A Bondurant summer camp that has it all: work, play and possibly Wyoming’s future outdoor leaders

Idaho Matters

(Caitlin Tan / Wyoming Public Media)

Summer is wrapping up, so we’re taking a look back at something that was likely a part of many of our childhoods: summer camp. But this one is a little different. It's a partnership between a ranch in Bondurant, a wildlife non-profit and the state of Wyoming geared toward kids across the country who wouldn’t otherwise have these kinds of outdoor opportunities. The ‘Inspire a Kid’ camp attempts to live out the state’s vision for teaching youth about the outdoors.

Ice cold showers and hot coffee

It was mid-summer at the base of Bondurant’s Gros Ventre Mountains. And 17 boys were living their best lives – reeling in fish, playing in the mud and running through the willows and pine trees.

Colten Christianson, a 13-year-old of Kinnear, Wyoming, had dirt on his cheeks. He took a break from helping restore a nearby beaver pond to explain a typical morning.

“We wake up, some of us get hot chocolate,” he said, adding they wake up at 6 a.m. “You can also go to the sluice box.”

Sluice boxes were used over a 150 years ago to separate gold from water. But here at camp, they funnel ice cold, mountain stream water off a hillside.

Zach Cortez, a 12-year-old of Riverton, explained it’s a shower.

“I do it in the morning to get waked up. It’s way better than coffee,” Cortez said. When questioned about drinking coffee at his age, Cortez pointed to his buddies and said frankly, “Yeah. Because somebody decided to drink all the hot cocoa.”

Hooking and reeling them in

The weeklong camp is spent fully outside. Working. Playing. And learning about future outdoor careers.

Which is the whole point, said Chris McBarnes. He runs the Wyoming Wyldlife Fund, the non-profit arm for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), and helped get the camp off the ground for its first summer in 2022.

“The hook are the mountains, the fly fishing and the horseback riding,” McBarnes said, gesturing to the camp’s nearby mountains, river and forest. “That's what gets the kids here.”

And once they’re hooked, McBarnes hopes that excitement reels some of these kids back one day.

“If we don't do this, we won't have the future conservationists and leaders that will continue to make Wyoming all it is today,” he said.

It’s out of a larger WGFD and Gov. Mark Gordon initiative also called ‘Inspire a Kid’, along with a partnership with the Little Jennie Ranch in Bondurant.

The campers write thank you letters on one of the last days of camp.(Caitlin Tan / Wyoming public media)

McBarnes added that the influence is tangible – even just in a few years. He recently heard from a camper from last summer.

“This young man has completely changed his career goals,” he said proudly. “He wants to be a conservation officer. That is his dream. That is his passion now.”

McBarnes sees this kid’s experience as proof of concept for the camp. He’d like to see it replicated across the state.

It’s part of a multipronged effort to attract and keep more young people in Wyoming, which has seen the majority of people born in the state leave by their 30s.

“It’s up to you”

It's a lofty goal for a little camp. But McBarnes and instructor Chris Story said starting down a career path and appreciation of the outdoors begins with learning basic skills, like how to feed the camp's horses.

The boys try to move the 90-pound bales by each taking an end.(Caitlin Tan / Wyoming public media)

“There's enough hay on this truck that we needed to unload and stack that everybody's responsible for one bale,” Story said to the group of boys.

Green, square hay bales on the truck towered over the kiddos. One bale probably weighed more than each boy. Story pointed to an area about 40 feet away where they needed to move the hay to.

“It's up to you guys how you want to come up with the strategy,” Story said, emphasizing the need to work together.

He pitched a few bales off the truck for the kids to start on.

“It's gonna bounce guys, so you gotta stay back,” Story said, as a 90-pound bale thumped to the ground.

The boys partnered in pairs of two and each took an end of a bale. They awkwardly shuffled along, breathing heavily.

And sure – not all these kids need to know how to move hay bales in the future. But it’s more than that. It’s problem solving. Teamwork. Leadership. Physical movement. A sense of accomplishment. And, of course, a love of Wyoming’s outdoors.

Campers sit around a campfire morning and night while eating their meals.(Caitlin Tan / Wyoming public media)

“I think I've kind of fallen in love with the mountains here,” said 15-year-old William Johnston of New Jersey. “That's the biggest thing, is that I want to try to come back.”

Johnston lives in a city, and this is the first time he’s really been in the mountains. He sat on a stump by a campfire.

It was the second to last morning, and Johnston reflected on the week of camp. Learning to fly-fish was his favorite. But his other takeaway? Bring layers.

“Sleeping is pretty cold,” said Johnston, adorning a wool balaclava on his head.

Because in Wyoming, even during summer camp, winter is always coming.

Campers tromp around by the beaver pond they’re helping restore.(Caitlin Tan / Wyoming public media)

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