YMCA Camp Campbell

Great Camp but Incompetent Administration Staff!
Our two kids, a 14-​year old girl and a 10-​year old boy, went to camp here this past summer and they both had a great time. Although almost everything about the camp is well run such as activities, meals, and good teen counselors, the administrative staff here really sucks!
The FAIL part of this camp is the incompetent administration staff. They turned what should have been a simple camp store refund into a 2 month fiasco! Our daughter bought some things at the camp store and paid for some of it in cash and we paid the balance on our credit card. The problem was that they overcharged our credit card by $ 5.
Over 2 months, every time we’d call we got all kinds of excuses, like:
1. They couldn’t find the sales records
2. They couldn’t do a credit card refund because of their accounting system
3. They couldn’t do a partial refund
4. The person working on the refund was not there
5. They couldn’t get a hold of us because they were using the wrong email address they
made up and didn’t bother to use one of the 3 phone numbers we have on file
6. We were told we had to drive to a distant YMCA office to pick up the $ 5 cash ourselves
because they can’t send it in the mail
7. They didn’t know how to request that a check be sent to us
It took an email and phone call to the camp’s executive director to finally get them to «supposedly» do a credit card refund, 2 months later! Now they say they did the refund, but we’ll believe it when we see it on OUR credit card statement!
This administrative nightmare leaves a bad taste in our mouths, thus the reason for the 2 stars.

My son attended science camp at Camp Campbell recently. He has a lot of food allergies (11 IgE food allergies), including gluten and most grains as well as most nuts. His food allergies require us to be on a very strict diet and make it difficult for us to go out to eat. So we were considering keeping him out of science camp altogether – partly due to food restrictions and partly due to the negative social issues that might arise. As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about because camp director Cathy Haas worked closely with us to ensure that he had a good experience. We were amazed by her attention to his nutritional needs and willingness to work with us to make sure it was a positive eating and social experience. When our son returned home, he raved about the food and how well he was treated. So we wanted to publicly thank Cathy and staff for the excellent service as well as the thoughtful and caring attention, all of which enabled our son to have an outstanding experience overall and where the dining was actually a highlight.

Awesome place — awesome experience — and great for kids. Can not wait to go back!
Oh, and make sure you ask about family camp for all the family. Its super!

I last wrote 2 years ago. Since that time my daughter has returned every summer, and now my youngest has started going (first stint last summer). My youngest was quite perturbed that I only «let her stay for 1 week» and why couldn’t she stay for 2? Next year, she’ll get her wish. Both girls rave about their counselors, the pool area (amazing, complete with waterslides), the treetop cabins (I’d like to stay), the dining hall and all it’s beautiful relative newness. Its rustic-​resort in my opinion. They have some older cabins, which I’d bet they’ll redo in the next few years, but the camp is quite amazing. I have yet to receive a complaint. My favorite feature is that they post pictures via Flickr. I look forward to hopping online in the evenings to catch glimpses of my two girls having a ball. Ear-​to-​ear smiles, and caught on camera unaware. Cost to value is unbeatable. There isn’t another camp in the bay area that can match it.

This place is beautiful for a wedding. The chapel is surrounded by a ring of tall redwoods that go high up and cover the sky with tree branches. It was awe inspiring in itself. The altar is simple and so are the pews. It makes for a very intimate ceremony with just about 100 of your friends and family.
The Treetop cabins were very well kept and the facilities were better than expected and clean. I was comfortable staying there with friends and family (sleeps 16 people). The only difficulty you might have is transporting your luggage from the parking lot which is about a 5 min walk. There are large carts available that make it easy to carry luggage but you still need to go up a short hill.
The food was pretty good and taco night was my favorite. We also had a campfire with s’mores and that was really cool.
Staff was excellent. I participated in a few activities and they were all fun. I recommend doing the Mole Hole and Archery. There was also disc golf and other lawn games for casual fun.
I can’t recommend this place enough. Our whole party had a blast and it was a great experience full of fond memories.

