Richard Froese
South Peace News
The High Prairie Wilderness Camp keeps on growing with waiting lists for the Christian youth summer camps that features horses and the great outdoors.
“Campers are excited more than ever to come to the camp,” says camp director Aaron Harbidge, who launched the camp for ages 12-17 years in 2016.
“We had 75 campers registered for the three camps, which is the maximum we can handle, with a limit of 25 campers per camp.”
Chapel speakers were High Prairie Bethel Baptist Church Pastor Matt Peters, Wembley All the Nations Church Pastor Dwight Munn and Wimborne Alliance Church Pastor Martin Vervloet.
“Our speakers love speaking at camp and spending time with the youth, whether engaging with them in a game of bucketball, discussing life, telling stories or answering questions about life, faith and God,” Harbidge says.
Trail rides, chapel, bucketball and, of course, the new horse riding lessons, were the favourite activities at the camp located southwest of High Prairie near the Little Smoky River.
The camp included structured riding lessons for the third successive year, which was a big hit with many campers, Harbidge says.
Each day, one tipi group would learn essential riding skills and build on existing skills.
“Campers who took part in the riding lessons showed a marked improvement on the trail, understanding how to communicate with their horse and enjoying the riding experience even more than before,” Harbidge says.
“We look forward to develop the riding lessons further.”
Parents also expressed positive comments about their child’s experience at the camp, he notes.
“After the summer was over, a dad called me up to talk about the camp and let me know that his daughter had a wonderful time and he and his wife really appreciated how she was treated while at camp and how she spoke about the staff and her time there,” Harbidge says.
“It really does something for a parent to see that, he says.”
The camp director was proud of the staff that included people from Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, with a mix of new and returning staff.
“Besides making sure to offer a superior wilderness camp experience, we focus hard on fostering a staff culture that promotes teamwork, growth in leadership skills and growth in their faith in God,” Harbidge says.
“We are seeing clear examples of our staff culture in action as staff who joined years ago as junior staff are now stepping into top positions of leadership on the summer staff team and doing a five-star job.”
Among staff positions are head cook, program director, head wrangler and trail boss.