Sleepaway Summer Camps in California
top
At Mountain Meadow Ranch you will…
Connect
Our small culture (camp family) makes it easy for everyone to feel included and genuinely bonded to one another. Making friends is easy when you are in a culture that celebrates uniqueness and authenticity.
Come to connect.
LEARN MORE
Explore
We believe a connection to nature is crucial for all children and our program provides the opportunity to fall in love with the great outdoors. The nature surrounding the ranch beckons exploration and adventure.
Come to explore.
LEARN MORE
Grow
Vast is the opportunity to grow at Mountain Meadow Ranch. The means to our growth is an ancient Maidu word, Aj Yepekanbe, meaning “serve-all”. This is the very heart of MMR and the guiding principle of all that we do.
Come to grow.
LEARN MORE
Unplug
In today’s techno-saturated, high-pressure world we all need a chance to take a step back and really rest.
Time for just the quiet, for the sounds of nature and time to process. As we unplug from technology, we find joy. We plug back into life authentic.
Come to unplug.
LEARN MORE
Mountain Meadow Ranch is a co-ed, sleepaway summer camp for ages 7 to 16, uniquely located on a spacious 900 acre ranch in the Sierra Nevada north of Lake Tahoe. We offer a traditional camp program, where our philosophy of Servant Leadership fosters character development and camp community bonding through the many activities we provide. Family-owned and operated since 1956, a true legacy of camping excellence.
Latest News
Thanks for a great summer!
August 12, 2021
We had another amazing summer at Mountain Meadow Ranch It was so good to have everyone back at the ranch laughing, playing and exploring We unfortunately had to cancel
LEARN MORE
Summer Photos
August 6, 2021
Dear MMR Families,
At MMR, our main goal is to provide our campers with an exceptional camp experience where they connect, explore,
LEARN MORE
Countdown & Weather
-
DAYS
-
HOURS
-
MINS
-
SECS
Mountain Meadow Ranch: Youth Summer Camp
Welcome Home
Nestled on a historic and spacious 900 acre working horse and cattle ranch, Mountain Meadow offers a superb, natural environment unlike any summer camp environment in California.
Unique in beauty and atmosphere, Mountain Meadow enriches the lives of all who visit.
We are located on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northeast California, 75 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada and the Reno-Tahoe Int’l Airport. The ranch property sits just on the timberline and encompasses over 900 acres. To our east lies the Great Basin Desert, and to the west we are bordered by richly forested mountains. Our section of the Sierra Nevadas is known as the Diamond Mountain Range. Mountain Meadow sits at 4500’ elevation where daytime temps average in the mid 80’s, cooled in the afternoons by fresh mountain breezes; nights average in the 50’s.
All of our camp buildings are within earshot of each other, including the camp infirmary and directors cabins. Green grass covers the immediate camp area, and several flower beds are cultivated with love by Jody and her daughters. The iconic main house & barn were built in 1910 by George Wingfield when the property was first developed, they add so much to our heritage and give the camp a historic ranch feel.
Old orchard apple trees still hang on to life nearby. Our campfire area is encircled by 200 year old pine trees, a site which brings home the unique sense of family and closeness for everyone.
Pool & Lagoon
Our Junior Olympic-size pool affords campers the opportunity to work on and improve swimming skills, soak up the sun, or just play! It’s also the site of one of our biggest color wars competitions of each session, the all-camp Aqua Fest.
The Lagoon is the most popular place in camp on a hot summer day, and many of our late afternoons are spent here as other activities in camp are winding down. Paddle boats & paddle boards, rope swing, high jump, trampoline – there’s so much to do! The lagoon is fed by a babbling brook just waiting to be explored, and which carries native brook and German brown trout, making the lagoon a great fishing spot as well.
Dining Hall
Our lodge style dining hall is the heart of camp and has a truly historic lodge-like feel. Food is served & buffet tables are set up inside at mealtimes, while campers eat under the canopy outside, affording everyone a view of the sprawling meadow and lagoon. Our all-camp dances take place here, and on those rare but wonderful occasions when we get an evening rainstorm, we have someplace dry to gather for some indoor games, too!
