Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Goodbye Fall, hello Winter!


A little later than usual, but we have wrapped up our Fall season here at YMCA Wanakita. Over the past few months, we have hosted many groups here at Wanakita that had tons of fun enjoying the beautiful Fall weather we had this year. Summer was a little wet and cold, but this Fall really made up for the cooler wet summer we had.



With temperatures now sinking into the sub-0, we look back on the amazing Fall season, its beautifully coloured leaves, cool crisp nights, beautiful sunny days and those people who made it as always, "the place to have the time of your life"!

We had more than 40 groups here since our Summer Family Camp Week 9 program ended August 30th. Whether they came for leadership focused programming, our Sunship Earth Environmental Education program, or any other specially designed programs, all groups definitely enjoyed lots of fun and recreation in the great outdoors here at camp!










Our Fall 2014 instructor team this season included staff from all across Canada and some from other parts of the world. They all brought such knowledge and excitement to their programming EVERY day. You folks are awesome!

 Andrea Pepe, the Outdoor Centre Director, and the Sunship Earth staff team!
Our entire fall staff team! What a great bunch of crazies! :)


Thank you to everyone who came to Wanakita this Fall season and your passion for Wanakita and Outdoor Education & Recreation. It is you who made our Fall what it was and as enjoyable as it was.

Lifeguards on a chilly fall morning dip!


A couple weeks ago we had our annual fall work weekend, which was a huge success! We painted, built, raked, varnished, chopped, stacked, roofed and cleaned our way to a much anticipated winter season! Thanks to the 50+ volunteers who came to help out in the wet conditions. We definitely couldn't do it without you!

















Finally, here is a more recent photo of the new layer or snow we’ve received at camp (which we’re not complaining about, because it means skiing, snowshoeing and winter fun can come sooner than later!). It has since melted but we're definitely ready for more!


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Delayed Bus Today

Hi folks!

This is a quick note to let you know that the bus home from camp today has left half an hour late (30 minutes), at 11:00am. This means that the bus arriving in Toronto, Burlington and Hamilton will be late.

If you have any questions please contact us at 1800-387-5081

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Goodbye Winter!


Well, we've had a wonderful winter up here at camp these past few months! With record temperatures, and record snowfall, all of our participants had their fair share of winter conditions.

We had many different groups here this winter, including international students from all over the world, adult team-building weekends, grade school recreational experiences, high school leadership classes, family camps and more. With over 20 enthusiastic, experienced and knowledgeable program staff, and hard-working kitchen, maintenance and office staff behind it all, we pulled off a great winter 2014 season! Thank you to everyone who visited our site this winter- you made it a memorable one!


The winter program staff team! 


Here are some photos from the past winter we'd love to share with you! 




The broomball court early on....those banks haven't quite built up yet!

 We had a great lake rink this year!

New Year's Family Camp was a blast! 

 Skiing across the lake, tracking a fox!

 Family Camp (east) Beach with quinzee sleeping shelters!

 A rare view from the east dining hall porch.

 Sunrises are always worth it, when you have scenery like this!

One of the first big snows of our winter season...snowshoeing to breakfast! 

 Broomballl!

Everyone loves a ski across the lake to the ice wall! 

High ropes in the winter...an added challenge of more clothing and clunky boots!

 A group of families at March Break Family Camp on a snowshoe trek.

Hot chocolate, marshmallows, and a fire: a great reward to a beautiful ski across the lake at night!

Tobogganing!

Our kitchen staff sure are talented! Pirates & Vikings theme dinner: treasure chest cakes for dessert!


The ever popular and infamous "umbrella Island"

So now we close off our season with an empty site for about a month with still many inches of ice on the lake, lots of snow (with a new fresh layer just yesterday!), and a quiet dining hall; and we wait in anticipation for the snow to melt, birds plants, and animals to emerge, and soon, for our spring groups to burst onto site with lots of positive and enthusiastic energy! We hope to see you here this spring in some form!

Some of the exciting things we have planned are:
- Outdoor Centre Groups of all kinds!
- Mother-Daughter Weekend  (May 9-11)
- Father-Son Weekend (May 23-25)
- Spring Volunteer Work Weekend (April 25-27)
- Spring Family Camp Volunteer Work Weekend (June 6-8)



Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Family Celebrations!

Wanakita hosted a Family Day Weekend camp this past holiday weekend!
We had 40 people up here to camp to celebrate family time with their families.

Activities included cross country skiing, snowshoeing, high ropes, low ropes, fort building, skating, the ever popular broomball, and indoor activities like crafts, group games and yoga. We ended it off with a wonderful campfire with songs and stories, and we all had a fantastic time! Thanks to everyone who joined us! We hope to see you all again. To those who didn't attend- perhaps next year!