Important Dates

Camp Walden is ideally located on 100+ beautiful acres in the heart of the Southern Adirondack Mountains, just 5 miles from Lake George, NY. Our natural wooded setting, outstanding facilities, and breathtaking waterfront provide campers endless opportunities for outdoor fun. Walden is approximately 3 ½ hours from New York City and Boston, 2 ½ hours from Montreal, Canada, and one hour from Albany, New York and The Albany International Airport.

At Walden we ensure that each cabin includes a diverse geographical mix of campers so every child has the chance to broaden horizons and develop new friendships. Each year, campers come to Camp Walden from all over the United States, Canada, and the world. Our largest concentration of campers is from the New York City metropolitan area, and we also attract a fairly large number of campers from Montreal, Florida, and Maryland.

Camp Walden offers a variety of sessions to accommodate growing campers and differing family schedules. Walden has both full session and half session options. We also offer a two-week program for campers who have completed third grade and under, and who are attending for their first summer. A little over 60% of our campers attend Walden for the full summer session.

The Walden Teen Program offers greater freedom, more choices, and even bigger adventures for Walden campers who have completed 9th grade. Our Teen Program combines the best of “camper life” by pairing exciting in-camp activity options with fabulous multi-day trips to locations such as Niagara Falls, Burlington, VT, Newport, RI, Boston, MA, and Montreal, Canada. Walden’s Counselor-in-Training (CIT) Program is an extremely popular full-summer-only program that provides hands-on leadership training and leadership opportunities to campers who have completed 10th grade. At Walden we work closely with our CITs each day, teaching them how to be effective leaders and giving them the chance to lead many camp activities. Through our CIT program, our oldest campers have the opportunity to demonstrate whether they have what it takes to become a future Walden staff member. Through participating in leadership development workshops, planning and running Special Events, Color Wars, Tribals, and Evening Programs, and in assisting throughout camp, CITs get the chance to step up to the plate and really shine! Our CITs also love spending one day per week off grounds enjoying fun out-of-camp activities. They also experience an awesome multi-day excursion to Boston. Walden CITs experience tremendous growth and big fun as they live and learn together.

Camp Walden is a co-ed camp that combines the best benefits of single sex and co-ed camping through our innovative programs and scheduling. During the day, boys and girls engage in separate activities. Walden places a strong emphasis on instruction and participation while providing opportunities for healthy competition. Separate programs ensure that pressure is eliminated and that instruction and play are always developmentally appropriate. Campers then gain the real world social benefits of a co-ed experience during mealtimes and during many of Walden’s evening activities and Special Events. This blend of experiences creates a secure, appropriate setting with maximum opportunities for socialization and fun!

Campers live with their counselors and bunkmates in our cheerful, newly renovated cabins. All cabins feature new wooden beds and comfortable, new mattresses. They also are well equipped with ceiling fans, large windows, separate cubby rooms, and spacious porches. All our cabins have new, well-maintained bathroom facilities.

Walden’s first staffing priority is to hire staff members who possess the ability to take great care of children and be outstanding role models. Secondly, we focus on a staff member’s specific activity and coaching skills. Camp Walden makes sure that appropriate reference and background checks are completed on all staff. With an extremely low camper to staff ratio, we ensure that each camper receives the individualized attention that they deserve. Camp Walden maintains a high staff return rate so we are able to provide strong continuity. Our staff members work diligently to ensure that every camper is encouraged to experience new activities, express themselves creatively, improve existing skills, and enjoy and cultivate friendships.

Walden provides an extensive amount of training during our intensive pre-camp orientation. We also provide constant support, supervision, and additional training throughout the summer. During orientation, we spend a tremendous amount of time teaching our staff the “Walden Way” of caring for our campers. We even bring in outside experts to conduct certain training sessions. Walden has also worked with outside consultants to develop our own best practices.

We encourage you to call or email camp ANYTIME during the summer! Do not hesitate to contact us to ask questions, check on your camper, or discuss your camper’s experience. We want you to feel as comfortable with Walden as your child does. You can also send letters and emails to communicate with your camper during the summer. We will print out all emails and deliver them to your child along with daily mail. Campers love to hear from you, so keep those letters and emails coming! Walden schedules two camper phone calls home per half session. Full session campers make four phone calls home per summer.

