Trackers Bay

STOP AND LOOK NO FURTHER! This is «the camp» for your kids.
We were so excited about this camp/​after school care service since we found out about Trackers some years back. My boys are mad keen about Trackers (I mean «every single program» available). As kids these day tend to be somewhat addicted to electronics, Trackers bring them back to normal. My boys see things and understand better value in life through Trackers programs. Furthermore, all the cool stuff they learn is just purely amazing. Archery, surviving skills, carving, fishing, teamwork, first aid in the woods and … my list can go on for miles! All the instructions/​staff is down to earth, experienced and wonderful with kids. Can’t ask for a better place to send your children for camps and/​or other specialty classes.
We LOVE LOVE LOVE Trackers, and a super big Thank You to everyone at Trackers to make this brilliant place available in the Bay Area.

My daughter attends the home school class here. We started in January and we’ve been very happy with the experience. The leaders are very competent, kind and great at keeping the kids in line with patience and respect. My daughter loves the field trips and all the cool stuff she learns. The place is a real treasure for home school parents looking for some great outdoor education and social time for their kids.

My son who is now 11 had previously done summer day camps through Trackers in Berkeley. This was always one of his favorite day camps and what he learned while hiking and exploring really interested him. So it was not a big step to consider the sleep-​away summer camp this year.
The sleep away summer camp was called Homesteaders I believe. My son desperately needed time off the screen and this camp was absolutely perfect. The mix of activities, chores, group interaction and bonding was well throughout out. They learned quite a bit about plants, even made balms from the herbs and wildflowers. One day they visited a nearby goat farm. He even (willingly) kept a journal and thrived on the enthusiasm of the leaders and other kids in his group.
Getting out of the city and away from the computer and iPhone was a real blessing for him. And I would recommend this camp to anyone considering screen detox for their pre-​teen.

I did a one-​day adult wilderness survival basics class recently, and loved it SO MUCH, I am wondering if I’m short enough to pass for a kid so I can get into all the other cool classes and camps that Trackers puts on. I don’t know. I’m pretty immature. The wrinkles might give me away, but maybe I can show up pre-​camouflaged with mud. Definitely worth a shot.
Trackers as a group have a definite culture, which I think is summed up by a sentence I heard was in their craigslist post seeking instructors: «Must love the wilderness and the works of Joss Whedon.»
So. If you would enjoy learning which local trees are suitable for use in the making of ad hoc vampire stakes, you may be a good fit for Trackers. If you think summer camp in the woods is about lagging behind the group talking with your friend and checking Facebook, maybe not so much.
Looking forward to adult Zombie Camp, adult Little House in the Post-​Apocalyptic Bay Area Camp, and adult I Can Kick Katniss’s Ass Camp.

As a working mom of a nine-​year-​old girl, summer has been my nemesis for four years now. Around mid-​February, a small kernel of anxiety is planted… summer is coming… and over the next three months, continues to expand and bloom like some sort of mutant plant. By the time May winds down, Audrey III towers over me, demanding to be fed. Summer is not coming; summer has arrived, and it’s hungry!
For the summer of 2013, I thought I had everything nailed down. Sometime in July, I realized that I had screwed up, and had no coverage for the first week of August. Panic ensued.
Concurrent to this, a friend began posting pictures and commentary via Facebook on her son’s experience at Zombie Survival Camp (!). Being a huge Walking Dead fan, this piqued my interest, and as I was desperate to cover the first week of August, I started poking around the TrackersBay website: Zombie Survival Camp, Forest Ninja Camp, Hellboy Camp, Archery Apprentice Camp, Little House on the Apocalyptic Prairie Camp… these are only some of the camps listed! The working mom rejoiced that there was space in Hellboy Camp, and the inner nerd seethed with jealousy that my lucky, LUCKY child was going to run around the Bay Area like a lunatic, immersed in a weeklong mystery involving a smörgåsbord of mystical creatures inspired by Dark Horse Comics.
TrackersBay has taken over the old Marmot store on Adeline, and it’s perfect. The Swiss chalet architecture, stained glass windows and peeling paint feed straight into the stories that the instructors weave for their camp participants. Each night, I would drill my daughter for all the particulars of her day, and she would eagerly tell me everything in vivid, amazing detail. Oh to be a child again!
The following week had space available for Little House on the Post-​Apocalyptic Bay, and my daughter was having such a great time in Hellboy camp, that I decided to shuffle camps around so she could attend. I’m so glad I did. This camp focused less on the story telling, and more on teaching real-​life skills and knowledge for surviving in our changing environment. My sweet little city girl now knows how to create a shelter from found items, carve necessary stakes for the shelter, start a fire, and purify water.
I realize that the best reviews are balanced with both pros and cons, but I have no cons. The camp themes are engaging, the counselors are enthusiastic and the safety protocols are impressive. TrackersBay will be the first website we check out for next year’s summer camp… as well as the adult programs for me!

I’m wondering if the negative reviews have been removed somehow… this camp was not all it’s website is cracked up to be. My kid joined one of his friends for Wizard Camp and after the first day, I was told he and his friend were «too slow» and busy talking… at.summer.camp…in.the.WOODS. One of the very young counselors told me that my son reminded him of himself at that age – and it turns out that wasn’t a compliment. Nice. The kid felt nagged beyond belief and the counselors (did I mention they were young?) seemed more concerned with getting to all the activities than about the kids having fun. You know – since they were supposed to be wizards in the woods. We took him out midweek and got a refund, since a week long camp is not worth the argument. I should have listened to my friends from last year who said that the counselors yelled at the kids.
And guess what? He’s back at another camp where they «love having him» and «he is not slow at all». Hmmm.

Okay, those of you who have ever read my reviews before knows that I am very stingy with the 5-​star rating. I don’t like giving them out too easily because then they don’t really mean anything. Trackers Bay deserves these 5-​stars and more. If I could dream up the perfect summer camp, this would be it — except that I would make it for my age group instead of my kids. These super smart super groovy people dream up camp themes for each week that are creative, fun, engaging and tach at the same time. My kids are sci-​fi/​fantasy nerds so they love the «School of Magic» theme and «Middle Earth» theme but there are themes for the less geeky too. My kids have also enjoyed the «Little House» themes and are super stoked about «Evil Secret Agent» week coming up. They go out to different regional parks every day and learn about outdoor wilderness skills while role playing in awesome adventure stories. This has given my kids a lot of confidence out in the wild and so so much joy. My younger daughter, who used to be very persnickity about getting dirty, came home with her face painted with mud (and a giant smile) after they’d learned about camouflage. The counselors are super engaged and creative about how to keep the kids busy and entertained and on theme. They are so dedicated and dress-​up and really care about the story telling in addition to just having fun. The admin staff is very responsive and helpful and addressed any logistical issues we had (which were all minor) with speed, grace and success. This camp may not be for every kid but they are also really good at giving you information to make that decision. That being said, I was really nervous about sending my younger child last year because she hated dirt and bugs (like pathologically) and was kind of shy. But I gave it a shot and she had a really terrific time and couldn’t wait to go back this year. Sorry to go on and gush but I LOVE TRACKERS BAY.

If you are looking for nature programs for kids or adults this is the place to be. For free, you can join «Nature Nerds Anonymous» or pay on a sliding scale rate for more in depth learning like the wild edible plant classes, bowmaking and survival. You will meet up with people who are passionate about being immersed in nature.