors and they are all college kids from all over the world. They seem to truly love their time at Skylake as well. A word of cautious though, your kid will start counting the days to return as soon as you pick them up at the end of camp. It is a bitter sweet!

As a former Skylake camper myself, I was thrilled to send my son for the first time this year. He’s having a wonderful time. Horses, Archery, Mountain Biking and Tomahawk Toss are his favorite activities. The Director posts a note every day, so you know what’s happening in camp. Pictures are also posted every night, so you can see your kids and feel the energy at camp. Plus, between letters and care packages, you can easily keep in contact with your camper.
My son’s counselor sends weekly postcards (he writes me more than my son) to keep me updated on my son’s activities. Love getting his updates.
Do you want a safe place for your kids to unplug and enjoy new adventures every day? If yes, Skylake is for you!

I have 13 and 10 year old daughters who are currently at Skylake making this their 5^th and 3^rd year, respectively. They absolutely love Skylake! The delicious food, all the activities, the serene setting of Bass Lake, the friendships and bonds they make… I can go on. The kids look forward to going to Bass Lake every year. We’ve also attended family camp and hope to go back again. Also, the Skylake website is organized which helps keep me stay organized to make sure both of my kids have all the forms filled out that are needed. From the site, we appreciate the newsletters of the days’ happenings as well as all the photos. The children all look happy and relaxed. Skylake is amazing!

My kids have been attending Skylake for 8 years. They call it their «second home». They have made ever lasting relationships & friendship. This is an east cost type of camp. It’s back to basics with just having fun and being active. There is a no electronics rule which I love, the kids are forced to unplug and enjoy their time in this amazing place.

My family and I have been going to Skylake’s family camp sessions for over 25 years. It’s our place for our annual family reunion every Memorial Day weekend. Skylake is amazing for every age group, and we will be sending our kids here once they’re old enough to go to camp!

My daughter just finished her second year at Skylake and loves it. She goes with her friend from home but has made new friends both years. During the year she kept in touch with her closest new friend and they made an effort to see each other. The counselors both years have been really good and engaged and addressed conflict when needed. In terms of photos and communication, the camp seems to have gotten the message that it is better to have kids look in the camera (her first year there were lots of pictures with kids not looking in the camera and looking very hot (it was 105 degrees!)) The daily postings give a good glimpse into what the kids are up to. There is a great range of activities and they have flexibility to do what they want and there are lots of cabin activities including the banana boating which they all seem to love. My daughter swam the width of the lake in beautiful warm bass lake and her cabin did an overnight which I was happy to see. While for me I had to get used to how rustic the camp facilities are she is comfortable and loves that it is a real camp experience. I asked my daughter if there is anything in particular I should point out and she said that I must mention that there is really good food! Now my younger daughter wants to go (and we are going to need to mortgage the house to pay for it!:))

I went here for 4 years as a camper and had the time of my life. However, many younger kids that I know today do not share my opinion. They claim that the management has gotten a little out of control and the director is just not a good fit.

My son has gone here for 2 years now and we are planning for year three now. It does cost but worth every penny. It got him to love the outdoors and do things he never thought he could do. Also no electronics for 2to 4 weeks! A big plus. The camp staff is great. My son found this camp on his own and ask to go. Thank you Internet. Overall the kids are kept busy and don’t miss their families because they are having too much fun. I also like that they put pics everyday of what is going on at their web site and that you can email to your child. I did this every other day. Food was reported good by my kid, also they have a lot of choices. Buses to and from camp was great help and cost was minimal. When my son came back the first year he cried when I picked him up. Not because he was seeing me, that he was leaving all his new friends at camp! I also know his is a great place because he only wrote to me once. He was so busy having fun he didn’t have time to miss me and his brothers. Safe, clean, a great place to have your kid come to learn and grow. Also location. what can I say one of God’s greatest gifts on earth. I also like that the camp has a place in it’s web site that helps you determine whether this is a good placement for you child or are they ready to go to sleep away camp. I felt good that they took the time to help parents with this choice. I have never felt like they see my child as a cash cow. They can about him and wanted him to have a good time and grow as a person. Great great great have told all the peolpe that I work with about it and what a great place it is!

