SUMMER CAMP SCHEDULE
Sleep-away camps in a tribal community.
Adult and Family Camp June 4-7 (for ages 9 and up with parent(s) or adults 15 to 90) $400
Archery Camp June 18-22 (for boys and girls 10 and older) $400
Adventure Camp July 2-6 (for boys and girls 10 and older) $400
Adventure Camp July 16-20 For boys & girls 10 and older wanting a broader spectrum of activities (survival skills, learning plants and their uses, tomahawk & knife throwing, archery, fire creation, games, hikes …) $400
Our agenda of adventure and education includes some of all the varied aspects of Indian survival, including: plant lore, crafts, games, hikes, camping skills, tomahawk, spear, rabbit stick and knife throwing (strictly supervised for safety), archery, Native American sports, Indian sign language, story-telling, naming ceremony, stalking, wild foods, plant medicines, safe knife use and lots of engaging intellectual games around the fire (one fixture at camp is a dictionary).
Archery has become so popular here in the regular camp sessions that, by request, I have started offering summer camps dedicated just to that skill and adventure.
Pardon the boast, but there is no archery program like this one. I pour my 25 years of experience into the best instruction I have yet experienced in any other camp or school. But this serious teaching is balanced by games of adventure, quickness, and discretion such as were practiced in Native American communities as well as in Sherwood Forest.
There will be tournaments galore, woods roving, and lessons in the 4 types of shots: direct, lob, clout, and at moving targets - all of which had their places in the practicalities of history.
Medicine Bow is a primitive experience, Monday 10 AM through Friday 2PM, for boys and girls 10 years and older who seek an overnight wilderness camp unlike other modern camps. We live in the forest, 35 acres wedged into the Chattahoochee National Forest. One building, Medicine Bow Lodge, serves us for extended rainy periods. Our tools are stick, stone, creek, plants, fire, and knife - and a lot of well-made bows and arrows. We tell time by sun and moon. Our music is wind, creek, whip-poor-will, and coyote. Our philosophy: Look and listen to the Earth. Be mindful of your path. Live it fully. Then teach it.
Medicine Bow addresses honor, skills, and reverence toward life and all gifts of the Earth. We all share in cooking, water-toting, fire duty, and clean-up and take pride in self-sufficiency. I believe most campers leave here with an elevated self-esteem and a new sense of family. Friendships will be made for a lifetime. The exception would be a seriously homesick child who really did not want to come. The happiest camper is the one self-motivated to come.
I believe in the balance of fun, adventure, learning, responsibility, and giving a camper the freedom to succeed or fail in a project - to acquire knowledge experientially - while guided by a helping hand. My assistant and I strive for quality, not quantity. We accept only 13 campers.
I am a naturalist and Indian survival specialist, but Nature is their ultimate teacher. I continue to learn all I can, side by side with the kids. I believe in the children, if I am to believe in the future.
As in all outdoor experiences, there are risks. Wasps, snakes, accidents are potentials here just as they are around your home. We do our best to prevent these things before they happen. We learn to move through the woods safely.
Since Medicine Bow is a low-adventure summer camp ( as compared to rock-climbing, whitewater, caving, etc. ) there has never been a serious accident. My home is 1/4 mile from camp. From there a hospital lies 10 miles away.
Though I am not a hunter, I am not an anti-hunter. I understand the atavistic call. I do, however, disapprove of the way many 'sportspersons' go about the hunt. Therefore, two aspects of archery that we will deal with are safety and ethics. Hunting is a personal choice that is heaped with responsibility. While I will not presume to tell the camper what to choose, I would hope to influence his/her way should the camper choose to hunt later in life. It should go without saying, there will be no hunting at camp.
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Mark Warren is a lifelong student of nature and primitive lore. Growing up in the piedmont of Georgia, he was in love with the forest. After being graduated from the University of Georgia in art and chemistry/ pre-med, he served 10 years as naturalist / environmental educator for The Georgia Conservancy and 17 years as wilderness director for High Meadows Camp. He is the author of Magic from the Woods and The American Wilderness Awards, both activity books in nature study. In 1980 he designed and taught Georgia's first statewide environmental education workshops for public schools which reached thousands of teachers. For this the National Wildlife Federation honored Mark as Georgia's Conservation Educator of the Year. Mark's canoeing experience comes from 25 years of exploring creeks and rivers and whitewater racing. He has been the Dixie Division Open Canoe Slalom Champion 5 times, and in 1998 became the U.S. National Champion in the Slalom/Down river combined. |
His relationship with bow and arrow is intimate and atavistic, though he no longer chooses to hunt. Archery is an art to him. In 1999 Mark won the men's division of the World Championship Longbow Tournament. Mark has composed music for the Academy Theater, the Atlanta Symphony, and for public concert, the most recent of which raised money for the Cherokee people of Georgia. Mark has completed a book on his lifework as a naturalist, including scores of activities for teachers and students alike. Over 200 illustrations are included. He is currently seeking a publisher for this work and 8 novels. |
For more information visit my web site at...MedicineBow.net
Write, call or e-mail for application.
If you would like to talk more about Medicine Bow, give Mark a call at 706-864-5928 or e-mail.
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