Great camp’s, amazing setting! Very affordable programs for every age. The pool is great and they offer many different courses. Thanks YMCA for the impact you make on our community!

My dream wedding took place at the YMCA Camp Campbell this pass
weekend. My now husband and I had all of our friends gather starting
Friday night for the BBQ that was so delicious and stay until Sunday
for brunch. I don’t say this lightly EVERYTHING went beyond my
expectations. What wedding includes a pool with a slide, archery,
volleyball, rock climbing, and all you loved ones surrounded at all
times for a weekend? Answer: Camp Campbell! On Sunday night when my
husband and I returned to our house we sat alone and held hands and
smiled when talking about our everlasting memories. The YMCA made a
dream come true and we will always remember how much the staff made
this wedding fun and relaxed! The staff was there when I needed them
with a smile and a helping hand. Alyssa, the wedding coordinator was organized,
informative and fun to work with. She answered my many emails promptly
and I couldn’t have for more of a sweet and reliable person to work
with. I can’t thank Camp Campbell enough for all the hard work and wonderful experience. I will always think back to my wedding and know it was the best moment of my life and I have Camp Campbell to thank :)

The director of the pool offered a sincere apology & also a free swim to my whole family for my inconvenience. My issue was professionally handled. I would still urge people to double check on the day of before going to swim to make sure they’re open but I’m adjusting my review to a five because their pool & environment is awesome & they handled my complaint professionally. Still haven’t taken them up on their offer but am looking forward to doing so.
Original Post: I spoke with three different employees trying to pin down open swim times when their slide would be running. I was reassured by the last person I talked to earlier this week that the slide would be open on Sunday ⁶⁄₂ from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Are you sure? (I asked twice). Loaded my kids up, all stoked to go on the slide. Got there at 12:30pm to be early birds, told by the person I went to pay that there was a communication mistake & private parties booked the pool all day. I understand one miscommunication, but three different employees? Anyway, I’ve been driving around all day trying to rectify the YMCA’s employee’s misinformation by trying to find a pool that was open, ended up down at the river. Obviously the pool there is awesome but their lack of communication in the front office completely ruins the point. Advice, don’t double check or triple check the day before, call them the day of right before you’re heading out the door to see them in order to make sure (as best that you can) that the pool & slide will be open.

My husband and I got married here in September 2012. Our guests said they had never had so much fun at a wedding and everyone was sad to leave once Sunday rolled around. The staff was great, friendly, and always smiling. Everything went smoothly. Louie and Stacey were a dream to work with, always getting back to us promptly to answer our many questions. The setting is gorgeous and our photographers were able to take full advantage. We couldn’t have asked for a better wedding weekend.
You can see more pictures of our weekend wedding here:
(the wedding was not held in the winter like the title suggests)

AMAZING!
We got married here in August 2012.
There is too much to say for one little review but if you take one thing away from this review — GET MARRIED HERE!
I have dabbled in wedding coordinating and helped friends with their weddings and this was hands down the most relaxed, helpful, caring, thoughtful group of staff/​venue I have ever worked with.
Stacie received countless emails and changes to our schedule over the 9 months prior to the wedding and she took it like a champ. She was always quick to respond, happy to help, let us come out to the sight multiple times to measure and plan our reception.
They helped us plan the menu according to our budget, even helped us get creative for things we wanted but were slightly out of our budget.
My piece of advice to brides and grooms getting married here is DON’T stress!
While a weekend long wedding is a much bigger task than a single day event the staff is amazing and so flexible with you.
Here are few places I worried/​stressed about too much:
I was emailing and hounding my guests to give me RSVP’s for all the extra meals and activities because I was so worried Camp Campbell needed exact numbers and were going to charge me no matter what.
I was really concerned about our guests being too loud — on Friday night I went around shhhh’ing all of the cabins at 10pm. It didn’t work that well, 80+ friends and family is loud no matter what.
At the end of the weekend Stacie and Louie told us we were great and no problems. I wish I hadn’t been so worried about it.
Staff was wonderful!!! Very helpful!
Overall, all the extra stress and worry was not needed.
Our family and friends were in awe over the weekend and can’t stop talking about how amazing it was.
Don’t miss the ropes course, archery, mole hole, swimming pool with water slide, arts and crafts, tie dye, and camp fires!
Thank you YMCA Camp Campbell. You are all sooo wonderful!

