Overnight camps
offer young people
real adventure
and a sense of
independence
by Diana Simeon
CONECTING
with Nature
For adolescents and teenagers ready for more adventure, parents may want to consider an overnight
camp. Like day camps, overnight camps come in all shapes and sizes. Traditional overnight camps
offer days packed with activities like archery, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, and nights
singing ‘round the campfire. Specialty overnight camps allow campers to hone a talent or immerse
themselves in a foreign language or play sports or travel or hike or, well, if you can name it, it’s out
there. Shaker Life asked Rana Bottino, who coordinates the camps at the Nature Center at Shaker
Lakes – including three, one week-long camps with overnight trips – for her advice.
Let’s start with Nature Center. You offer some wonderful overnight camps.
Yes, we have three, one-week long camps available for campers age 11 to 15, where
the beginning part of the week is spent around the Nature Center getting
ready for our off-site, overnight camping trips at the end of the week.
Our first overnight camp is “Mohican Adventures,” which includes
two days and one night down at Mohican State Park. On the two-day
adventure, campers will get to experience recreational tree climbing and
kayaking along the Mohican River.
For the second overnight camp we will “Go With the Flow” and head
to Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania for three days and two nights of
rafting the Youghiogheny River, exploring amazing waterfalls, and gliding
along natural waterslides within the park.
On our third overnight camp, we will be “Island Explorers” for three
days and two nights on South Bass Island and Gibraltar Island. We will
camp out at South Bass Island State Park and explore Crystal Cave and the
Aquatic Education Center while on the island. Then, on Gibraltar Island we will
visit Ohio State University’s Stone Lab, where campers will board
a research boat and conduct hands-on scientific work, collecting
environmental and biological data from Lake Erie.
Continued on page 50
SHAKER LIFE | WINTER 2014 49
South Bass
Island
Shaker Hts.
Mohican
State
Park
Ohiopyle
State
Park