Summer Camp Vacations for Kids and Adults

You approached it through a forest, on a dirt road, beneath a canopy of leafy boughs. You slept there in a rustic cabin or a lean-to made of logs. You ate in a wooden mess hall, at long, communal tables; swam in a lake; sat around an open fire at night.

And paid very little.

Sleepaway camp. Was there ever a better vacation? A more treasured time of childhood? And can those joyful, vibrant, inexpensive holidays be re-experienced at a later time, as an adult?

The answer is a limited yes. Provided you apply soon enough--say, by early spring, before the rolls are filled and closed--you can stay at one of nearly 50 widely scattered camps that operate for people of all ages, 18 to 80, in a setting almost identical to those cherished memories of youth.

Audubon ecology camps

In the undeveloped, wilderness settings of all four camps, you quickly forget all urban concerns, but enjoy a reasonable standard of comfort at the same time: dormitory rooms with air-conditioning and private bath in Minnesota, wood-frame dormitories and a restored 19th-century farmhouse on Hog Island in Maine, slightly more modern facilities and private rooms in Connecticut, and a long, wood-frame dormitory in Wisconsin. Hearty meals are served buffet style, three times a day.

For the summer of 2004, Minnesota's North Woods camp offers five weeklong programs with an option of earning graduate credits. Some of the programs are "Lake Superior: From Duluth to Thunder Bay," "The Mammals of Badland," and "Boundary Water Canoe Area Field Studies." The all-inclusive price for the week is $750.

The camp on Hog Island in Maine is open from June to August, and each week has a different focus: "Bird Studies for Teens," "Natural History of Maine Coast," "Naturalizing by Kayak," and "Field Ornithology" are examples. Prices a week's program, including room and board, range from $660 to $1125. The Wisconsin camp dedicates most of the summer to youth programs, but one week in July is adults-only. The six-day session "Wade into Ecology" is $695. There is also a family week at the end of June which is $475 for adults and $450 for children ages five to 15.

There's not another cent to pay (except your transportation to the camp), nowhere at all to spend additional money, and no supplement for single persons traveling alone.

Who attends the Audubon camps? Adults of all ages and backgrounds: an accountant from Atlanta alongside a professional educator from San Francisco, college students, firemen, and retired senior citizens. Their common tie: the urge for a vacation "with more substance to it than sitting on a beach," in the words of Philip Schaefer, Audubon's former director of camps and summer programs. Returning to nature, he adds, is an "emotional as well as a learning experience," and at the final campfire, "there isn't a dry eye."

For extensive, colorful literature and application forms relating to these camps, call or e-mail the Audubon offices individually or go toaudubon.org. For Maine: 888/325-5261 or camps@maineaudubon.org; Wisconsin: 877/777-8383 or hunthill@spacestar.net; Minnesota: 888/404-7743 or mailto:audubon1@audubon-center.org/.

Sierra Club "base camps"