As soon as you turn off that dirt road, you’re in a whole new world you’re driving down and all you see are pines around you and the trees are so tall and so green. There’s a creek that comes down between a couple of the hills and there’s a damn here that opens up to a lake.

Walton is a place to be yourself special part campers they get to choose each day get to choose five activities from over 40 activities that we offer campers have total flexibility and planning their day.

They can change their mind from the morning to the afternoon and often they end up that they try something they thought they might never try.

We think it’s really empowering for kids to have the opportunity to decide what they want to do each day options or figure out what you love to do. To me, it doesn’t feel like summer  without Waltons.

I think we really keep coming back as there are traditions and the people here are absolutely absolutely amazing. One of the most most important pieces of creating an amazing camp experience are the people.

Of course you can have a wonderful facility. You can have all the activities in the world, but really it comes down to the people staff who’s taking care of these kids.

They just have a great attitude they love, obviously being around kids and it’s nice to have like adults who can have a sense of humor just being able to be a role model for these children. And in areas that they are too afraid to try and just give that push in that confidence to be able to do those things that they didn’t think that they would be able to before.

A lot of these kids they grew up with their phones. They grew up with their own laptop. They grew up with iPads in their school, so a lot of them get here and just blown away by how much more if they see every day and how much more they communicate with people every day.

If I brought a phone here, I will probably just be on the phone but when I’m here I get to hang out with my friends and I connect with everything. We see a lot of kids are coming up for the first time being hesitant and nervous. That usually lasts a day or two, and it’s pretty amazing by the end of their stay how much they’ve opened up and how much they become to feel like camp is really kind of their home.

You have so many new friends you’ve done so many new things by the time you walk out and say I don’t want to leave it just can’t people who know you and treat you well and with open arms and try things here and have to support a family.

The second I got home, I said these were the best! Usually for the first week after I get home, I start thinking about all the fun times that I’ve had at Waltons and I’m so excited to come back come here. You get to make your own choice. Find what you love and just be.

Walton’s Grizzly Lodge Summer Camp

A family tradition since 1926.