Tag: summer camps in Maine

Summer in Maine: Best Location for an All Girls Sleepaway Camp

Posted on by Lydia Schuldt
  • The Natural Beauty of Maine: A Stunning Setting for Summer Camps
  • Ideal Environment for Immersive Camp Experiences
  • Outdoor Adventure Opportunities in Maine
  • Maine’s Reputation for Exceptional Summer Camps
  • Outdoor Activities and Personal Growth at Girls’ Camps in Maine

With its magical warm summers and proximity to cities in the Northeast and New England, Maine is an ideal destination for summer camps. The many unique attributes that make Maine so special—its natural beauty, peaceful environment, and outdoor opportunities—make it one of the best locations for an all girls’ sleepaway camp. It’s the perfect atmosphere for girls to focus on learning more about themselves and building connections while embracing the magic of camp in pristine nature. 

The Natural Beauty of Maine: A Stunning Setting for Summer Camps

Pristine Lakes and Clear Waters

Maine is known for its many pristine lakes and ponds. And we’re not talking about small ponds! These “Great Ponds” make up nearly half of Maine’s 6,000 lakes and span over 10 acres each. Maine’s lakes are home to many fish and wildlife and provide a picturesque environment for water-based activities like swimming, canoeing, and kayaking. On the southern shores of Maine’s largest body of water in the famed Belgrade Laked Region is Camp Runoia’s all girls sleepaway summer camp. The clear, calm waters the camp is nestled on offer a safe environment for girls to enjoy outdoor activities like canoeing, windsurfing and waterskiing. 

Lush Forests and Diverse Landscapes

Known as the “Pine Tree State,” Maine is full of lush forests and rich landscapes that are home to over 50,000 species of wildlife and provide an ideal backdrop for hiking, ecology, and wilderness trips. Even within our small camp community, we work with a forester on a tree management plan to take care of all of the beautiful old trees on our property. These natural surroundings help campers connect with nature and experience the outdoors in a way that fosters personal growth and inspiration.

The Maine Summer Climate

Maine’s summer climate is comfortable, with average daily temperatures in the 70s Fahrenheit and cool evenings that are perfect for sitting around the campfire. The warm sunny days and cool nights make Maine one of the best summer camp locations for enjoying outdoor activities all day long and getting a cool, restful sleep in the cabin at night. 

The Ideal Environment for Immersive Camp Experiences

Camp Runoia’s peaceful setting is a place for girls to disconnect and reconnect. Maine’s remote location, away from the distractions of city life, creates the perfect atmosphere for an immersive Maine summer camp experience. The sense of tranquility and focus that campers can enjoy, free from the noise of everyday life and technology, is what makes summer camp in Maine truly magical. This kind of natural isolation fosters stronger connections between campers as they immerse themselves in camp life without distractions. 

The Outdoor Adventure Opportunities in Maine

Exploring the Outdoors: Perfect for Girls at Summer Camp

From stunning coastal beaches to dense pine forests and rugged mountains, Maine is an ideal location for outdoor activities and trips at an all girls’ sleepaway camp. Camp Runoia is known for its 30+ traditional camp activities, which include hiking, nature walks, and waterfront sports. Girls can take full advantage of the local geography and learn new outdoor skills within a safe and supportive environment surrounded by natural beauty.

Adventure Trips at Camp Runoia

Among the many exciting and unique opportunities that Camp Runoia offers, campers can choose to partake in excursions to some of the area’s most stunning locations. Some of Runoia’s trips include hiking Maine’s highest peak, Mount Katahdin and exploring one of the country’s most beautiful national parks, Acadia National Park. Another opportunity is exploring Permaquid Beach for a relaxing day at one of Maine’s picturesque coastal beaches, perfect for swimming, beach games, and seaside exploration. 

