Overnight Youth Camp traveling from Lake Sammamish to the Yakima River to Mt Rainier Alpine Lakes to Salish Sea Piers to Pacific Coast Beaches for ages 10-16 with prerequisite
The GeoTrip caps off the end of every summer at Wolf Camp. It’s an exciting travel adventure camp exploring the geology of the volcanic North Cascades with its salmon-filled rivers and lakes, culminating on the shores of the Salish Sea and Pacific Ocean. During the odd years, we focus on aquatic field science and fishing when the pink salmon fill our rivers. During the even years, we swap that out with fly fishing as well as gathering valuable plants and minerals such as salt and even flakes of gold.
Join us during the most exciting week of the year for fishermen and fisherwomen: crabs are still legal to catch and are growing in size, piers are hot with bottomfish and other exciting creatures caught day and night, and the alpine trout are itching to spawn before the ice returns. The reason we focus on fish during the odd years is that salmon season really revs up in the rivers with the return of the pinks, aka humpies. However, we also catch coho and king salmon in the Puyallulp River during the even years. Overall, our targets will include salmon, trout including steelhead, bass, surf perch, flounder, sole, dogfish shark, and crab.
Learn the basics of rod/reel on Lake Sammamish with our seasoned instructors and then try your luck at various sites in the mountains, along the rivers, and on seaside beaches. Along the way, you’ll discover how the geology of our region creates the perfect habitat for our aquatic species. You’ll learn what it means to be an honorable harvester, learning to avoid polluting the waters, reducing pain on fish, utilizing everything we can legally catch, and then cleaning and cooking your fish with Master Fisherman, Lead Instructor & International Culinary Chef Charlie Borrowman to enjoy eating the fruits of your labor.
Camp Goals & Skills Covered:
The goal of this camp session is to help you become a proficient fisher and to introduce you to some traditional fishing techniques. Skills include:
- Become adept at rod and reel fishing (casting, tackle/set up, troubleshooting, hooking/landing fish, bait/lures);
- Fish with traditional technologies as well as modern methods including fly fishing;
- Learn how to efficiently find and fish the best locations including from river banks, lake shores, and ocean piers;
- Use of fishing knives, training in skills and safety for everyone.
- Understand the ethics of harvesting animals;
- Cooking fish over a campfire as well as using cast iron pans on propane stoves;
- Learning geology of the volcanic North Cascades and dynamic Pacific plate tectonics;
- Navigating with maps from Lake Sammamish, to Snoqualmie Pass, through the Yakima Canyon, up Mount Rainier (Tahoma), down the Puyallup River to the Salish Sea, and out to the Pacific Ocean;
- Primitive camping and swimming;
Camp Ages & Prerequisite:
This camp is designed for ages 10-17 who have attended at least one of our overnight camps.
Pick-Up & Drop-Off Times, Camp Schedule & Directions
Drop-off Sunday between 4:30-5:00 pm at Lake Sammamish Hans Jensen Group Camp, 4460 East Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE, Issaquah WA 98029.
Pick-up Friday between 4:30-5:00 pm at the Wolf Camp home office Blue Skye Farm, 1026 14th St SW, Puyallup WA 98371.
Monday Schedule: 8:30 Arrival; 9:00 Camp Circle; 9:30 Lake Sammamish Beach Fishing Primer; 11:00 Geology & Gold Panning Primer; 12:00 Lunchtime & Van Packing; 1:00 Drive to Yakima Canyon; Fly Fishing Primer; 5:00 Dinner & Campground Setup; 7:00 Yakima River Fishing; 8:30 Great Floods Volcanic Canyonlands True Campfire Story;
Tuesday Schedule: 7:00 Yakima River Fishing; 8:30 Breakfast; 9:00 Umtanum Canyon Hike; 11:00 Yakima River Fishing; 12:30 Lunch; 1:00 Drive to Chinook Pass; Mountain Lake Fly Fishing; 6:00 Dinner; 7:00 Drive to Blue Skye Farm; 8:30 Campfire Smoking Fish;
Wednesday Schedule: 8:00 Breakfast; 9:00 Salmon Fishing Primer; 10:00 Puyallup River Salmon Fishing Expedition; 1:00 Lunch & Drive; 2:00 Point Defiance Pier Fishing Primer; 5:00 Onsite Dinner; 6:00 Point Defiance Pier & Boat Fishing Turns; 9:00 Night Fishing Expedition;
Thursday Schedule: 8:00 Fish Processing & Trip Packing; 9:00 Breakfast; 10:00 Puyallup River Salmon Fishing; 12:00 Lunch & Fish Processing; 2:00 Drive to Coast; 4:00 Westport Pier Fishing; 8:00 Fish Processing & Coastal Geology Primer;
Friday Schedule: 7:00 Breakfast; 8:00 Westport Pier Fishing; 12:00 Lunch & Drive Back; 2:00 Blue Skye Farm Fish Campfire Cooking Extravaganza; 4:00 Dinner; 5:00 Departure;
Camp Leaders
Kim or Chris Chisholm will be on site all week directing staff instructors at our hallmark 6-1 average student-teacher ratio that’s so critical for safe and profound outdoor experiences. Read our FAQ’s for more details and check out camp testimonials dating all the way back to 1997.
