TheBestCamps.com > Best North Carolina Camps > Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center
Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center
Lenoir, North Carolina
Visit Our Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center Website
828-964-1473
programs[AT]buffalocove.com
6498 Buffalo Cove Rd.
Lenoir, North Carolina 28645
WINTER (OFF-SEASON) OFFICE ADDRESS:
664 Buckskin Hollow
Deep Gap, NC 28618
CAMPER AGES: 8-17
TYPE OF CAMP: Overnight/Sleepaway.
CAMPER GENDER(S): Coed Campers.
BRIEF CAMP DESCRIPTION: Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center is a nonprofit organization (founded in 2001) dedicated to a unique experience that promotes the healthy growth of individuals through a greater sense of self and community. We teach through fun and meaningful experiences that bring you closer to yourself, your friends and the land around you. We serve home cooked, healthy, family style meals created from mostly organic and local foods. We focus on complete nourishment of the body, mind and spirit. Our camper to staff ratio of 3:1 - combined with the experience, training and dedication of our wonderful staff - ensures the highest quality of instruction, attention and safety. We have several different sessions to choose from catering to different ages and experience levels.
CAMP INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES OFFERED:
Music/Band, Fine Arts/Crafts, Adventure, Wilderness/Nature, and more. We Offer Experiential Education In The Age Old Lessons Of The Southern Appalachian Mountains Including, But Not Limited To: Traditional Earth Skills, Bushcraft, Wilderness Survival, Sustainable Living, Woods Lore, Woodworking, Archery, Backpacking, Low Impact Camping & River Canoeing.
CAMP LOCATION: Our base camp is a beautiful, secluded 200 acre valley just south of Blowing Rock, NC. Please visit our website for photos of our valley!
CAMP FACILITIES: We are a rustic wilderness camp that uses the natural world as our classroom. We have 4 rustic, screened in cabins, a timber framed lodge and kitchen, a bath house and several log barns / teaching areas. We have a beautiful mountain creek flowing through the valley and a small pond for swimming and activities.
CAMP PROGRAM INFO: We value the teachings of our ancestors and the ways of our contemporaries. Our goal is to utilize the best lessons and teaching styles within a broad range of outdoor subjects while maintaining an extremely high level of program quality. We seek meaningful relationships with the Earth and our community. Creating a small community in a “back to the basics” setting helps us to explore what it means to be human. Earth skills, woods-lore, woodworking, trail-craft and river adventures are some of our specialties.
We are committed to a high quality, experiential education camp program. We believe in creating and maintaining a safe space to really get into our lessons and learn through doing!!
CAMP SESSION DATES & FEES:
Buffalo Cove 2019 Summer Programs
EARTH Camp June 30 – July 14 (15 days). Ages 12-17. Enrollment limit 20.
Tuition $1650.
EARTH Camp is an experience of exceptional outdoor experiential learning. Our focus is on individual growth through community support and accountability, developing tools to navigate the dynamic teenage world. We dive into all types of skills and lessons: survival skills, nature crafts, woodslore, fundamental earth skills, plant knowledge, etc. We also incorporate an adventure aspect into EARTH Camp where we leave base camp for several days on an “expedition” experience to apply our knowledge in the field and learn more about backpacking and canoeing.
Woods Runners July 19-26 (8 days). Ages 11-14.
Enrollment limit 20.
Tuition $900.
Have you been to Explorers Camp (or another similar experience), but aren’t quite sure you are ready for seventeen days of EARTH Camp? Then this is for you! This is an intermediate step for those “bridging” the gap. We will increase our learning experiences, building upon the basics that were introduced to in Explorers Camp. These subjects will include intermediate fire and knife use, wilderness survival, wildcrafting, nature awareness, and much more! We will incorporate an overnight adventure to introduce some trail-craft and backcountry basics. We will also introduce the wonders of canoeing down our mountain waterways!
Explorers Camp July 30 – August 4 (6 days). Ages 8-12. Enrollment limit 20.
Tuition $650
During Explorers Camp, we build a foundation for a life of self-awareness, nature appreciation and outdoor adventure. We focus on building community and the wonderful aspects of friendships and fun! A solid skill set is introduced around the foundational earth skills: Fire, Fiber and Flint (the use of sharp edges). We also dive into “earthy” arts and crafts, traditional archery, wood working and lots more!
SUMMER CAMP JOBS:
As a counselor at Buffalo Cove you will be part of a 10 person “core-staff†that insures physical, emotional and spiritual safety of participants at all times during our summer programming. You will be responsible for one shelter, which sleeps 5-7 participants, while camp is in session. Shelters are single sex. You will also help monitor and support all camp participants while camp is in session. You will be required to help support skills and crafts activities and on some occasions may be asked to offer a class. You will be safety support on all backcountry expeditions and help with facilitation of group games and initiatives. Some of our sessions work with underprivileged youth while others are open to public registration. Sessions range from 6 – 16 days long with an average of 18 campers per session.
Populations served:
We work with all types of children in our programs. Some of our sessions are designed for underserved youth while other sessions are open to public registration. Our youngest campers are 8 years old and our oldest are 17. The vast majority of our campers are 11 – 15 years of age.
Compensation:
DOE. Usually ranges from $50 to $90 per program day plus room and board. Our wonderful cooks prepare food that is as local, natural and organic as we can provide. At least one full day and night off for every seven days worked (usually 2-3 days off between sessions) as well as breaks during camp sessions.
Basic Staff Criteria:
• All staff must exhibit passion for life, teaching and positive community interactions.
• All staff will undergo extensive background checks and a drug test.
• All staff must be at least 20 years of age (internships are offered to 19 year olds)
• All must undergo a personal interview
• First Aid and CPR certified
• Experienced in working with youth
Preferred staff criteria:
• Wilderness First Aid (WFR, WEMT)
• 1 year of experience involved in outdoor education or other relevant experience.
• Well versed in fire, shelter and knife use.
• 20 accumulated days in the backcountry in multi-day stints on personal adventures.
Please send a letter of interest and resume to programs[AT]buffalocove.com.
North Carolina Summer Camps Offer Wide Range of Programs & Summer Activities
Be sure to check each camp listing under INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES OFFERED for the range of Special Interest Activities and Programs provided by each North Carolina Summer Camp or Summer Recreation Program.
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