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 17 – Saturday July 22
Six days and five nights
Morning dropoff & afternoon pickup (times TBD)
Registration
Registration is now open in Phase 3 with no limits and waitlists enabled.
Camps fill fast. We offer payment plans and waitlists.
2023 Phased Registration Key Dates
How does the Phased Registration work? And when will registrations open?
First off, we want to share with you the summer camp schedule in advance (see below) so you can plan, discuss and prioritize choices in advance. Several days after the 2023 camp schedule is published, registration will open as noted below.
Download a printable schedule with key dates.
Phase 1 - Wednesday Feburary 1st - 12PM Eastern
Forest Floor families that have participated in our camps and programs during the past few years will be able to Pre-Register with a limit of two camps per child. Camp capacities will be limited to hold space for new families, with no wait-list capability yet. This is to honor our intent to provide long term mentoring and ensure currently engaged families and children don't miss out. We'll send an email to these families on Wednesday February 1 with information on how to Pre-Register.
Phase 2 - Saturday February 4th - 12PM Eastern
Registration will open to the larger community on Saturday February 4 and the limit of two camps per child will remain. Camp capacities will expand to full limits. This will give everyone a chance to get involved with Forest Floor and enable families to experience our nature connection offerings. We'll send an email to our entire mailing list when Phase 2 registration is open.
Phase 3 - Tuesday February 7th - 12PM Eastern
Registration will continue starting Tuesday February 7th for all camps with no limits on the number of camps per child for the remaining spots. Waitlists will open up for any camps that are full. Again, we'll send an email to our entire mailing list announcing this.
Price: $1160
- Available discounts are listed on the Summer Camps page
- Monthly Payment Plan available
- 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.
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.
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
Logistics
Drop-off/Pick-up Locations
This program takes place at Shope Creek Wilderness. You may drop-off and pick-up directly here at our forest location.
We also offer convenient in-town drop-off and pick-up at Haw Creek Commons. We will provide van transportation to and from our forest location. For some weeks our shuttle van "reservations" can fill up, and you'll see the specific options available for each camp within the registration portal pages.
Shope Creek Wilderness
472 Shope Creek Rd, Asheville, NC 28805
Haw Creek Commons for Van Transportation
315 Old Haw Creek Rd, Asheville, NC 28805
Times
Flexible Drop-off:
8:30 - 9:00 am at Haw Creek Commons
8:45 - 9:15 am at Shope Creek Wilderness
Flexible Pick-up:
2:40 - 3:10 pm at Shope Creek Wilderness
3:00 - 3:30 pm at Haw Creek Commons
Clothing and Gear
Our programs are all-outdoors, with rain shelters available as needed. Children must arrive each morning fully prepared with a backpack, packed lunch, snack, full water bottle, and clothes appropriate for being out in the weather.
COVID-19 Cancellation Policy
A family is eligible for either: (1) a full refund if the cancellation occurs before the start of the program; or (2) a pro-rated refund for any unattended program days; under the following conditions:
- Forest Floor cancels any programs due to COVID-19 or the Sars-Cov-2(novel coronavirus) pandemic.
- A family needs to cancel because they are directly adversely impacted by COVID-19 (job loss, illness, or caring for sick family members).
AND in the event of cancellation (either on our part or yours)if you are in a position to donate your registration as a scholarship it would be a huge help to both Forest Floor and families in need.
Please note: Our standard cancellation & refund policy will apply for all cancellations other than the two conditions listed above. See our FAQ for details on our standard refund policy.
Scholarship Information
Overview
We offer limited partial scholarships to individuals who otherwise could not afford our programs. We prioritize scholarships for people of color and single parents with financial needs. We understand that people of color experience more financial and institutional barriers to participation, and wish to help counteract that by offering scholarships.
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.
2023 COVID Safety Policies
Our COVID-19 safety policy is based primarily on pre-screening and monitoring. It is our current position that the single largest preventative factor at our programs is the fact that we are open-air and outdoors.
Pre-Screening and Monitoring
-
Any child arriving in the morning with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 will not be permitted to attend programs that day. If during the program day a child displays signs or symptoms of illness they will be separated from other students and parents contacted to pick them up.
-
All staff will be self-monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19. If they develop symptoms, they will notify their supervisor and stay home. Any staff person who develops symptoms of illness during the work day will be separated from students and other staff and sent home ASAP.
Masks & Social Distancing:
- As of Fall 2022, we will no longer require masks to be worn on our shuttle vans transporting campers
- Children and staff will not be required to wear masks, but will be fully supported if they choose to do so.
We will do our best to fully support any child or staff who chooses more restrictive social distancing or mask wearing than the policies outlined above.