Camp Barnard

Specialties

Camp Barnard located in Otter Point, just west of Sooke on Vancouver Island, is a 250 acre camp rented year round by a variety of youth and adult organizations to deliver their programs. Short and long-​term residential camping, wilderness camping, and day use opportunities are available in a safe yet challenging environment, at very reasonable rates. Camp Barnard has been providing a nurturing environment for people to learn new skills and experience nature and their place in it for more than 60 years. Camp Barnard provides excellent camp rental facilities for the youngest/​least experienced camper to develop skills and confidence in a residential camp setting, working down to the more rustic cabin circles, out to the back country to more advanced and adventurous leave-​no-​trace camping.

History

Established in 1945.

In February 1945 Senator Barnard gifted 2 parcels of land –his ‘hunting lodge’ — to the Victoria Council of Scouts Canada. This amounted to some 200 acres of second growth forest and included 17-​acre Young Lake. Currently Camp Barnard comprises 251 acres and is used year-​round. Provincial Jamborees have been held at Camp Barnard in 1974, 1982 and 1987 and we are now preparing for PJ 2015.

Camp development began in earnest in the 1960’s with the building of McPherson Lodge, followed ten years later by Totem Lodge– a Katimavik project. Mor Kitchen was a jamboree addition and has just undergone renovation. The current bunkhouses were completed in 1992, Keego Kitchen in 1998. Development is continuing with new a new washroom block scheduled to open in 2015.