Mission / General Info
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A complete Parent Guide is emailed to each registered camper's home in early spring. Please call us if you would like a mailed copy. The packing list and forms are available on-line. All Menogyn campers are asked to return the following forms to the Menogyn office: Health History filled out by parent/guardian and the Health Exam filled out by your camper's doctor.
Glad you found us. If wilderness can be contained in box, we’ll do it here. Menogyn, translated loosely from the Ojibway, means “To grow fully.” and that is what we want to have happen for our campers, staff, parents and the entire community. We are a place that encourages, promotes and demonstrates responsibility, caring, honesty, and respect -- for others, yourself, and for the natural world. No roads lead to Menogyn. You have to boat across Bearskin Lake to get to our front door. Our environment is the woods, waters and wildlife that make up the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Even though there are no roads, we offer a roadmap for young people to challenge themselves, learn about the way a group works and have a rowdy good time in a beautiful wilderness!
Menogyn is a community of committed people who love both the wilderness and the joy of sharing it with others. Our trail staff are college-aged men and women with teaching, environmental studies, philosophy and many other interests. Many are older and many have been Menogyn campers. Most of our staff returns for multiple years of service with Menogyn. This creates a culture based on competent wilderness skills, love for and appreciation of young people, the wilderness areas we travel though and the joy of sharing this all with a diverse group of people.
If you get a ride to camp, we will meet you at the landing and have you join a group going across the lake in Le Petit, our 34-foot voyager canoe. You will then meet the others in your trail group and get settled into your cabin.
If you ride up on the bus or in vans, you may meet most of your group members at the bus stop. It is a 5-1/2 hour ride from Minneapolis, so you can relax and listen to music or talk with others going on a Monogyn adventure as well. Many of your trail mates will be there too as about sixty percent of our campers take the Menogyn bus. If you bring an iPod, be prepared to give it to your counselor when you get to camp. He or she will put it in the camp safe for the duration of your stay at camp and on the trail. You’ll stop at Tettagouche State Park for a quick lunch and then, before you know it, you’ll be throwing your bag on a boat and heading across the lake to Menogyn!
Once across the lake, your group gets to know each other; we gather at the point for an orientation to Menogyn and you are ready to start planning your wilderness adventure. Backpackers learn about their packs and check their boots and gear. Canoers learn the parts of a canoe and proper paddling strokes. Climbers learn about their safety gear and how to use their body strength to its fullest potential on a climb.
We’ll have a hearty meal, a few rousing songs and a campfire after dinner to get you ready for trail and to have a little fun.
The first two nights are spent in cabins at our base camp. You’ll have famously excellent home made meals with your trail group, in our dining hall with the other groups who came up the same day. You’ll go “on trail” the morning of the third day and then you will sleep with your trail group in our four- or six-person Eureka Timberline screened tents. Backpackers and some canoers may go on trail the second day. Backpackers have smaller, lighter-weight tents.
You will take many of the same foods you eat normally and some new ones. Our trail meals usually have rice, pasta, peanut butter, chocolate, oats and fresh foods like potatoes, cheese, carrots, tortillas, and honey. We also pack dried foods like dried vegetables, fruits, powdered cake and pudding mixes, tomato soup base and others. Our famous (or notorious depending on whether you like them or not) standards for lunch are Matt Food and Pemmican, which are homemade mixes of peanut butter, oats and honey and soynuts, raisins, dried milk and sunflower seeds. It's like a home-made power bar. We don’t even want to get into TVP which adds nutrients to dishes of many meals on longer trips. You just have to eat to believe! Overall, you will eat well and healthfully. You will find that Menogyn staff like to include some treats on trail too. If you have any dietary needs we most likely can handle them just fine as long as they are on the health form so we know about them in time.
Many other teenagers just like you come to Menogyn. About half of our campers come up to camp with a friend, and half come alone. They come mostly from the Twin Cities area, but also from other states and a few even from overseas. We try to make groups by age, like 13- and 14- year-olds in one group and 15- and 16-year-olds in the another.Do I have to carry a canoe?
Not necessarily but we would love for you to try if you can. If the canoe is just too heavy, others may take it or you can work together with one or two others to get it to the next lake. That is what a Menogyn trip is all about - working together. Many times the counselors simply carry it, and many times a camper will be able to carry a canoe by the end of the trip, if he/she keeps trying. If you can’t, no one really cares as long as you give it your best.
YES! We care about your safety -- it's our TOP priority.
Animals are part of the wilderness and in the Boundary Waters we are graced with some of the coolest and most magnificent ones. Moose are an awesome sight when you are paddling past them. They generally move away from us silly humans and don’t like our noise, but you might see one. Look for them in marshy areas and along the shores of lakes. Deer are sometimes seen at dusk or dawn and come down to the lakes to drink with their fawns. Black bears are rarely seen on our trips as they generally shy away from us. If they do show up at a campsite it is only because they are curious about your trail food. Your counselor will show you how to keep a clean camp and deal with food packs effectively so they don’t come ‘round.
Other common fellow living things you are more likely to see include our state bird, the loon, bald eagles, playful otters, hard-working beavers and graceful blue herons. Canadian Lynx are now moving into our area. It is a real treat to visit their neighborhood and see them in the wild instead of a zoo!
We can't wait to see you at camp!
--Menogyn Staff
Why should I send my child to camp?
Because Menogyn can bring out the best in your child! It is a challenge, no doubt. Your son or daughter may wish they were back at home on a soft bed in front of a TV. But Menogyn gives kids the ability to learn just how strong they really are, and not just physically.
One girl came home from a Rock Climbing trip and realized she had real goals in her life and that she could achieve them without making unhealthy choices. Another boy came home and learned how to plan ahead to save money for a future trip. Comments like these we hear each year.
Your son or daughter will be traveling in a small group through the wilderness with a guide selected for his or her judgement, compassion, respect and responsibility. Because this is the nature of all of our adventures, Menogyn instills positive social interaction and teamwork skills. Many young people (like yours!) first find their sense of self here on trail. They come to konw the person they want to be and the kinds of friends they want to be with.
Campers come to understand giving of themselves and asking for help when they need it. In short, every thing we adults learned the hard way! Back in camp, there is time for reflection and they share these moments with their trail group and sometimes the entire camp community. When kids are respected, they learn how to give respect.
And by the way, it can be a rowdy good time!
Sit down with them and go over the Parent Guide (this whole going away to camp thing might be more traumatic for you anyway!) Let them know that Menogyn expects them to be responsible for themselves, helpful to their group and to try their best with the duties of being on trail.
Let them have input into the type of trip they want and whether or not a friend should go with them. Many campers come up alone and leave with new life-long friends, so watch out! Go over the gear list with them and have some fun with it.
Remember the big three: sleeping bag, worn-in boots and rain gear (jacket and pants). If you have these things they’ll survive just fine. Many folks bring too many clothes. Don’t bring anything that can’t get dirty, lost or be worn for several days at a time. This isn’t a fashion show; many perfectly good items can be found at a local Goodwill or seconds shop.
Lastly, if you have questions, by all means call us. We want you to be prepared and we enjoy getting to know our campers before they come to camp. It is our goal to be a partner with parents in the healthy growth and development of your child. It is why we all work here.
