Three things no other camp has in combination: the setting, the depth, and the history.

• Setting. 100+ acres of private wilderness at 5,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, Stanislaus National Forest on all sides, the North Fork Tuolumne River running through camp. Sailing happens on Pinecrest Lake. The night skies are dark enough that we just built an observatory in 2025.

• Depth. 50+ merit badges and programs — including a 50-foot climbing tower, full shooting sports (archery, rifle, shotgun, black powder, Cowboy Action), aquatics on a real mountain river, welding and blacksmithing at the Foxfire area, STEM, arts, astrophotography, and evening programs like wilderness shelter overnights and an 18-mile bike ride through the forest.
• History. Camp Hi-Sierra has operated continuously since 1949, on ground with a story of its own: Miwok summer dwelling sites, early homesteads, and a working sawmill that logged the valley in the early 1900s — the mill’s enormous sawdust pile is now the archery range. Three generations of families have attended. Some grandchildren of original 1950s campers are now on staff.

In-council fee: $875/youth (by November 15). That covers every meal from Sunday dinner through Saturday breakfast, all basic merit badge instruction, and a campsite with canvas tents on wood platforms — troops don’t bring tents. That’s roughly $125/day all-in for a full week in the Sierra Nevada with professional programming.

What costs extra: shooting sports badges (ammo fees), pottery, metalwork, sailing, and Trading Post spending.

Trail to Eagle is designed exactly for this scout. It’s a dedicated program — separate from the merit badge track — with its own staff, focused on Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class requirements in a structured, supported setting.

Every troop also gets a dedicated troop guide: a staff member who meets your group at the flag meadow on Sunday and at every meal staff eat with the Scouts. Solo scouts without a troop attend as provisional scouts, placed in a provisional troop with the same support.

First-year scouts come every year. Most don’t want to leave on Saturday.

Morning: 3 merit badge sessions (Mon–Thu) Afternoon: 3 more sessions, plus open program 1:30–5 PM (open climb, open swim, open shoot, hiking, Trading Post) Evening: 7–8:30 PM — Cowboy Action Shoot (Mon/Wed nights), Astronomy Overnighter sleeping under the stars (Tue), Wilderness Survival overnight shelter building (Tue), campfire, patch trading

Friday morning is dedicated makeup time. Friday afternoon is a Western BBQ lunch. Friday night is the Closing Campfire and Saga ceremonies. Saturday morning departure.

It’s a full week. Scouts come home tired in the best possible way.

Partials are normal and not a failure. Scouts pick up an official advancement printout at the camp office before leaving Saturday — it shows exactly which requirements were completed. Remaining requirements are finished with a counselor at home.

Friday morning (9 AM–12 PM) is dedicated makeup time. Most incomplete badges trace to missing prerequisites, not the camp program — scouts who arrive prepared finish at a far higher rate.

• Trained medical staff — nurse level or higher — and Health Lodge on-site all week
• Camp line: 209-965-3432 | Emergency: 209-965-4029
• Sonora Regional Medical Center 34 miles away
• 10:1 staff-to-Scout ratio
• Two-deep leadership and Youth Protection policies enforced at all times
• Nationally accredited
• 75+ years of continuous operation

Yes — leaders have their own full program running alongside the Scout week: Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS), Scoutmaster Specific Training, Climb On Safely, Leave No Trace. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings: Adult Forge/Welding. Open program access to every area. There’s also free Wi-Fi and an electric vehicle charging station in camp.

Many leaders say camp is as restorative for them as it is for the scouts. A lot of them have been coming back longer than their scouts have been alive.

The program outside badge sessions is half the experience:

• Cowboy Action Shoot — live, old-west style shooting, Monday and Wednesday evenings
• Black Powder Rifles — select evenings
• Observatory nights — stargazing under Sierra Nevada dark skies at the new observatory
• Clavey River Overnight Bike Ride — 18 miles through Stanislaus National Forest (Thu–Fri)
• Campwide games, sports, hikes, bike rides, and board games throughout the week
• Open program every afternoon — open climb, open swim, open shoot, and the Trading Post
• The Saga of Hi-Sierra — beads earned all week for service and achievement, capped by Friday night’s ceremonies (see Q9)
• Opening and Closing Campfires, Western BBQ Friday lunch, patch trading

The Saga is the camp’s honor society — optional, but it’s what makes scouts want to come back year after year. Throughout the week, scouts earn colored beads for service, achievement, and participation: dining hall duty, conservation work, sleeping under the stars, leading grace at a meal, shooting a bull’s-eye.

Ranks advance with each return: Seeker → Guardian → Trailblazer → Legend → Great Legend. Friday night Saga ceremonies are one of the week’s most anticipated moments. A scout who earns Legend has been to camp four or more times. Some of them grow up and become staff.

Camp structure helps more than most parents expect. Scouts move through the week with their troop — same faces at every meal, in the campsite, at evening programs. They’re not dropped into a crowd of strangers.

The staff are ready to engage, too — every staff member is trained in helping scouts through homesickness and more, and the camp health officer is trained to care for homesick scouts, not just scraped knees.

For younger or newer scouts, Trail to Eagle keeps them in a smaller, guided cohort. By Wednesday, most leaders report that the worry shifts from “will they be okay?” to “will they want to come home?”