Recently came here for a week long camp and had a blast on the beautiful campus. The new dining hall /​lodge is incredible to look at, let alone eat/​celebrate in. Yeah, celebrate. They do weddings too! I guess the weddings can take advantage of the parking, the redwoods, and the also new tree-​top cabins that are, to say the least, amazing! But I was here for a weeklong kids camp, and still had a blast. The grounds are great, the YMCA staff is very helpful and accommodating, oh, and they also have a new pool and waterslide for the kids.
Waahhh! I miss camp already! What do i miss you say? Archery, the ‘mole hole’, swimming, cabins, redwoods, campfires, hiking, and the comradery…
I would definitely recommend this place for any sort of camp or retreat. Lots of beds, GREAT ‘Y’ staff, and overall an unforgettable experience. They are currently planning on replacing the old cabins with new ones, but that’ll take a while. I would only recommend new mattresses for the old cabins if i had any complaints, as they are a little thin for adults with pillow tops at home. =)

We rented YMCA Camp Campbell for our wedding weekend in June 2012, and all I can say is WOW! What a blast! If you are the outdoorsy, fun loving, never want to grow up type of people we are, then this is your wedding venue. Not to mention the food, staff, and site are all world class. Stacey, Louie, Jeff, and the rest of the staff were on it from the first time we checked out the site, to the tastings, to the hundreds of questions we emailed them, they stayed calm and in control. My wife and I were both very stressed out having over 200 people come and also coordinating 125 overnight campers, but the camp staff kept everything under control and rolling smoothly. They gave us great tips and advice that helped make the wedding run on autopilot, helped set up the decorations and electronics the way we asked them, and even stayed up late cooking nachos and quesadillas for the late night munchers. I have had so many people tell me it was the «most fun» wedding they have been too in their lives! Don’t miss the pool, mole hole, or archery. A truly stunning site, a great staff, and value for your dollar are all reasons I would love to come get married again every year here.
Thanks again YMCA Camp Campbell!!!

Have stayed here twice for Family Camp. Lodge (where you eat meals) is really nice, clean, organized, newly built. Tree Top Cabins are gorgeous like a new college dorm setting, attached bathroom with 2 sinks, 2 showers, and 2 bathroom stalls. Activities include rock wall climbing, amazing new pool with water slide, Arts and Crafts, creek, hikes, Ropes course, archery, Mole Hill (for kids), soccer, basketball courts under the Redwoods, campfires, Smores, and more! Meals were pretty good (pasta, chicken, beans and rice with salsa, french toast, pancakes, turkey and ham sandwiches). Seems safe, lots of kids roaming around in groups, playing on the
grassy field, etc. Campfire was good too, a little cheesey, but most are.

Our Church Youth Group stayed at YMCA Camp Campbell this week Feb 24 – 26, 2012. The Youth ages range from 13 – 17. We had a great time and the Staff at the YMCA Camp were great. The staff were flexible with our schedule and worked with us to accommodate us. We stayed at the Treetop Cabins which are totally beautiful, neat, clean and made our stay much more pleasurable. Food was great, fresh and plentiful. Totally recommend YMCA Camp Campbell for use.

