For Parents
Family Camp is BACK
July & August Family Camp Sessions are on for 2023.
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Family campers, new and veteran, are heading back to Pathfinder Island for all-family fun. Join camp action, let the kids run with campers, get away for some parents' options too.
4 Days, 3 Nights
July 7-10 & August 3-6
• Spots are open for new & returning families
• Enjoy camp lifestyle, activities, food & accommodations
• Pathfinder's health plan is great. The border's a breeze
• Perfect intro to Camp for a future Pathfinder camper
A BOY'S SUMMER LIFE
What is it like to be a Pathfinder camper?...
It's a boy's ideal summer adventure - A Pathfinder summer of enjoyable, exciting outdoor sports and canoe trips - A Pathfinder summer also means growing independence, character, values, abilities, and friendships for life.
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Boys attend Pathfinder from the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America. Our campers hail from 14 U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces, and 6 overseas countries.
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Since 1914, Pathfinder has hosted a renowned canoe tripping program, with a rich in-camp program of paddling, nature lore / ecology, swimming, athletics, arts, and ropes-challenge. Traditions are many at Pathfinder, including everything from games to awards, and to daily events celebrating our long history of fellowship.
Pathfinder puts the emphasis on friendships and community, on simple-living in a low-technology setting and on a boy's personal connection to the natural world.
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Great food, great friends, great memories - the summer experiences of a Pathfinder camper are one of a kind.
OUR TRADITIONS
"I miss a loon's call at dusk, the sputtering light of a Coleman, bug juice, Treasure Hunts, rinsing off soap in a frigid plunge in Source Lake. I miss scrubbing a wrinkled aluminum pot spotless, splitting cedar, starting a fire with one match in the rain, running a long portage and dipping a tin cup in cool water. I miss watching three brilliant red canoes approach from the horizon, nine paddles lifting in silent rhythm, flashing in the sun."
-Dr. John Herman, Alumnus & Parent
Pathfinder meets its mission to campers and staff in the camp’s outreach to indigenous peoples of the canoe country Pathfinder people have revered since our inception in 1914.
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Pathfinder expeditionary trips paddle to the remote bay communities where our family partners welcome them, sharing traditional knowledge, activities and meals. Closer to home, the Camp welcomes Algonquin and Cree boys and girls through scholarship and a tripping collaborative.
In-Camp Program
Summer days in camp are filled with laughter, fun, tradition and learning.
Summer at Pathfinder is for enjoying the activities and rhythms of north woods camp life. Morning activity periods are for instruction in core or 'Pillar' activities like swimming, paddling, ropes and camping skills. At afternoon "Optionals" campers choose their favorite activities to attend from the Pathfinder repertoire. How about diving, archery, kayaking, art, biking, fishing, climbing and athletics?
Click on an activity below to learn more!
FRONT-COUNTRY ADVENTURES
Even short trips take Pathfinder Island boys right into the renowned interior of Algonquin.
How about these camper adventures in what is our ‘Front Country’?
A Spirit World Revealed in Red Ochre
Whether you bike or paddle to reach Rock Lake, downstream on the Madawaska from Source headwaters, you’ll find massive sheer rock walls diving into deep Algonquin waters, a placid beach shoreline tucked in at the outlet of the river, and a cliff with a water entrance...