Catoctin
Quaker Camp
Ages 9-14
Thurmont, MD
Catoctin
Catoctin offers campers a chance to live their summer to the fullest by combining lively in-camp days with meaningful out-of-camp adventures. On in-camp days, your camper will enjoy a full schedule of boisterous games, arts and crafts, swimming, singing, and reflection against the scenic backdrop of a mountain bog. All of this is led by counselors who are dedicated to truly listening to each camper, pushing them when they need encouragement and supporting them when they need guidance and structure.
Once each week, these counselors lead small groups out on two-night trips away from camp, with each camper carrying their own bedding, clothes, mess kit, toiletries, and group food and gear. Trips vary based on age and interest, with some groups hiking and others canoeing or rock climbing. But all of our trips are designed with the same goals in mind: introducing campers to the exciting challenges of the outdoors and promoting the types of connection – both with nature and with one another – that happen so thrillingly on an outdoor trip with friends.
Campers in their final year go on a Ten Day, an extended trip that serves as a capstone to their time at Catoctin.
2026 Session Information
As with the other residential camps, Catoctin operates in three different two-week sessions:
Saturday, June 27 – Saturday, July 11
Kindling Session A, July 26 – August 1
Sunday, July 12 – Saturday, July 25
Sunday, July 26 – Sunday, August 9
Kindling Session B, August 2 – August 9
Drop Off: 2-4pm of the first day of each session
Pick Up: 10am-12pm of the last day of each session.
You may come at the start of pick up to join campers at the Fire Circle for singing and Meeting.
Please take note of whether you have a Saturday or Sunday drop off/pick up as each session is different.
Life at Camp
Catoctin lies outside the town of Thurmont, MD. It takes its name from nearby Catoctin Mountain, under whose ridge our campers fill each day with laughter, activity and reflection. The camp is on 383 acres of woods and features a small lodge, a dining hall, a state of the art eco bathhouse, an infirmary, and the cabins in which our campers start their day…
Morning:
After the 7:45am wake up bell, the entire camp bustles to the dining hall for breakfast. Once breakfast chores are concluded, the community gathers at the Fire Circle for silent worship and reflection. From there, campers head to Unit Time, where they play and work with their cabin- and unit-mates. Finally, everyone gets a half hour of General Swim to jump in the water before lunch.
Afternoon:
After lunch, campers get a rest period to relax, read, and recharge. This is followed by Afternoon Activity, during which campers can float freely between different staff-run activities that range from the artistic to the athletic. Once activities wrap up, campers get another hour of General Swim to escape the afternoon heat.
Night:
The whole camp comes together for dinner and, after cleanup, reconvenes for a boisterous night of games and fun. Evening Activity is a great opportunity for the entire camp to to laugh, play, and sing as one big mixed-age community. And when it’s done, everyone heads back to their cabins for bed by 9:30pm.
Catoctin Staples
Activities
Each in-camp day’s three activity periods are balanced to nurture everyone’s creative, athletic, and outdoorsy sides. During the day, campers might do candle-making, go stream-wading or play a huge game of capture the flag. At night, they might sing around a campfire or perform skits they’ve created in mixed-age groups.
General Swim
Lifeguard-supervised General Swim happens twice a day at Catoctin, where campers can jump in “The Lagoon,” relax in an inner-tube, or improve their swimming skills with the help of a counselor.
Hiking
There’s nothing like setting out into the wilderness with nothing but the pack on your back. Campers on our two-night backpacking trips hike between two and twelve miles of the Appalachian Trail each day, exploring both trails and backroads.
Canoeing
Led by at least one lifeguard and certified instructor, Catoctin sends canoe trips down the Antietam, Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. Campers on these trips get a chance to learn canoeing, play in the water, and enjoy a different pace of life.
Rock Climbing
Led by a certified climbing instructor, these trips introduce campers to technical climbing skills. While optional, climbing provides a safe space for campers to experience their own strength and explore nature in a different way.
Dyresha Harris, Director, Catoctin (she/her)
Dyresha Harris, Director of Catoctin, first joined the BYM Camps community as a child in 1988. She was a camper for 8 years, on staff for 11 years and director since 2012. She believes that camp is, at its core, about discovering and strengthening connections: connection to self, to others, and to the natural world. In 2010 she co-founded the Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments (STRIDE) program to increase equity and access within the camping program. Outside of BYM, Dyresha has spent the last 20 years working with young people in schools, nonprofits, and community programs, while also engaged in her other passion: facilitating anti-oppression work and transformative justice programs around the country. Most recently, she served as the Director of Education and Training for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Dyresha earned her BA with a double major in Sociology & Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Originally hailing from the heart of Washington DC, she has spent the last 18 years in her beloved West Philadelphia neighborhood. In her free time, Dyresha enjoys craft (fails), dance, outdoor adventures and spending time with her partner, camp alum, Eo Trueblood.