I camped here for three years from the age of 14 – 16. The first two years were absolutely amazing and left me with wonderful memories. I fell in love with the area and decided I would one day be married on Bass Lake. When I met my now-​husband and introduced him to the area, he too fell in love with it and we were married at The Pines Resort in 2011. It is beyond beautiful, the lake is warm, clean, and clear. The camp itself seemed very well run with great activities both on the water and off. The first year I was a «Senior» camper which is the highest age group other than CILTs. I enjoyed the many activities including tubing, wakeboarding, kayaking (became an instant favorite of mine and I now own my own kayak!), archery, horse back riding, and arts/​crafts among many others. The next year I was a CILT or Camper in Leadership Training. For that program, campers choose to have a Wilderness focus, Water focus, or Wrangling (I think?) focus. I chose Wilderness which meant we spent the majority of the two weeks hiking and I was able to do Dome in a Day hiking Half Dome in Yosemite. It was amazing and something I’ve always wanted to do again. We did several backpacking trips as well which were a lot of fun.
Then I went back for my third year as a Junior Counselor and I wish I hadn’t. I wish I could go back to my innocent view of the camp with my special memories not being tainted by the realizations I came to as someone behind the scenes. As a JC, I saw the lack of responsibility of many/​most of the college student counselors, the inappropriate ways they interacted with the older aged campers (something I was oblivious to while there as a Senior and CILT), the alcohol drinking, pot smoking, and generally upsetting behavior. In actuality I’m glad I went that third year because now I know I would never send my children there, but I do still wish I had only the memories of my first two years there.

My 13 year old son just spent 2 weeks at Skylake, and reports that the camp is lots of fun, and he wants to return next year. This was his first time at Skylake. We were attracted to this camp by the waterfront program, the opportunity to ski/​wakeboard, and the various trips they take to Yosemite. He did get to try wakeboarding, and signed up for a trip to Yosemite, but didn’t get to go (and doesn’t understand why not). He spent lots of time at the waterfront, using the paddleboards, kayaks, and swimming. He also loved the banana boat. He even enjoyed the food!
As a parent, I was a bit nervous about this camp. Most of the kids take charter buses to camp, so the parents do not have to make the long drive to drop them off or pick them up. Logistically, this may work well for Skylake, but psychologically it doesn’t work for me; I need to see where my kid will be spending 2 weeks. So I drove my son there, seeing just a few other doting parents that Sunday. The check-​in process seemed a bit too relaxed and disorganized, compared to what I have seen at other camps my son attends, and maybe some help with the baggage would have been nice. But they more than made up for it, by posting news on the camp blog for parents (almost) every day of those 2 weeks, with lots of photos. They had a great group of energetic campers and enthusiastic staff, which is, by far, the most important part of any summer camp.

I was a camper from the ages of 6 – 14 and looked forward to it every year.
This camp is what camps should be. Warm temps, sports (H20 Ski, Tennis, Horse Riding, Archery, swimming, boating, hiking, etc.), evening campfires, afternoon activities, and a huge dining hall were some of my memories.
This is from their website and fits the camp to a ‘T’:
«Skylake is a camp in the East Coast tradition… in a pine forest… on a beautiful warm-​water lake… and with all the traditional waterfront and «land» sports activities, crafts and nightly campfires. Some of our camp songs have been a tradition for 60 years. A fundamental philosophy of Skylake is that today’s young people are in a very fast paced and highly competitive school and life environment. Skylake believes and practices that young people need a vacation just as adults do. While the days at Skylake are busy and structured, they are designed to be noncompetitive, relaxed, and very flexible to the campers’ individual needs. «
I even took a quick trip there this year, when visiting Yosemite, to see if it really held the magic I remembered. Yes! It still gave off the same vibe of lazy summer days spent with your friends (and family).
Thanks for the memories!