Overnight and wilderness trips have long been a cherished tradition at Camp Runoia. Exploring the outdoors in small, guided groups provides campers with opportunities for growth and discovery in a simple yet magical way. Committed to the philosophy of low-impact camping, Camp Runoia encourages campers to develop a deep appreciation for the natural world while fostering a sense of responsibility as stewards of our planet. Trip options vary by age and experience, ranging from one to four nights. Additionally, all campers have the chance to participate in day hikes on local trails and canoeing adventures from our lakefront access to the stunning Great Pond, where 8,000 acres of pristine freshwater await!

adventure trips at camp runoia summer camps in maine

Maine’s Reputation for Exceptional Summer Camps

Why Maine is Known for Top-Rated Camps

Maine’s sleepaway camps have earned quite a reputation for being some of the top sleepaway camps in the Northeast, focusing on quality experiences and excellent programs all across the board. Maine has a long history of traditional summer camps, with many summer camps, such as Camp Runoia, established over a hundred years ago. Values like community, nature appreciation, and personal growth run deep through these camps and are what keep campers and staff from all around the world coming back year after year.

Camp Runoia: One of the Best All-Girls Sleepaway Camps

Established in 1907, Camp Runoia is one of the top rated camps in Maine, particularly all girls’ sleepaway camps. With its welcoming environment rooted in tradition, blended with progressive leadership programs and unique activities, it is clear why campers have spent summers on Runoia’s beautiful campus for over a hundred years. The camp shows true its legacy of providing a transformative Maine summer camp experience for girls from all over the world. 

Outdoor Activities and Personal Growth at Girls Camps in Maine

Here at Camp Runoia, we are firm believers that Maine is one of the best places in New England for an all girls summer camp. Being away from the distractions of daily life and immersed in the beauty of nature during a Maine summer camp experience can transform a girl’s life forever. Maine’s natural environment and camp activities provide the perfect setting for self development and personal growth. Maine’s wide selection of summer camp programs like team challenges, leadership workshops, and outdoor adventures teach campers essential life skills.

This combination of empowering activities in nature and the sense of community in a traditional camp setting, help girls build lasting friendships and foster a sense of self and individuality. Spending a summer in Maine can leave a lasting impact on a girl’s confidence, friendships, and love for nature, setting the stage for continued growth and success beyond the camp experience.

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Maine is one of the best locations for an all-girls sleepaway camp, from its natural beauty and ideal summer climate to its sense of peace and adventure. Young girls from all over the world have been coming to Maine to enjoy a traditional summer camp experience like those at Camp Runoia, one of the longest-standing all girls’ sleepover camps in the Northeast. With its stunning surroundings and focus on empowering young girls, Camp Runoia exemplifies why Maine sleepaway camps are among the best summer camps around!

 

Feeling Ready for Camp

Posted on by Colleen O'Malley

Feeling ‘ready’ for camp is an exciting milestone for kids – sometimes they are able to self-advocate for wanting to attend camp and come readily equipped with the confidence to take on a new experience. My conversations with new and prospective camp families, however, have taught me that most campers don’t fall into this category – it is normal to feel apprehensive and uncertain about camp!

Camp is a powerful builder of confidence and independence – especially for return campers – but it can be a bit of a catch-22: how can you feel ready for such a major confidence-building experience without first feeling confident enough to try it?

Luckily, there are ways we can help our campers and children feel ready – or, at the very least, willing – to try a major new experience like camp.

Start Small: Harmony Land Camp 

Runoia created its Harmony Land Camp program precisely for the purpose of scaffolding our youngest campers toward comfort and a positive first experience with overnight camping. With expert support and individualized care, Harmony Land campers can grow their confidence over a summer or two in this program before taking the leap of attending a longer 3-week session of our typical camp program. HLC is tailored for kids aged 6-8 to form tight-knit friendships, explore new interests, and ease into camp life. Choose from ‘mini’ 9-day sessions OR our standard 12-day HLC sessions.

HLC is such a wildly popular ‘starter camp’ program at Runoia, we added a new session in 2023!

