Mother's Day Weekend at Wanakita!

On Mother's Day weekend weekend we had 70 wonderful, enthusiastic mothers, daughters, aunts and grandmas up to camp for a weekend of fun and celebration! Here are some photos from the festivities!

Taking a hike in the "Back 9" (900 acres)

 Staff, Maddy, helps the girls across a stream

 Staff Lisa and Maddy take a group of ladies on a hike to the Falls!

 Helping out at Low Ropes

 Nothing bonds a family like safety! :)

Mothers Day Love!

 Going on a Voyageur Canoe paddle!

 Sometimes it just slips!

 Theme Dinner: Through the Decades!

These ladies are re-living the good ol' days at our theme dinner!

 Campfire Talent Show preparation!

 Campfire?! We love campfires!

 A colllld morning dip!

Spring Work Weekend was a Huge Success!

Wow! We have some fantastic, dedicated volunteers! This weekend we had 75 enthusiastic volunteers made of up staff alumni, current and past campers, and their families and friends make the trip to Wanakita for our Annual Spring Work Weekend!

They were busy spicing up our site to get ready for the spring; though it doesn't look like the lake got the message that it is SPRINGTIME! There was still some ice floating around out there !

Here's our regular crew of roofers who help keep our cabins in tip top shape! 

We had an energetic group of excited Pathfinder girl guides who helped with raking, cleaning and general site maintenance! 

Here are some brave summer campers and staff that helped to paddle all these boats across the lake still covered with slushy ice! 

We had our regular firewood crew, splitting and stacking wood for campfires and fire places! We even had a group working on making our own wood chips this year!

 This wood pile was split and stacked in two days: its 15 log-lengths deep! Good work everyone! We're all set for spring, summer and fall!

Here are some wood chips from dead/dangerous trees from our forest! We will spread them around camp on trails and our high and low ropes areas.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to help out this past weekend! We appreciate your help more than you know! Without you, our site just wouldn't be ready for our school groups in spring and would probably start falling apart! Thanks a million!

Spring is Sprouting at Wanakita

Spring is coming to Wanakita! There's always an in between time, between winter and spring: the snow is melting, the mud is abundant and the water is too cold for activities - or still has ice in our case! Walking around Wanakita right now might look a bit ugly to some, but if you look closer, there's lots of beauty! 

 Some bulrushes seeding

 A view of the lake and islands from West Beach a week ago

Ice on the lake

The famous trees growing out of the rock cliff on the Forgotten Fores Trail

Brilliant colours in some of last year's Wintergreen

Reflections of cabins in the SC field

The ice is finally breaking up on the lake!

A beaver swimming in the swamp

Last year's maple leaf clinging to a sapling

A shelf of ice over a puddle; and its reflection

A beaver lodge

Some spring melt water running over ice and branches

New buds on a tree

The beaver dam along the Forgotten Forest Trail

 Bright red buds on a maple tree

 Happy Spring!

Spring is almost here and boy are we ready for it! Although we still have some snow and cold weather- and ice on the lake- we’re ready to get the boats in the water and our hiking boots on! Our busy winter is quickly turning into a busy spring! We’re experiencing a lot of new changes this spring, including opening our brand new renovated Dining Hall (“the Core”), and welcoming our new acting Summer Camp Director, Rankin Middlebrook! He brings with him a wealth of summer camp experience and wisdom from both Wanakita and other camps!  Welcome Rankin!


Below are some news and updates about what’s going on with Wanakita lately!

• Father-Son Camp: Introducing our brand new Father-Son Weekend! May 24-26, fathers, sons uncles, and grandfathers will enjoy a weekend of fun and bonding in the outdoors! Come explore with hikes, paddling and camping! These are just a few of the activities we will be offering during this new annual family weekend! Help spread the word!

• Dining Hall: Our brand new renovated dining hall will be opening in early spring, with a completely renovated kitchen! We will post photos of all the bells and whistles of this exciting new make-over!

• Spring Work Weekend: We have lots of eager volunteers lined up to help us out with opening up and rejuvenating our site! We will transform it from winter activities to spring and summer, and even work on site maintenance tasks like shingling and painting!

• Strawberry Social: Come one and all to our long-running annual Strawberry Social open house! On June 23^rd, 2013, Wanakita will be open for to the public to enjoy our site and facilities, including participating in camp activities like canoeing and archery, as well as enjoying a delicious buffet meal (with lots of in-season strawberries!) in our new dining hall! Contact us for more information.

• 60th Anniversary Celebration: Join us in Hamilton on September 21^st 2013, to celebrate 60 years in camping at YMCA Wanakita! This celebratory event promises to be memorable, with opportunities to reconnect with old friends and reminisce about the ways that camp has shaped us all. Stay tuned for more information.    

•  Our Facebook page has been updated recently and we have some fun weekly posts as well as regular news updates there. Check it out and "like" us! www.facebook.com/campwanakita.

• 2013 Program Availability:
• There is still room in our Summer Camp Program! Contact us for availability. 
•  There is still room in our Summer Family Camp Program! Contact us for availability. 
• There is still room in our annual Mother-Daughter Weekend, May 10-12, 2013!
• There is still room in our fall Women’s Weekends in September and October. Contact us for more information.

For Family Programs contact sarah_bell@ymca.ca or 1800-387-5081 ex 245
For all other Program inquiries contact wanakita@ymca.ca or 1800-387-5081 ex 100

March Break is over sadly, but we had a wonderful time with the families that attended March Break Family Camp at Wanakita this year!

The weather was warm on Monday but after that it cooled down and even snowed some more, which made for perfect winter conditions! Take a look at some of the photos from the week!

Our Iron Chef cooking competition!

 Fun at Low Ropes!

 Mom helps her daughter on Low Ropes

 14 year old Adam helps lead an activity for the younger kids.

 Mom and Dad help their daughter along the Low Ropes course.

 Mom and son zoom down the toboggan hill!

 A family friendly broomball game on the lake!

 Staff member Julian teaches a kids ski lesson!

 Family portrait during our "Through the Decades" theme dinner.

 Dad being silly with the kids!

 Staff member Joya creates art with a camper!