Just picked up our kids today from camp, they were there for 5 days and loved it! They are boys age 9 and 12. The smiles on there faces were proof enough. It was there first time doing a sleep away camp, and I was a bit nervous, but was pleasantly surprised by the nice grounds and counselors. They have built some new cabins in the trees and have a brand new mess hall. Hopefully the will work on the older cabins at a later date, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. They had plenty to eat and said the food was really great — they liked the activities such as survival, zip line, swimming, nature hike, frisbee and soccer. They even got to spend a night under the stars … I would highly recommend this camp. They all want to go back next year!

I have been involved in Camp campbell since I was about 12 years old. I started going to camp campbell as a camper during summer sessions in which I had a great time making new friends, being part of a small community that camp instills on its campers (all within a short amount of time), and growing closer to nature (Yes this sounds corny and rather hippy but the redwoods are truly amazing and a good break from the city).
Camp Campell had such a great place in my heart that once I hit high school (I went to Mitty) I started volunteering at camp during my first week of summer for camp’s science school. I remember science camp (which I attended twice in 5^th and 6^th grade) as a great «break» from school where I got to travel into the mountains with my classmates to have fun and spend my first week away from home. Camp campbell made me realize that not only did I get this awesome opportunity to take some time away from home and mature, but I also learned more interacting with science and nature than I did in the classroom.
Although Summer camp is not based only on science there are many ways for kids to learn all sorts of things such as certain plants that keep mosquitoes away (my personal favorite). In addition, summer camp has high ropes course, a giant slide that requires sleds to go down it, games of all sorts, and fantastic food. :]
Today, I am a college student at the University of Northern Colorado. During the upcoming summer I will be working at camp and cannot wait to get back to California. I strongly recommend camp campbell as a perfect camp for children of all ages. It is a truly remarkable experience that everyone in the bay area should get the chance to participate in.
Feel free to contact if you have any questions @JackAnthonyCohen@gmail.com

I just picked up my two sons (ages 8 and 11) from a week of sleep away camp. They both had a blast.
This was the 2^nd year my 11 year old was there and the first time at sleep away camp for my 8 year old. Both kids had great counselors who really get kids. I felt comfortable leaving my boys with them and they had alot of fun. My 11 year old said he would stay all summer if he could. My 8 year old went with no friend and seems to have made friends with his cabin mates very easily.
Their favorite things about camp were the Olympics (new this week), archery, capture the flag, and paint war. I specifically asked them about the food and they said they had more than enough to eat and were never hungry. The were talking a lot about the «colors» and how they represent respect, caring, honesty, and responsibility. Just the fact that they are talking about those words so much after picking them up from camp impressed me.
They were both exhausted. Both said they could use a little more sleep. But then there would be less time for fun so I’m not sure they really want that.
My 11 year old also went here in the Fall of 2009 for Outdoor Science Camp with his school and had a blast.
Both boys have VERY different interests and personalities, so the fact that they both loved the experience is great. They are definitely going back next year.

