Walden offers 50-plus activities, and our A Day/B Day Program allows campers to craft schedules that are uniquely theirs. An hour-long Twilight each night offers even more free choice. Two days a week we break from the A-B for large group or all-camp activities, such as Capture the Camp and the day trip to Mackinac Island.
a typical day
When we say the Arts & Crafts building vibrates with creativity, we mean it literally vibrates. Clay wheels spin, lapidary machines grind and jewelry hammers clank. We LOVE art!
Classes include: Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, Nature Art, Sculpture, Jewelry, Weaving, Tie Dye and Batik, Lapidary, Model Making, Print Making and more…
Land sports at Walden includes individual and team athletics that range in scope from simple skill-building to competitive/league play (in basketball, soccer, tennis, and volleyball). We offer archery, baseball, basketball, fencing (foil), flag football, gymnastics, lacrosse, pickleball, soccer, softball, tennis, ultimate Frisbee and volleyball. Fitness activities include yoga, fit walk, and running.
Sign up for riding and you’ll become part of a special family-within-a-family at Walden. Karen and her riding staff cater to beginning and intermediate riders, teaching English-saddle riding, leading trail rides and offering an Adopt-a-Horse program, where riders learn to care for a horse. Each session ends with special barn celebrations and a Pasture Party cookout.
Media covers Radio, Video, Photography and Newspaper (we even throw Rocketry in this category). Within this one category you can: 1. Host a radio show on WLDN 90.9 FM 2. Make a documentary about The Bell 3. Shoot artsy black-and-white pictures develop them in our darkroom and 4. Write an article about Birthday Bingo for the daily Walden Pond newspaper!
Do you love exploring the woods? The smell of campfires? Walden’s Outdoor Life program offers that and more: Animal Care, Farm, Gardening, Wilderness Skills, etc. Overnight trips go to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Picture Rocks National Lakeshore, Tahquamenon Falls and other Northern Michigan sites.
Sing, dance, play an instrument or play a role–there’s no end to the opportunities to perform at camp. First Session campers produce a full-length musical; Second Session thespians perform in our all-camp talent show, Walden Under the Stars. Learn the guitar or ukelele–or join the camp band.
Jack Sparrow has the Caribbean. Sponge Bob has Bikini Bottom. Walden has…Long Lake! Our own watery paradise is at the center of so many things we do—from water carnivals to the Mackinac Swim challenge. Activities include: Canoeing, Kayaking, Fishing, Waterskiing, Tubing, Wakeboarding, Stand-Up Paddle Boarding, Sailing and Swim Instruction.
In the evenings, cabin groups partake in programs that range from athletic to artsy: Insanity Night, a digital photo scavenger hunt, dodge ball, GaGaGa, “Brainstorm Bonanza,” cake decorating or team-building games. Tuesdays and Saturdays are Special Days, reserved for our biggest and most popular programs, like Color Clash, Capture the Camp, Soap Box Derby, the trip to Mackinac Island… and more.