AND – we’ve heard our parents and families saying that even at older ages, our kids aren’t feeling ‘ready’ for the full 3-week sleep-away experience.

SO, we’ve opened up our HLC B session to a new, older age group: rising 5th graders and 10-year-olds are now welcome to enroll in this Harmony Land Camp session! 

Practice

Like anything else, being away from family members and ‘safe space’ people for a few weeks can be daunting.

Think of how you can help your child practice being away from home and family members they see daily, by doing things like attending sleep-overs with friends or spending the night at a grandparent’s or trusted family member’s house.

You can also help your child practice independence with tasks that you typically help them with so they can feel more prepared at camp – things like brushing their own hair, picking out outfits for their activities, or making their bed – but rest assured that they will also have caring counselors to help them.

Make a friend

Runoia aims to support new campers by helping them create connections and form bonds leading up to camp. Runoia buddies up penpals between returning and new campers in the spring to help first-time Runoia campers make connections and have a buddy they’ve spent time talking to on the first day they arrive at camp.

Talk about how to self-advocate with your child

One of the most important life skills that we help our campers build every summer is self advocacy. We encourage our campers to speak up for themselves, let someone know when they need help, and to identify and feel comfortable approaching trusted adults in our community.

It helps to talk with your child about self advocacy and how and who to approach for help at camp. Luckily, camp is well-equipped with caring adults prepared to help your child at any moment. Some of the trusted adults and helpers in our community that your child can ask for help are:

  • Directors and assistant directors
  • Leadership staff – look for someone with a walkie talkie
  • Your child’s Head of Cabin (HOC)
  • Your child’s cabin counselors
  • Program staff during classes
  • CITs

No Surprises – Setting Expectations

Having clear expectations and knowing what to anticipate is important for a child’s first camp experience, especially if they are feeling on the apprehensive side. You can help your child form realistic expectations for camp by:

  • Talking regularly about camp leading up to the summer and listen to how they’re imagining it, what they’re most excited for, etc.
  • Going through our website and using different tools like our media galleries, videos, our virtual tour, etc. to help them form an idea of camp
  • Discussing how you will communicate over the summer – including learning how to write and send letters if necessary – campers should know that phone calls, promises to be picked up, etc. are not realistic expectations for camp
  • Identifying and discussing things that will look and feel different at camp – like meals, showers and self care, alone time, etc.
  • Still have questions? Give us a call!

Prepare Coping Skills

When the inevitable does happen at camp – having a bad moment or day, struggling with a new skill, adjusting to a new social situation – it’s important for kids to know that they can do hard things and have the skills and tools to move through those tough feelings. ‘Coping skills’ may sound like a scary term meant for crisis situations, but really they’re helping tools for us all to use when we’re feeling a bit stressed or overwhelmed. Coping skills can be distraction methods, tools for processing emotions, physical calming strategies, and more.

Look through our suggested guide of camp-specific coping skills at the end of this blog and help your camper make their own, individualized list that they can use at camp.

Jump in Anyway!

At the end of the day, we may never really be fully ‘ready’ for anything we try in life – and we think it’s okay to jump in anyway. At camp, our counselors and campers learn that they are capable of doing hard things. Sometimes we have to do things scared, or we’ll never do them at all. And whatever happens along the way, we can handle it with our community by our side.

 

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The 2022 Name Story

Posted on by Colleen O'Malley

As we close the books on the 2022 season, a few traditions hold fast – including our name story featuring the names of our staff members and full season campers. Written by Alex and best read aloud, we present to you the 2022 name story:

Runoia adventures

Once upon a time at a coed summer camp called Runoia, there was a Zahny group of campers who planned to go off on a grand trip adventure.While they didn’t really know what to expect Allison, Shirley, Martin, Russell , Jacob and Grace were so excited to hop into the White van with the counselors in the Cabrera and Gomez on their way.  They hurried to get packed up and head out. At a Quarez to Tena as the sun Vose over Great Pond and  Raya’s shone in the Skiera and on to the lake they were Dyeing to get started. With the help of Jackson, Murray they planned their lists of what to bring. ‘Oh Budieri we Mahedy need our Hobbs nail boots and can feNagle, Sanchez’s and snacks for the ride’.

