Roughing It Day Camp: Outdoor Explorers Activities

Our staff use their expertise in organizing and teaching outdoor activities, while Roughing It Day Camp Waterfront Staff - all lifeguard certified - provide boating and fishing instruction. After a week at Outdoor Explorers, campers feel connected to nature, know how to safely enjoy outdoor activities, and have a deeper appreciation of the environment and a reverence for life.

Weekly Activities include:

Outdoor/Camping Skills - Learn many of the skills that Explorers need to thrive in the great outdoors including: shelter building, backpacking and camping gear selection and repair, first aid, outdoor safety, water purification, site set-up and sanitation.

Hiking the Trails of the Lafayette Reservoir - Explore the Reservoir with your counselor and fellow campers. Campers learn about the basics of hiking gear - a backpack, water bottle, sunscreen and a hat to begin your hike. They take short hikes with their counselor through the pines and up to the rim trail. As the week progresses, they have opportunities to take longer hikes, stopping for a snack or lunch in the shade of the oak trees. Campers learn how to track, recognize trail markings, and orienteering using a map and compass.

Outdoor Cooking - Campers make some of the favorite Roughing It recipes on the BBQ’s and on backpacking stoves and learn a variety of outdoor cooking techniques, under the watchful eye of your counselor. Recipes include cake in an orange, bread on a stick, fry pan cornbread, fried apples, and many more.

Nature and Wildlife Discoveries - Find out who lives at the Reservoir, what they eat, how they fit into the web of life, and what we can do to better preserve their habitats. Learn about the fence lizard, the coots on the lake, deer in the pear orchard, and the elusive bull frogs!

Outdoor and Nature Games - For Fun and Learning! Some of our most popular activities are games that teach important principles about the environment. Explore habitats with animal bingo, or learn to identify plants and tress with nature scavenger hunts and the roadside cribbage game. Practice safe trail practices through search and rescue modules. Play hiking games campers can teach their families such as granny’s backpack, twenty questions, and "trail blazers."

Native and Creative Crafts - Daily! Campers enjoy relaxing under the pines making nature crafts such as wood medallions, flower pressing, plant rubbings, non-natural collages, recycled cloth people, bird feeders, and animal clay-creations.

Waterfront Activities - Taught by our Roughing It Day Camp Waterfront Staff who are all lifeguard certified and take place down on the Roughing It docks. Campers become familiar with all the waterfront safety procedures before they head onto the docks:

Fishing - Learn how to bait your own hook, how to use different bait and weights, and simple drop line and castings techniques. All fishing gear is provided by Roughing It. Most campers choose to practice "catch and release" once they land a fish. Campers practice how to rig their fishing poles, and the use and care of fishing gear. Learn more about fishing.
Rowing - Working as a team in each rowboat, Explorers practice rowing skills in the protected area of the lake known as Capt'n Ruff’s Cove. Campers always wear lifejackets and are in rowboats with our Roughing It rowing counselors and staff. They rotate through the different positions in the boat learning to be a port or starboard rower, lookout or coxswain. Learn more about rowing.

Traditional Camp Activities - Explorers participate in the spirit and fun of camp skits and songs at Opening and Closing Circle with the Roughing It Day Campers. They enjoy playing favorite camp games such as Mississippi, Prisoner’s Base, Pickle, Steal the Bacon, Capture the Flag, Lemonade, and an amazing selection of tag games. We also play a variety of quiet group games such as Chief, Statues, Wink, Animal Pass, and rhythm games. Traditional camp crafts like lanyards are also part of the fun for Outdoor Explorers.

Adventure & Initiative Games - Learning to solve physical challenges as a group is what Adventure is all about. Explorers in 4th - 6th grade try a variety of initiative activities and group challenges designed to help them work as a team to solve the challenges in a fun and democratic manner. Some Roughing It favorites are poison peanut butter crossing, all aboard, yurt circle and leaky pipe.

Daily Choice Activities - Explorers have the freedom to choose their own specialty activity during Choice Time offered during two activity periods daily. This gives campers more time to explore their favorite outdoor activity at the Reservoir.

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