Shadow Scouts: Advanced Forest Ninja

Camouflaged teens move thru the forest on a moonlit night at Shadow Scouts overnight camp

Shadow Scouts: Advanced Forest Ninja

An Epic Overnight Adventure Camp

The Craft of the Scout is about Awareness and Knowledge. Awareness of your surroundings, natural patterns that rise and fall, how to blend and flow. Awareness of yourself – how you feel, how you react. Awareness of your neighbors: bird, plant or animal.

Journey with us into the shadows and learn the ways of the Scout. We will dive into tracking, teamwork, survival, trail craft, tool creation, stealth, sneaking, stalking, and epic night games, all with a healthy dose of FUN!!!!

Teens Need Greater Challenges

Teens need challenges that help them find out who they really are and what they’re capable of.  The usual nature day program they’ve loved for years is no longer enough.  They need something MORE, something DIFFERENT, something REAL.

Shadow Scouts is That Next Step

An overnight program where teens can push their edges in a real way.

Forest Floor is collaborating with Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education to create our most epic and advanced offering yet. It will be designed and led by Nathan Roark and Michael Ismerio with a mix of male and female Buffalo Cove and Forest Floor staff mentors.

Nathan Roark is an exceptional hunter, tracker and outdoorsman who has devoted his life to working with kids and teens in the woods for over 30 years. His skill and knowledge along with the land and facilities at Buffalo Cove, and the extended overnight nature of this program will enable us to push the edges that our teens are asking for.

Michael Ismerio, co-director of Forest Floor, has been working with teens for the last 7 years focusing his attention on adolescent rites of passage and the social-emotional needs of our kids on their journey towards adulthood.

Ages:
13-16

Dates:
Monday July 22 – Friday July 26
Five days and four nights

Registration

Please pre-register each child separately with this form for the lottery by January 30th. Lottery notifications will be sent out January 31st, with registration windows opening February 1-5 with a limit of 2 camps per child. Open the toggle to read the full details below.

Open enrollment will begin February 6 with no limits and for those who did not register in the lottery.

New: Please separately reserve your spot(s) on the shuttle vans by adding them in the registration system. They show up as separate "camps" for each week. Open the toggle to read the full details below.

Camps fill fast.  We offer payment plans and waitlists. Waitlists are activated frequently as family plans change. See which camps have open spots on our  registration portal.

New Lottery Details

To help ease stress for both parents and administrators while lowering the number of families trying to access our registration system at the same time we are implementing a summer camp lottery and staggered registration system.

Lottery Sign-up Thru Jan. 30th

  • Fill out the Lottery Form for EACH child you wish to enroll in summer camp.
  • Deadline to submit your child’s name(s) for the lottery is Jan. 30th at midnight.

Lottery Sign-up Form

Lottery Registration Feb. 1st – 5th

  • On the evening of Jan. 31st all lottery applicants will receive an email letting them know which day and time they’ll be given registration access.
  • Registration access will come in the form of an email with a password that is good for that day.
  • Thursday Feb. 1st begins the Lottery phase of registration.
  • Families will be told specific time slots each day when registration will open to them.
  • Each time slot will include a mix of returning families and new families.
  • Once given access you can register ALL your kids at that time.
  • During the Lottery phase of registration families are limited to 2 camps per child.

Open Enollment Begins Feb. 6th

  • On Tuesday Feb. 6th we will transition from the Lottery phase to Open Enrollment, allowing anyone to register and removing the 2 camp per child limit. Families that didn’t sign-up for the Lottery by the Jan 30 deadline will have to wait until Open Enrollment to register for camp.
  • If the camps you want are full, definitely sign up for that camps’ waitlist. We regularly have cancellations and pull from the waitlist, especially as we get closer to the start of summer.
New Shuttle Van Details
  • Reserving a spot on our shuttle van is different this year.
  • Shuttle vans provide transportation from our in-town location of Haw Creek Commons to our forested camp location of Shope Creek and back to Haw Creek Commons each day.
  • The default drop-off/pick-up location for most camps (except Blacksmithing, Run Wild, and Boffing) will be directly at the camp location of Shope Creek.
  • Shuttle van seats for each week of camp are listed as it’s own “camp” on the Camp Availability page.
  • To save a seat in the shuttle van you MUST register for the Shuttle Van “camp” for each week of camp your child is attending at the same time you are registering for their actual camp.
  • The Shuttle Van “camp” for each week will be clearly listed with the other camps for that week and will show if there are any seats still available.
  • The Shuttle Van  “camp” will have a waitlist available, but once the van is full we can’t guarantee more spots will open up and parents on the waitlist should be prepared to drop-off/pick-up at Shope Creek.
  • If your child’s participation in camp is dependent on a seat in the van and the Shuttle Van is listed as full for a given week, we encourage parents to sign-up for a different week of camp.


Price
: $1160

  • Monthly payment plans are available
  • $100 non-refundable deposit due at registration
  • Limited Partial Scholarships available (see below)

Transportation:
Included in the program cost is van transportation with Forest Floor staff from Haw Creek Commons to Buffalo Cove which is located between Boone and Lenoir, NC. Drop off is 9:15am Monday, Pickup is 5pm on Friday

Food:
Buffalo Cove staff will be serving three delicious high quality meals a day in their dining hall with a focus on local and organic ingredients.

Housing:
This is a co-ed program with separate boys and girls primitive bunk houses and bathrooms. No tents are required.

 Possible interview: Teens new to Shadow Scouts and unfamiliar to our staff may be asked to do a short zoom interview with us to make sure they understand what they are signing up for. We will contact you after you register if this is the case.

Warning:
Please make sure that your teen knows that this camp may involve getting dirty, moderate physical exertion, running through the woods, and sneaking around in the dark on steep mountainsides, possibly late at night. Camouflage clothing is encouraged. Sounds fun, huh?

 

Why Choose Forest Floor?

We help children have fun, be healthy, and achieve their fullest potential with nature connection mentoring.

  • Health benefits of nature connection
  • Learn wilderness skills & traditional crafts
  • Meet new friends and reunite with old ones
  • Unforgettable adventures every day
  • Skilled and caring mentors
  • Exciting wilderness experiences
  • Convenient in-town drop-off & pickup
  • Boost long term cognitive & social development
Teenagers at summer camp learning forest stealth and camouflage skills

Scholarship Information

Overview

We offer limited partial scholarships to individuals who otherwise could not afford our programs. 

Donate

If you are a family with means, please consider donating to our scholarship fund. Donations of a 1/4, 1/2, or FULL scholarship can be made during the standard registration process. For more substantial donations please contact us to discuss details.

Apply

Limited partial scholarships are available. Scholarship funds are generated exclusively from generosity of donations toward the scholarship fund. Scholarships are limited to the sum of these funds and are awarded based on equitable distribution. Full scholarships will be considered for families in great need, but most scholarship applicants should expect to pay at least half of tuition.

To apply for a scholarship FIRST please register for the program/camp, choose the payment plan option, and only pay a $100 deposit at time of registration.

AFTER RESERVING A SPOT, please follow the link below to fill out the application.

If your scholarship request can't be approved or isn't the amount of discount that you need, we will provide a full refund of the deposit.