They needed plenty of supplies to take with them and wondered Howes it would all fit.  They packed Ekart full of gear then worked on the cooking supplies .”Alvarez you? its time to Rohatyn over to get the canoes from the Marini so that we can load the trailer.

When packing they obviously needed  a Kettell to Cook- Wright , their food included Wieners, delicious  Heuburgers made from Angus beef to get Friedman with crispy corn Cobbs, Boles of spicy Zacapantzi pasta and for extra flavor some Fennelly, Lea and Perrin worcestershire sauce to Dunckel everything in and of course after dinner Mintz. It all looked so Goodman the other campers paid Atienza so they would be  what to bring when it was their turn to go.

There was no need to pack Adams, Clancy Martone pants as they wouldn’t have an opportunity to Dresdow up on their adventure and they would just get Ruized.

As the bell Tinged, they Baydin their camp friends goodbye and they were off out of the Frey. They Lopezed through the Lundgren fields,  Oberdieck instead of through the Colbourn around Paa Kerner and down into the Valle.  When they got to the campsite there was a Hernadez  Welstead for water and they Kavaluskused around at the Botten of the hill picking Blaubergs and deSnydering where to pitch their Bixby Brown tents.

After a delicious dinner and listening to the call of the Bolduc- Jackson had heard on the lake they snuggled up for bed. It was a very Cliette night until a shriek Pearsoned the night and with the Patarini of scurrying feet, the campers Wennered what on earth was going on. In the confusion that ensued, Bradshaw a dark shape in the woods. The emergency Hornbostel rang through the night.   “Oh Santamaria” May cried.  “O’Brien get Hoffman you are being a Dorsch” yelled Jones O’Malley, “grab the Hackett and we will go investigate” It turned out even though it all looked a little Sussman it was just a Schiferstein deer wandering by. Petersen Wilson, was experienced in Morse code so sent a message off to camp to let them know everything was fine and they would see them in the morning.

Camp Magic and the Staff Who Make it So

Posted on by Colleen O'Malley

It’s hard to believe that we’ve rounded the corner into the final week of second session and all of camp 2022! Crazier yet – today marks the final day of the final block of summer. Yet we haven’t called it on the end of summer just yet – the camp magic lives on for another five days.

As I type, there are skiers out on the water pushing for their slalom queen, archers squeezing in one more level, actors singing their way through rehearsals for High School Musical. And while we are sad to hang up our ski lines, put away our bows, and to soon close our scripts – we still have full days ahead that promise memories made of beach trips, swimming to Oak Island, cheering friends at the variety show, laughing until we burst at Miss Tacky, and much more.

And so, while this past Sunday was our yearly #SundayFunday – complete with snow-cones, s’mores, a waterslide, chances to sink counselors in a dunk tank, a slip-n-slide, and fun galore – camp is more of an #EverydayFunday deal here at Runoia.

 

It’s an all-day-every-day affair! Fun is in the wake-up music played in shacks, the uncontrollable giggles at breakfast when an unsuspecting counselor gets plated, the songs and traditions of assembly, the friends made from other shacks in classes, the quiet whispers and games of rest hour, cartwheels on the grass at dinner, the surprise of EP, the sharing of funny moments at circle time.

But since a giant waterslide isn’t a permanent fixture of the apple tree field, the daily fun of camp can truly be traced back to our wonderful staff. Not only are they experts of their activity areas, they are masters of silly costumes, makers of magic, causers of belly-laughs, singers of songs, servers of meals, wipers of tears, solvers of problems, inspirers of smiles! How lucky we are at Runoia for its camp magic and for those who make it so.