Camping FAQs

Planning and camper reservations for Young Life camp trips are carried out by Young Life staff who work in a local Young Life area office. To find out information about Young Life in your city or town, you should first locate the closest Young Life local office. Use the Locator to search for your local area office by city or ZIP or the closest regional office by ZIP. These local staff will have the best and most current information for you about how to sign up for camp. A majority of the campers who attend Young Life or WyldLife camp are involved with Young Life activities in their hometown throughout the year.

There are more than 20 camps located in North and Central America. To view a map with all camp locations and contact information for each camp, go to the Camping section and follow the link to Contact our Camps. There are Web sites listed at this location for most camps which often include driving directions to each of the camps.

Go to Contact Our Camps, select the camp and either visit its Web site or contact the camp by phone. They can also answer questions about directions to the camp, facilities and their yearly calendar.

Go to the Camping section and find the link to Contact Our Camps. Choose the camp that your child is attending and call the office directly. If you don’t know which camp to contact, you can call your local office or call the National Camping office for more assistance at (719) 381-1844.

There are several ways to contact your child while he or she is at camp. You can send messages to your child via phone, e-mail, fax, postal mail and package shipments. The first step is to go to Contact our Camps and find the camp your child is attending. Listed, there will be phone, address, Web site and fax numbers. Send the mail marked with your child’s name, area where his or her Young Life/WyldLife group is located and the trip leader’s name. Please make sure that you take into account time for shipment so that packages and flat mail arrive while your child is still at camp.

Yes! During the school year months, there are often openings during the week and on the weekends for other organizations to use Young Life facilities. To find out if the camp is available during the time your group needs facilities, please contact the specific camp you are interested in to find out about availability, regulations, price and accommodations. During the summer months, most of our camps are being used by Young Life groups; however, on occasion there are exceptions, so be sure to call the specific camp’s office.

In Young Life, high school and middle school students go to our camps during the summer (and in many cases on weekends during the school year) with their Young Life leader, who is also their friend and mentor. Young Life leaders, who accompany students to camp, are trained and selected on the local level by Young Life paid staff, who work out of a local area office. All the planning and details that come together in order for the area to attend camp are in the hands of the local staff who keep parents and kids informed about the trip.

Throughout the year, Young Life leaders volunteer their time during the week at high school sports games and afternoon activities — getting to know students as friends. Once a week, students get together at a meeting/activity called “club.” With these experiences as the backdrop, kids are invited to camp by their leaders, along with their friends, for the “best week of their lives.”

Young Life camping is designed to be a component of the entire mission of mentoring and not simply an isolated instance or experience. Kids come home at the end of the camp week, and their leaders are still there with them and a part of their lives.

While they are at Young Life camp, these kids get the experience of resort-style facilities and adventure where every day is a surprise and the activities are new, exciting and challenging.

Camp musician positions are filled according to the discretion and recommendation of Young Life staff who work in communities with high school and middle school students. When a camp director chooses to have a camp musician as part of the assigned team, the camp director works with others to select a musician, and they form a contract for their time. For more information about these opportunities please contact the camp manager for the camp and specific session during which you are interested in performing.

There are two different ways to work at a Young Life camp.

During the summer there are numerous volunteer positions available for anyone high school age to grandparent age. As a volunteer you can serve on work crew (high school), summer staff (college age and up), and as an adult (and doctor), you can participate in the Camp Physician Program. Information about all of these opportunities can be found in the Camping section.

If you are interested in paid or career positions working on staff at a Young Life camp, there is a list that is updated frequently with the latest openings. Go to the Camp listings in the Job Opportunities section. The positions are listed according to the camp. Applications for these positions are accepted online through the apply now tool.

In the Camping section, you will find information about volunteering to serve as work crew (high school) or summer staff (college aged or older). If you are applying for work crew, you may download an application at this location. If you are applying for summer staff, you may fill out and submit the application online. In both instances, it is important to include a reference or have someone fill out a recommendation for your application. Preferably, this individual should be someone who knows you and is currently on Young Life staff.

In a simple answer, no. Campers who attend Young Life camps during the summer are invited to camp and accompany their Young Life leaders — friends and mentors who have built relationships with them in their hometown. Young Life leaders fill the role of traditional counselors at camp.

If you are interested in volunteering as a Young Life or WyldLife leader during the year and taking kids to camp as their leader during the summer, contact your local area Young Life office for more information. If you are in high school or are college age (or older) and wish to volunteer at a Young Life camp during the summer, go to the Volunteer Opportunities section in the Camping section to find information on summer staff or work crew and applications and directions on applying.

Our Young Life camps host camp physicians for one week assignments during the summer while they are serving Young Life campers. There are facilities available for housing physician families who volunteer for the week at all camps that have a Camp Physician Program. The following Young Life camps host Camp Physician Programs: Castaway Club, Crooked Creek Ranch, Frontier Ranch, Lake Champion, Malibu Club, Oakbridge, Rockbridge, Saranac Village, SharpTop Cove, Timber Wolf Lake, Trail West, Washington Family Ranch and Windy Gap. Please contact any of these camps directly to find out about their openings for the summer. The camp physicians page contains more information and an application that can be downloaded.

Several camps host adults as visitors through the “Adult Guest Program,” which includes high quality accommodations for the week as you experience a behind-the-scenes view of what Young Life camping is all about. Included are all of your meals throughout the week, opportunities to choose to participate in many of the activities around camp and rare chances to interact with staff and guests at the camp and to see kids during the best week they have ever experienced. Many adults walk away from this experience feeling they had the best week of their lives as well. It offers an opportunity for a fresh perspective to consider ways to be involved with Young Life ministry in your area when you return home.

Go to the Contact Our Camps link in the Camping section and select the camp you are interested in exploring. You can then choose to either visit their Web site or contact them by phone. Each camp’s Web site contains a great deal of information about their facilities, capacity, pricing and contact information for booking.  If you have other specific questions, please e-mail or call the camp directly.

Most positions are filled on a volunteer basis. Those who participate on work crew and summer staff serve for one monthlong session, and concessions are room and boarding only. These volunteers make their own arrangements for transportation to and from camp. Therefore, it is wise to consider camps that are located in close proximity to their hometown. Please contact the camp you are interested in working, at and they will walk you through the hiring process. Previous summer staff experience is strongly recommended.

Young Life has anticipated and is prepared to deal with cases of the flu among campers attending our camps. Our first goal is to ensure a safe and rewarding experience for all campers, leaders, work crew, summer staff and camp staff. To that end, camp staff and health professionals are committed to working closely with local and state Department of Health officials if and when flu cases are identified. Further details are provided on our Dealing with the Flu page, including whom to contact if you have questions or concerns.