Ondessonk Adventure Camp

Pack your bags and step outside. A world of adventure awaits. Whether you like to hike, ride horses, or spend your day on the water, Camp Ondessonk provides an adventure our campers will remember for the rest of their lives. By working in small groups with two or three highly trained staff members, adventure campers specialize on knowledge and growth in particular outdoor skills. Evan Coulson, former Camping Services Director at Ondessonk, explains, “The beauty of Camp Ondessonk’s summer adventure programming is that participants need no prior experience or specialized skill set.” Camp Ondessonk staff provides campers with instructions for beginner and advanced campers alike. Coulson states, “Adventure experiences serve as a training ground for the intangible life skills that form such as collaboration, communication, trust, creativity, unconditional positive regard, and grit.” Ondessonk’s Adventure Camp Programs take you out of the traditional camp setting and into the wilderness.
Greg Santen, Ondessonk’s Adventure Camp Program Director, was a camper for five summers; spending four of them as a horse adventure camper. He notes, “Ondessonk is a rustic camp experience unlike any other in America. The Adventure Camp Program kept me coming back to Camp Ondessonk.”  Santen describes the Adventure Camp experience as taking camp one step further from traditional camp because campers learn life skills such as cooking their own meals, treating their own drinking water and navigating their own route on a topographic map. Santen adds, “It can be beneficial to be a part of a smaller, more close-knit group of kids of about the same age who can really bond with each other. The activities in Adventure Camp can spark life-long interests in a young person for activities such as backpacking, rock climbing, and horseback riding. Were it not for this great program, I may not be here today.”

Camp Ondessonk provides a variety of adventure opportunities, to find out more click here.

For more tips on adventure click here.

Ondessonk Adventure Camp are designed to give teen campers a taste of multiple adventures within one program.

— Amanda Bailey