You can always call or email us to check-in, and we also offer two awesome forms of online communication to help keep you informed. Each morning we send out a daily email update letting parents know about our daily events, special activities, and Evening Programs for the day. Each evening we post hundreds of photos of campers in action during that day’s exciting activities so you can see all the fun your camper is having!

We wake up before eight and the fun begins!!! Up and dressed we start our day with a delicious breakfast. After breakfast, campers then return to their bunks for a short clean up period, and then head to line-up where we have morning announcements and raise the flag. Then the activities begin! We run 7 activity periods during the day – 3 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Our activity periods provide a perfect blend of group activities and choice based options such as electives and club choice. Our campers have additional choice periods in their schedule as they get older. It is a full day of friendship and excitement for all of our campers. After lunch, between our morning and afternoon activities, we also have a rest time when campers relax in their bunks, read, write letters, and play games. Campers have the opportunity to be at the waterfront at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. During General Swim, campers can participate in boating, swimming, waterskiing, beach volleyball or tetherball, or take a dip in the heated pool. Campers in grades 2-6 receive swim instruction 3 times per week. Evening Program begins at 7:45 p.m. The Evening Program is either a special program for each individual age group, or sometimes an exciting activity for the entire camp.  When Evening Program is done, younger campers return to their bunks, while older campers enjoy the privilege of staying up a little while longer.  Those campers are either involved in sports under the lights or they can socialize in our camper lounge where they can listen to music, play ping pong, and foosball, and grab a snack.

Walden has many exciting “special days” that differ from our “regular” schedule!  Our campers enjoy awesome trip days to places such as water parks and Six Flags amusement park. We also have many “Special Events Days” including Survivor Day, Carnival, Sports Days, and Adventure Days among others. Walden campers additionally enjoy camp traditions such as Tribals in the first session and Color War during the second session. They are three/four-day events with exciting activities to promote athletics, teambuilding, and camp spirit. Walden also offers optional mountain biking and guided hikes. Campers may also elect to participate in any number of tournament teams in which they compete against neighboring camps.

Camp Walden places its emphasis on participation and instruction while providing ample opportunities for campers to compete within camp and with other camps during inter-camp tournaments. Campers who choose can join in exciting one-day tournaments involving several area camps. At Walden, we love to compete and we play to win, but most importantly we enjoy the team spirit and experience of participating, playing together, and doing our best.

Our food truly is awesome! At Walden, we provide campers a dining experience that is all about quality, options, and choice. All meals are served buffet style and offer a tremendous variety of delicious, nutritious, and kid-friendly menu items from which campers can choose. We also have a wide range of beverages including natural juices and a variety of types of milk. Our counselors are trained to make sure that all campers are eating enough and are eating healthy balanced meals. The day begins with a scrumptious hot breakfast buffet consisting of a rotation of pancakes, waffles, French toast, scrambled eggs, etc. We also serve cold and hot cereals, a fruit bar, and yogurt daily. At lunch and dinner we fuel up with healthy foods that kids love! Walden serves delicious entrées such as pizza, tacos, fajitas, grilled cheese, and so much more. Choices abound every day as in addition to our entrees we always offer our daily pasta bar and an enormous daily sandwich and salad bar. Vegetarian options and fresh fruit are always available as well. Camp Walden is a peanut and tree nut free camp and can accommodate campers with various dietary needs. At Walden we have great food and many choices to keep every camper healthy, happy, and well-fed!

Walden’s air-conditioned health center is staffed by our experienced camp doctor and our amazing registered nurses. These medical personnel are available to dispense medicine and care for any camper’s needs. Campers staying in the infirmary enjoy the comforts of home such as air-conditioning, books, games, and movies. If a child requires an overnight stay in the infirmary, we always call the camper’s family to let them know. Camp Walden is conveniently located just ten minutes from the Warrensburg Urgent Care facility and twenty minutes from Glens Falls Hospital.