We take heat and dehydration seriously. Here are some ways you can help:

• Ensure your child is comfortable drinking plain water for hydration.
• Pack enough water bottles to contain at least 4 cups of water or 1 liter (in addition to any lunch beverages). We have places to refill water. For older students, we may ask you to double that on days where we are hiking beyond access to water.
• Have your child drink water before coming to camp and after getting home from camp. 
• Show your child the benefits of “testing” their thirst by having a small sip, instead of just thinking about whether they are thirsty or not. This gets them past the resistance to pulling out their water bottle and often we find we are thirstier than we thought.
• Pack a portable shade such as a thin longsleeve outer layer or an umbrella.

Poison-oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) is a common native plant of western North America. This plant is present at most of our program sites (except Big Bear Camp). Contact with the plant can cause an itchy rash due to an oil the plant produces called urushiol.

Our first protection against poison oak is to learn to know what it looks like in our area at this time of year. That helps us to avoid contact with the plant. It’s characteristic three-leaflet pattern is easily recognized by many hikers. However, Poison-oak takes on many appearances depending on the time of year and where it is growing.

We also highly recommend wearing long pants and closed toe shoes to reduce exposure. If exposure to poison-oak occurs there are a few things that you can do to reduce the chance of developing a rash.

The most important thing is to scrub all exposed skin well with cool water and lots of soap as soon as possible after exposure. Wash all clothes that may have been exposed separately to avoid cross contamination.

There are several varieties of stinging insects that we are likely to encounter while walking in the woods.

The ones that we encounter most commonly are “yellow jackets” (Vespula spp.). The yellow jackets like to nest in cavities underground during the summer and fall where an unsuspecting explorer might accidentally step on their nest without knowing it. Yellow jackets will defend their nests aggressively if they feel threatened and they are capable of stinging multiple times. We take several precautions during the yellow jacket season to reduce the risk of being stung.

First, when travelling off of established trails instructors always go in front in order to watch out for ground nests that might be hard to spot. Second, we teach students to react calmly when yellow jackets are present (such as during lunch time).

In addition to these precautions, all staff are trained on the assessment of severe allergic reaction and anaphylaxis. 

Finally, we sometimes encounter ticks while travelling in the woods. These parasitic arachnids like to hang out on tall grasses and grab on to hikers as we pass by. They will often crawl around on a person for a long time before biting and our best protection against tick bites is regular tick checks.

We encourage campers to check themselves twice a day during springtime when ticks are most prevalent. Typically it works well to check for ticks while in the bathroom as they prefer to be in warm, moist areas of the body, under clothing.

If a tick does bite, it can be removed by pinching it gently at the head with a pair of tweezers and pulling straight out.

The most common large mammals in our area that may pose a risk to humans are black bears (Ursus americanus) and cougars (Felis concolor). These animals are native to our area and range commonly throughout the valley and foothills. However, bears and cougars are very shy of people and will try at all times to avoid the sights, sounds, and smells they associate with humans.

Being with large (and often noisy) groups of kids makes it unlikely that we will ever encounter one of these animals during camp. However, as an additional precaution we make students aware of how to react if they do see a bear or cougar.

There are differences in each but generally it is advisable to stay together as a group. Don’t turn your back on the animal and back away slowly. In some cases it is appropriate to make noise to scare off the animal. Nevertheless, in most cases the only indication we ever get of the presence of large mammals in our area is the signs and tracks they leave behind.

Childhood allergies are unfortunately very common these days. Let us know if your child has any allergies (food, pollen, latex, etc.) during the registration process, and include the severity of sensitivity as well as the symptoms that result when exposed.

The most common and dangerous allergy we encounter is to peanuts. For this reason, we are a TREE-NUT FREE program.  No one is allowed to bring food containing peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, or any of the associated oils and butters, to any day camps.

Please do not send your child to day camps with any tree-nut-containing foods in their lunch or snacks. We appreciate your understanding and sensitivity to the needs of all our campers.