Cabins
Each cabin at Mountain Meadow Ranch is unique in style, but every cabin has electricity, wall-to-wall carpeting, and is complete with its own bathroom and shower facilities. Many have a front deck that overlooks the central meadow, a great place to catch up with their cabin mates and enjoy the view. Campers sleep in their own twin-sized cozy wooden bunk beds with bedding or sleeping bags, all clothes and belongings are kept in trunks or luggage that slide under or to the side of their bunks. There are shelves and countertop space in the bathrooms.
Laundry service is offered once a week for all campers and staff. It is priority that our cabins be clean, safe and comfortable. Cabin groups are separated according to age and gender.
Summer camps for kids in California: what will change in 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed annual traditions, including summer camps for kids. But this year, camping is back across California, writes CapRadio.
“We’ve had an unprecedented level of interest in camp this year,” said Kendal Scott, education manager at the Tahoe Institute of Natural Sciences (TINS), who runs the Tahoe Basin camp for children ages 4-17. – We even opened two new sections. I think people are really excited about the start of the season.”
Scott said that there are now more excursions in the summer camp schedule, such as night trips to remote areas. They were canceled last year due to COVID-19.
But expanding camps isn’t the only issue on the minds of some in the industry.
There is a new trend towards making this childhood tradition more open to different races, cultures and LGBT communities.
Liz Kimmelman, owner of Tumbleweed Day Camp in Los Angeles and a member of the American Camp Association, says creating a more diverse and inclusive camp culture is about more than providing scholarships to underprivileged children. It is important to reconsider some longstanding traditions, such as the use of native words and images of wigwams.
“We borrow a lot of indigenous culture,” Kimmelman said. “I admit it, and we’re going to do something about it.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which the State of California uses to model its regulations, recommend vaccination for people 12 years of age and older. Vaccines for children under 12 years of age are not currently approved, although trials are ongoing.
They also say that youth day and night camps, where everyone is fully vaccinated before the start of the season, can operate at full capacity without masks and without physical distancing, unless required by local regulations.
With children starting to socialize with many other children after more than a year of physical distancing, experts say camps could use this summer’s reset to focus on children’s mental well-being.
Camp can be fun for kids, but it can also be stressful or anxiety-inducing, says Dr. Heather Bernstein, a clinical psychologist at the Bay Area Children’s Mind Institute. According to her, children worry about how they will communicate, what others will think of them, whether everything will be all right with them. Camp staff and parents need to recognize this by giving children the opportunity to express their feelings.
Recently, while walking with a dozen young children on a trail near Donner Lake in the Sierra Nevada, a group of TINS day camp children were distracted to see an insect resting on a boulder that one of the children spotted.
Camp leader Kendal Scott helped the children focus on this.
“If I don’t really care about the spider or anything like that, I like to ask kids specific questions about what they’re looking at; what colors are on the spider’s body, what things they think the spider might be eating, whether it has eggs nearby, and similar questions, Scott says.
“Practical questions like this help take your mind off instinctive fear responses and usually encourage kids to explore more, even if it’s just the area around the spider.”
Scott practices what she preaches. With her questions, she interested the children, and did not frighten them.
7 classic American camp activities
Scavenger hunt, detective stories and other fun that came to summer camps from elite US universities.
1. Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger Hunt is a student game that became popular in American universities in the late 1980s. According to the rules, participants are divided into teams and go to search for items around the campus. Since all tasks in Scavenger Hunt require ingenuity, erudition and teamwork, the game quickly migrated from the Ivy League to summer camps.
For example, in the academic program at Harvard University , “scavenger hunting” is perhaps the most favorite pastime. Students explore the legendary campus on a map of Cambridge, get acquainted with the history of Harvard University and try to solve problems in non-standard ways.
Such a game fits perfectly into the Leadership and Innovation program, which starts at Harvard University on June 20th.
Harvard University, Massachusetts
14-18 years
June 20 – July 8, 2017 (3 weeks)
2. Quiz Night
Quiz night is a favorite quiz night among Americans. Boston, as the capital of New England, was one of the first American cities to host the pub quiz. And if adults still gather for Friday games in Irish pubs, then for schoolchildren the ideal option is a quiz at a summer camp with lemonade and pizza.