Tuition
Cost for the Epic Subsistence Fishing Camp is $1,975 if this is your second-ever overnight camp with us, or $1,875 if it’s your third, $1,775 if it’s your fourth, or $1,675 if it’s your fifth or more, including all taxes, gear and food, although participants will need to get a fishing license in advance (free under 15 years old) and can bring their own fishing pole and tackle, pillow and sleeping bag, pads and a tent if they have them already, but again, we have everything needed. We accommodate almost all food restrictions (our staff has many) but you may want to send along food for campers who are picky. Click here to apply for financial aid from the Max Davis Scholarships Fund.
Registration Process
STEP 1 – Reserve your spots in camp by $200 deposits per overnight camp week via one of the following methods:
• Zelle using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us, or follow up right away with an email;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up via email;
• Or use Credit Card or Apple Pay by clicking here and follow up with an email;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone;
• Or use PayPal system appearing below….
STEP 2 – If this is your camper’s first year with us, complete our once-in-a-lifetime Registration Form within one week of making your deposit. In case you’re having trouble downloading or making a copy of our Google Doc , please email us for a Word or PDF version of the registration form, and again, complete within one week to maintain your reservation. If your camper has attended Wolf Camp in the past, a new registration form is not needed.
STEP 3 – Pay balance during your summer camp weeks. We’ll email you an invoice this spring with camp prep info and balance payment options. All payments are non-refundable unless we refuse your registration. However, if you cancel (at any time for any reason is fine) we will save your payments as credit for you to use in future years, or you can choose to have us move the funds into our scholarship account if you prefer. The best practice is to make the minimum deposits to register, and then wait to pay the remaining balances during summer, but you are also welcome to pay your balance in advance if you prefer.
Refund Policy: Payments are not refundable unless we don’t accept your application. If you cancel for any reason, you may receive a full credit good through the following calendar year on appropriate and available programs listed on our schedule, although an additional deposit may be needed to secure your spot in the future program. If a program you sign up for is canceled and not rescheduled at a time you can attend, you may receive a full refund except in cases of natural (weather, geologic, wildfire, etc) disasters, grid failures, epidemics, government shutdowns, conflicts or curfews, or other unforeseen emergencies making it unsafe for staff and/or attendees to reach or use program locations, in which case all payments made will be held by us without expiration date for your future use in appropriate/available programs of your choice. Reasons include the expenditure of funds (property rentals, advertising, materials, admin staff time, etc.) long before programs take place, i.e. deposits make it feasible for Wolf Camp to schedule programs in the first place, but our mutually understood agreement is that Wolf Camp will run the program at the safest available time in the future. Finally, no refund, nor credit, is given if a participant is a no-show without prior notice, or asked to leave a program for inappropriateness as determined by our kids, youth and adult agreements for participation.
Camp Preparation: Agreements, Packing List, Health Protocols and FAQ’s
Recommended Packing List for Overnight Camps at Lake Sammamish (or click on your camp week for specialized packing lists when taking place at or traveling to other locations)
Agreements for Participation in Overnight Camps
Homesickness Protocol & Prevention
Other FAQ’s – Frequently Asked Questions (Most Asked Question: What are bathroom and sleeping arrangements like? Bathrooms are primitive, and we train campers in wilderness hygiene and private outdoor bathing methods as part of their learning experience. We provide camping tents, and campers may have (or bring) their own, or share one with others, depending on pandemic protocols. We recommend you bring your own pillow, sleeping bag and foam pad, although we have extras if needed. Click on packing list above for more details.)
Hygiene protocols will remain the same as last year as long as there’s still little evidence of Covid/Cold/Flu transmission in the outdoors with room to spread out. To start each day, campers must pass our health screening. If there are reports of group participants who came in contact with an infection, we may provide n95 masks to wear when less than 3-6 feet from others. As before the pandemic, we require hand sanitizing when sharing tools and materials, before entering toilets, and we train campers with proper hand washing after campers exit toilet facilities with doors left open between uses to ensure ventilation.
Full vaccinations are strongly encouraged – we follow the scientific consensus – with tetanus shot (usually given as part of the normal Tdap vaccine series) considered the most important in the field of outdoor education. Otherwise, we know that due to our 100% outdoor setting, combined with health screenings, contact tracing, supervised hand washing, bathroom ventilation, mask use when exposure has been reported in a group, and individual/family style tenting at overnight camps, the risk of disease transmission has been negligible at Wolf Camp, so other vaccination records are not required.
Read our FAQ’s for more details and register asap to give yourself or a loved one the gift of camp! Or email us to be put on our our list for this program in the future. We always keep your information absolutely private, and will never share it.