The Compass

We cast a vision for growth at Camptown in 2022. We’re thrilled to share that we’ve nearly doubled our staff size and our budget, which has allowed us to: 

– Serve over 4,000 youth – surpassing our highest mark ever by over 20%

– Spend 25% more time, on average, with each participant

We have been a little busy at Camptown lately, and we’re eager to update you! By May, we had already served over 1000 youth in 2022 including 8 Wilderness Adventure Clubs, 3 backpacking expeditions to Tennessee with over 60 teens, our Youth Leaders program and much...

Stories from Trey Clayton (Program Director) Two teachers and two Camptown staff found themselves oddly alone around the campfire after breakfast during an overnight trip with 6 boys from the Sheridan Youth Assistance Program. All having the same thought at the same...

The National Park Service announced their 2020 park usage numbers in February and reported over 237 million visitors to the National Parks in 2020.  While this number represents a 28% decrease from 2019, they attribute the drop due to temporary park closures and...

One of our staff favorites.  You will find several versions of Goda Goda. It can be made in a pot or skillet, at a front country campsite or even at home. This version is our boil and bag backpacking recipe. A spicy peanut butter sauce makes this a light ramen...

Statistics from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service show that although people of color make up nearly 40 percent of the total U.S. population, they make up less than 30% of the people visiting our national parks and national...

As we began returning to work and running programs in June, like everyone, I had to ask, “What does this look like for Camptown?” Many of our program partners had cancelled their summer plans and others had reduced their numbers...

What a difference a month can make. In early March we were working with our program partners on spring and summer programs. We were also short a staff member and wondering how we were going to get everything done. We knew God would provide us a new staff member and...

In the US, 2019 was a good year economically speaking. The Dow showed a positive return of 22.2% (CNN Money) and unemployment was the lowest since 1969 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). It was also the first year we all filed under the new tax laws signed in 2017....