Earn your Girl Scout Hiker Badge, which teaches you how to prepare for a hike. From learning which important items to pack to discovering what kinds of snacks are best for hiking trips, this badge activity is a great opportunity for your troop to enjoy nature and work as a team.

Learn more about the Girl Scout Hiker Badge and other outdoor awareness activities.

Day camps are held either at a location in the community or at a River Valleys camp and are planned, organized and run by volunteers that receive year-round support from River Valleys’ staff.

Most day camps are 3–5 days and have a theme for activities.

Activities offered:

• Outdoor cooking
• Archery
• Swimming
• Teambuilding
• Community service projects

Past themes:

• The environment
• Science
• Sports
• Creative arts

Browse the day camp opportunities offered this summer and register soon!

Popular Troop + Family Programs

Outdoor Extravaganza Troop Camp

Troops get to choose what activities they are interested in trying, from canoeing and kayaking to art and archery. River Valleys provides all the food and programming, and the adults and girls come and have fun together. This program takes place Friday nights–Sunday mornings, and there is a session every weekend of the summer at one of five camps.

Horsing Around with Mom or Dad

Girls and their mom or dad get a chance visit the horse barn to learn about horses and go on a trail ride around camp. The rest of the time can be spent swimming, canoeing, practicing archery and crafts, and much more.

Thursday Discovery Day + Overnight

This session gives girls a taste of camp. Girls try a number of different activities, eat a camp meal and spend quality time with their troop or a family member.

Any girl who registers by January 15 at midnight will get $5 off a summer 2013 camp program of her choice. Please note: this incentive is for girls, not adults.

Upcoming Dates:

• December 7–8
• December 8

Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the Girl Scout sisterhood with other Seniors and Ambassadors. Attend the day or overnight event and leave with new friendships and strong leadership skills.

Register now to join your sister Girl Scouts on October 13 during Centennial Day of Service. While you take action to make the world a better place, you could win a trip for 12 to Waterpark of America. The overnight trip includes:

• A slumber party for 12 at the Radisson Bloomington Hotel
• Passes to the Water Park of America
• 100 arcade tokens

The registration deadline is today—Friday, October 5.

Centennial Day of Service cleanups and celebrations will take place across our entire region. Check them out on the Centennial Day of Service map.

Choose from a variety of trips in canoeing, kayaking, biking and backpacking all over northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Wilderness trips take courage, confidence and character to the limit.

Start out with a level one trip to gain skills and learn all the basics of surviving with your group in the wilderness. Build a fire and cook your meals over it, purify your water out of the lake, pitch a tent and travel under your own power each day. On a Girl Scout wilderness trip, “I can’t” is replaced with a confident “I can.”

After mastering the basics, you can progress to an advanced level each summer, eventually participating in an amazing 18-day wilderness adventure. Girl Scout wilderness trips lay a solid foundation for a lifetime of leadership.

Whether you are joining us for a first-level trip or are returning for an upper-level trip, check out our summer trips and sign up today.

Event details:

• Saturday, November 19
• Loyola High School in Mankato
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• $30/per participant (learning scholarships are available)

Many exciting workshops are being offered for participants of all experience levels in Girl Scouting. Leave the planning to us and register for sessions in a recommended track. Tracks include: first-time leader, returning leader, ready to go outdoors and service team member. New workshops include: Light the Spark in Older Girls, Passport to Adventure, Going on a Treasure Hunt, Jeremiah’s Hope for Kindness and the National Program Portfolio: The Complete Picture.

Conference highlights:

• Lunch speaker, Linda Keene, CEO, Girls of Minnesota and
• Wisconsin River Valleys
• Interactive resource fair
• Service project for Hannah’s Socks 
• Girl Scout Shop

Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to enhance your skills, gain new ideas, and network with fellow volunteers!

Questions?

Email training@www.girlscoutsrv.org.

In the September/October 2005 issue of Camping Magazine, authors Viki Kappel Spain, M. Deborah Bialeschki, Ph.D., and Karla A. Henderson, Ph.D, outlined why camp is a great place for kids of all ages to spend time at in the summer. The highlights include:

Camps can teach children that physical exercise is fun and can be an activity of choice over television and video games.There’s nothing better than seeing a camper hit the archery target for the first time or master a canoeing stroke. At our camps, we offer activities ranging from archery to canoeing to field games to off-site trips; being active is a way of life at all River Valleys’ camps!

Camps look for innovative, fun, tasty ways to provide healthy choices and decision-making skills to their campers. Camp is about trying something new—whether that’s a new way of cooking and eating food (like over a campfire) or trying something new altogether (like Marmalade French Toast). At each of our meals we offer meat-free options on the table. so girls can try what they would like. And we communicate with families ahead of time, so campers who have food allergies and intolerances can still enjoy their camp favorites and try new recipes.

Camp staff provide positive feedback and focus on the process of doing your best, emphasizing participation rather than winning or being the best. In River Valleys, we build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. At camp, we also teach our campers how to communicate, use teamwork, and live in a small group. When campers develop these skills and integrate into the camp community, camp really becomes a place to return year after year and develop as a person.

“Camp is a great place to offer good food, great activities, a positive environment, safe and secure location, and most of all, fun.” We couldn’t agree more, and we look forward to seeing you at many camp sessions this summer!

We had loads of girls out at the lake most of the afternoon, and several of them had luck catching fish. (We captured some of them with photos.) Every time someone thought they were about to catch something, you would hear all kinds of chatter and the girl’s anticipation would rise. When two girls from the same troop caught the largest fish pictured above, there was all kinds of cheering, giggles, and “good jobs.”

The other two girls pictured were the most patient girls I have ever seen at ice fishing. The one with the white coat and black snow pants sat for at least 30 minutes waiting for something to bite. Her will and drive to keep fishing paid off, and she caught two fish in a matter of three minutes.

All of the girls who came out had a great time.