This is what I wrote Camp Campbell and the other parents after my kids’ stay 7÷18÷2010−7÷23÷2010:
CAMP– NOT FUN FOR EVERYONE
I picked up my kids from Camp Campbell yesterday. My daughter, 10, was content sitting together with friends she had made during camp. My son, 12, turned out to be quite angry, at me for having ‘put’ him at camp, and at most everything about camp. He exclaimed «I’m free» as our car rolled over the bridge and through the impressive log entrance.
So, what is my son’s problem? He has enjoyed many a day camp and he has been away from home. It is not homesickness. He is quite a happy person with no problems in school or otherwise. Right now though, he is very angry and resentful, and most of all really disgusted at the idea of going to another YMCA camp I have him signed up for next week.
I think my daughter would be happy just about anywhere surrounded by a couple of girl friends. I think it is a «girl thing». Anyway, evidently it does not work for my son. And actually, after getting over the disappointment (and irritation I have to admit) of him not having had a good time, I can see camp from his perspective.
What is an insurance against liability turns into a prison for him. To have to be escorted by two peers if you have to go to the restroom is a hassle and kind of humiliating to a 12-​year-​old (as it would be to any adult). Then, it seemed, you had to walk between locations in a lined up fashion, not as a group, and certainly not as an independent being. So, that precluded any small talk between people and reinforced the sense of being imprisoned. My son said he felt even more sorry for the teenagers, because they were controlled the same way even though they were older.
My son loves games, and he did mention that a game of «capture the flag» had been a fun thing at camp. He had looked forward to flag football, but did not get to play that. The way it works, as I understood it, is you earn different colored beads for different ‘values’ such as ‘caring’, ‘respect’, ‘honesty’. Then, when you were to pick a «free» activity, groups with more beads got to pick first. So, the ‘flag football’ got filled up. Instead they were to do tie-​dye, but then that was full or something, so he ended up drawing on paper with markers, which was not his idea of fun at the time. Other activities, like the zip line, turned out to be a lot of down time waiting, and you got to do it just once.
I think another thing on my son’s negative list is too much singing around campfires. I can see how prolonged group cheeriness could get on your nerves. I would think this is another gender thing. My daughter came home from girl scout camp and the first thing she did was perform for us a long repertoire of campfire songs in their entirety.
Another liability issue, I guess, was that everybody was kept at a big, and safe, distance from the fire. While, for my son, a fire is a more intimate thing, something that you stick your marshmallows into.
I know ‘safety comes first’ but I think «the liability thing» is killing fun for kids today on many levels and is cramping children’s development.
I guess a YMCA camp is a formula and I guess you think it works for most kids. Anyway I thought it could be of interest to the YMCA and other parents to hear about my kids’ varying experiences, and it would be interesting to me to hear from other parents if anyone cares to comment.
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I got some emails back with stories of boys having similar experiences and doing the «I’m free!» as they left. One mom said her son was threatened with a ‘yellow card’ unless he did the singing, so he eventually just mouthed his way through the campfires
One parent lauded the program talking about the experience of being part of a group, follow team protocol, getting along, learning that the world does not revolve around you, learn to be patient, and that Camp Campbell is more diverse than more ‘upscale’ camps…
My son never did leave for the next camp, and has been scared off similar camps probably for the rest of his life. My daughter went though.
One thing that worried me before I even got the kids back from camp was the photos the camp put on a pic site day by day. A lot of the kids had stunned looks, deer in headlights, it did not look like they were having fun. Mostly it seemed like the counselors were having fun. I guess it’s a case of natural selection, the kids who enjoy the campfire singing & ²⁴⁄₇ group goofy/​corny/​jolly atmosphere eventually become counselors themselves.
My son’s rating would be one, I think I would judge my daughter’s experience a three, thus the two.

This organization is incredibly easy to work with. As a high school counselor/​teacher I want to ensure my students have as many opportunities as possible to do good things for our local community while learning about themselves. This week not only provides our high school students with the community service hours required for them to graduate (we require 140 hours at our school) but several after coming back from Camp Campbell want to explore career fields working with youth (which makes me ecstatic because they are thinking about solid career/​education goals post high school).
The people in charge of the camp are extremely prompt about getting back to you when you call and getting back to students via email etc. about which week they are signed up to go on. Our school does a special program with all of our high school students where they go on a week of learning outside the school. Every year Camp Campbell has been very accommodating and allowed several of our students to go up to their camp as a «field trip» option. If your student is looking for an opportunity to do camp counselor stuff I would look into this organization.

My son ADORES Camp Campbell. This will be his third summer, and he is 10 years old this year. He asked me to sign him up for 2 weeks this year, rather than one week as we have in the past. This beautiful camp is in the redwoods in Boulder Creek with swimming pool, basketball, climbing wall, zip line, and a «mole hole», whatever that is! They do skits, arts & crafts, campfires and singing… all the things you’d expect from a traditional camp. It is very well staffed. We found it to be a very wholesome environment. My son says the food is better than at home! Cost (2009) is $ 549 for a week, which is a great value compared to other camps we’ve looked at. This is sleep-​away camp.