At language school OISE Boston campus Tufts University children not only improve their English (30 lessons per week), but also develop a general level of erudition. Evening gatherings with questions on history, geography and American culture help to instantly transfer English skills from a liability to an asset.
The mood of the participants is raised by the team spirit, excitement and atmosphere of academic America with centers in Harvard University and MIT .
OISE Boston, MA
14 – 17 years
July 9 – August 5, 2017 (2,3,4 weeks)
3. Ultimate Frisbee
90 002 Ultimate is a team sport with a flying disc, most commonly referred to as just a frisbee. According to the rules of the game, participants in the ultimate pass the disc to another player on their team when he is in the opponent’s zone. The game was first invented by students at Amherst College in the 1960s, based on the rules of American football and basketball. Since then, the ultimate frisbee has become incredibly popular with students, especially when they have the green spaces of a university campus at their disposal.
Take, for example, University of California, Berkeley .
During the year, the women’s and men’s Berkeley frisbee teams train here, and in the summer the lawns are occupied by foreign students. Especially for teenagers UC Berkeley provides summer courses in architecture, law, medicine and technology. In addition to activities, the program also includes sports, entertainment, excursions and surfing.
UC Berkeley, California
14 – 18
June 25 — July 22, 2017 (4 weeks)
4. Talent Show
The talent show is a traditional summer school performance consisting of musical numbers, dance battles, magic tricks and acting sketches. One of the most spectacular spectacles takes place annually at Yale University , the alma mater of such Hollywood “stars” as Meryl Streep, Judy Foster and Edward Norton.
Summer Talent Program, Yale University offers not only courses in the humanities and exact sciences, but also in creative areas, from photography and filming to musicals and improvisation.
An evening talent show is a great opportunity to showcase what a child can do best. Sing a song, play a piano sonata, perform a stand up comedy or perform an acrobatic stunt, there’s a place for everyone on the Yale University stage.
Yale University, CT
13 – 17 years old
June 24 – July 14, July 16 – August 5, 2017 (3 weeks)
5. Murder Mystery Night
Game genre Murder Mystery appeared in England after a mysterious murder that took place in a country mansion on Road Hill in 1860. This case was the most unusual investigation in the history of Scotland Yard. According to the rules of the Murder Mystery game, one of the participants plays the role of a killer, and the rest are trying to determine who among them is the criminal. Logic, quick reaction and ingenuity come into play.
An evening of detective stories is perhaps the most long-awaited event in the American camp. Especially if this camp is located on the campus of the oldest US university – Tufts University .
After a busy day of medicine, psychology and law classes, teenagers gather in the living room of the student residence in order to try on the role of a detective and test their deductive method in action.
Tufts University, Massachusetts
14 – 18 years old
July 2 – 14, July 16 – 28, 2017 (2 weeks), July 2 – 28 (4 weeks) 9 0005
6th Brain Bowl
Brain Bowl is the most popular game among university students, the progenitor of the show “The Smartest” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. Brain Bowl is a competition of speed, intelligence and erudition, during which participants will have to answer questions in the field of art, history, geography, literature and technology in time.
One of the busiest brain-rings will take place this summer at Princeton University , the same Ivy League university where Albert Einstein taught and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, studied.
Princeton’s academic program is different in that it allows children to choose subjects that are not available to ordinary students – for example, DNA diagnostics, astrobiology, bioinformatics, crime investigation.
Princeton University, New Jersey
13 – 17 years old
July 24 – August 12, 2017 (3 weeks)
7. Casino Night
If the boys wear tuxedos and the girls wear evening dresses, it means that it’s casino time. At one of the parties at University of Miami , participants will be able to test their intuition. In the atmosphere of Monte Carlo, children will find poker, roulette, blackjack and a whole arsenal of probability theory tricks.
University of Miami offers a rich program of classes – with the study of subjects, sports, creativity and excursions. For those who are vacationing with their parents in Miami, there is a day program from 8.