Camp Marston-Raintree YMCA

Ok, so first off I want to say that I am not one of those parents who come to thier kids defense as soon as something goes wrong… but in this particular instance I have to say something about my son’s recent trip to Camp Marston. My son unfortunately suffers from headaches due to changes in the weather from hot to cold. On Monday when they arrived my son got one of his headaches and told one of the camp counselors who went by the name «Wildcat» that he wasn’t feeling good. (yes of course I know plenty of kids fake it so they can go to the health office… but this isn’t that scenario). While they where all doing some skit show my son sat outside he said really cold for maybe 20 minutes to a half hour while the other kids where doing the activity inside.(He said Wildcat was on his smartphone that whole time as well) My son said he had his hands over his ears and his head over a trash can cause his head was hurting so bad. When Wildcat asked him if he felt better my son still said no. He asked my son «does this run in your family?» My son told him that it does. «Yes my dad gets a bad headache like this when it gets cold out»…he asked if he could call home and Wildcat called him a liar and said «do you know how many kids try to tell us they are sick»…my son told me «Daddy my head was pounding and I was freezing sitting out there by myself». This isn’t much of a review other than a story that brings back old memories, back in 1979 I went to 6^th grade camp up in Palomar, I was in the nurses office the entire 1^st day with a bad migraine… my mom almost had to come get me. True story. I feel for my son… and I’m glad I never met Wildcat in person… as a dad… I’d really love to go make Wildcat a very tame kitty.

My 3 girls have gone here every summer for the last 15 years and all 3 have been Campers LITs, CAs, and counselors. They have many friends that have also grown up going to Camp Marston and have also become counselors for summer camp, and they always say BEST SUMMER ever.
We have loved Camp Marston from the start and they have only improved with time.
We are all counting the Days till my Grand Daughter, Lily, will go to Summer camp here .
I highly recommend this camp but don’t go for a week go longer to become a real camper.

I was looking forward for a good summer camp experience in Camp Marston, not like the kind you see in movies, but the one where you can make memories with your friends. We definitely made memories, but not any good ones. When me and my friends had first arrived, we were informed that we got to choose five activities from their list of many, and they would put us in the top one available that we could choose. One I had not chosen was Bebe guns, but unfortunately me and my friends were split up and I got Bebe guns, when clearly the other activities I chose could have accepted more people. I was bored the entire time. One counselor, named Cassie I believe had told me that I was not allowed to switch even if I had not chosen Bebe guns. On the other hand, the food was completely disgusting and when I asked my counselors what our food was (I couldn’t even tell) they told me they didn’t know, also, my friend’s sister who had gone to camp Marston the previous week had told us she overheard one camp counselor say that she hated children and only came for the money. Even though the camp was less expensive, I recommend parents to not waste their money and spend it on a camp with more value. Overall I was completely disappointed with the camp, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

So the 5 stars are primarily based on the fact that after my kids came back from 6^th grade camp in November they had nothing but glowing remarks about their experience there. However this weekend was also open house by the YMCA to promote their summer camps. So hey why not let the kids relive camp for a day and we get to join the ride? Well, I got to say the place was everything they reported it to be. Rock climbing. Soccer. Basketball. Candle making. SMORES! Archery. They even shot BB guns. Thanks YMCA guess what the kids want for Christmas. We did tour the facilities. The camp rooms look comfy. The cafeteria program was set up with yummy but nutritious options. They do meet allergy needs. They did serve brownies for snacks and well, I snuck thirds.

Best residential camp ever! The facilities are great, the people are fun and make you feel welcome. The food is much better than you imagine camp food
To be. The same ymca values are present throughout the camp and the activities. Everyone has experience and knows what they are doing. Great for summer camp as well as family camps.

The staff at Camp Marston went above and beyond to give our sixth graders the best camp experience possible. From team building exercises to science lessons, our students learned valuable skills that will enable them to further their education. I am sure that they will take the memories, chants, and friendships back to school with them.

This camp really dropped the ball on my son’s experience. I called the Monday at the beginning of their 6^th grade camp, to transfer money, so he could buy a camera to take pictures and warm clothing if needed. He never received the money, even though it had been deducted from my account. His group was also left unattended for 15 minutes during the night camping trip, and only happen to run into another group. This is extremely negligent and completely unacceptable.

The meal times are ridiculous. We had to separate the compost and garbage off our plate. The meals take forever and it is SUPER LOUD, the counselors are not helpful in trying to calm people down. They take us on unsafe hikes. They are super steep and the counselors walk way too fast. My survival skills teacher actually lost the class on a hiking trail! NOT SAFE! They won’t take you too the bathroom when you ask. A counselor named Kori took us off trail and we had to crawl under a tree, walk THROUGH bushes and, crawl over a wood stack with barbed wire in it. I had a counselor named Snickers and she was too concerned with getting people to like her. She doesn’t bother waking everyone up in the morning, just walks by the room playing obnoxious music. I had to wake up the other girl in my cabin because Snickers was doing her makeup. When we were being put into our cars to go back to school, a counselor named Kicky was jumping from table top to table top. That is totally safe. The counselors are too childish to be taking care of living beings.