“Chi-pe-ta”
Chipeta
Our Middle units cater to both first-time campers and campers returning from our Lower units. You’ll have many opportunities to test your wings while enjoying the pure fun of camp life and time with one another. This year is deliberately designed as a step forward where campers stretch their independence with strong support. They develop a Code of Living and participate in activities that offer adventure and a definite sense of accomplishment, which will make you more confident about who you are and what you’re all about.
For Girls 12 to 13 Years Old
We understand that friends and fun are two of your top priorities. This is an age where campers grow not just in skills but in self-understanding. As a Chipeta camper (a Chipetan!), you’ll participate in activities that offer adventure and a definite sense of accomplishment, which makes you more confident about who you are and what you’re all about. The free-choice program isn’t just fun; it builds decision-making and ownership.
You’ll have many opportunities to test your wings while enjoying the pure fun of camp life and time with one another. At the start of the term, you and the other Chipeta campers will write a Code of Living or set of principles each of you agrees to honor during your time together. This shared Code becomes a foundation for responsibility and community.
Chipeta is about forming healthy friendships and discovering who you are in a community that supports you. There’s plenty of time to hang out in the Chipeta Lodge and share stories about the day’s adventures. Maybe you’ll play a game of foosball, take your turn at the piano, or volley with a friend at the ping-pong table. Boredom will never enter your mind.
Cheley offers opportunities to step up and lead daily. These moments are where confidence begins to stick. Maybe you talk a fellow camper through the last steps of a tough hike to Mount Ida, work together on the challenge course, or help your backpacking partner set up her tent at Sandbeach Lake. Chipeta will encourage your personal growth through fun and adventurous activities with caring and knowledgeable counselors.
Have a 14-year-old? While Chipeta is typically for 12- and 13-year-olds, some 14-year-olds may also join this unit depending on their birthday, grade, and readiness. Most, however, move up to Senior Chipeta (for girls 14–17) or Girls’ Trail’s End (for girls 12–17). Learn more about choosing a unit at 14 →
Take a look around
Welcome to Chipeta
This short unit tour offers a glimpse into daily life in Chipeta, from cabins and gathering spaces to the places campers spend time together, helping families get a feel for the rhythm of the day.
Chipeta is home to up to 70 campers, supported by approximately 14 staff members and a small team of leadership staff. Campers spend their days in smaller activity groups with close support and individualized attention. The unit has six cabins: Broken Circle, Diamond K, H-Bar-9, O-Bar-O, Two Four Six, and Quarter Circle 5.
Explore Our Activities
Chipeta campers get to choose from a wide range of activities designed for this age and stage. Each day, campers typically choose from five to seven activity options, selecting either one full-day activity or two half-day activities. This approach creates variety from day to day while giving campers meaningful choice and flexibility throughout the session. Want a deeper look at how choice and scheduling work? Read more about how activity sign-ups work.
- Archery
- Backpacking
- Ceramics
- Challenge Course
- Climbing Wall
- Colts
- Crafts
- Fishing
- High Ropes
- Hiking
- Horseback Riding Trips
- Horseback Ring Rides
- Horseback Trail Rides
- Lil’ Ranchers
- One Wheel
- Outcamping
- Rafting
- Riflery
- Sewing
- Sports
- Stand Up Paddleboarding
- Technical Climbing
- Woodworking
- And miscellaneous activities, like Finer Things, Water Wars, Random Acts of Kindness, and more!
Activities rotate throughout the session, and not every activity is offered every day or every week. While both terms offer a similar range of activities, the specific schedule and rotation may vary from session to session.
What is a Go-To Counselor?
Each camper is assigned a counselor in their unit (typically, someone also in their cabin) who is responsible for them in terms of general camp life. They are your mentor, advocate, and “go-to” counselor throughout the term. This means they are checking in with you daily to see how your experience is progressing. They are getting to know you and what excites and scares you. They are watching you every day, and because of your relationship with them, can tell when things are going well and when they need extra attention. In essence, they are your big brother or sister. To support you and your Cheley Experience, your go-to counselor is there for you to:
- Create family! They are reading your blue camper/parent information form, encouraging letter writing home, writing weekly reports, meeting and greeting parents on visiting day, and saying good night.
- Know your program! They are advising, monitoring, and advocating for you during sign-ups to make sure you are getting the programs you want and completing your goals during the camp experience. Assisting and advising in appropriate clothing and equipment for the day.
- Encourage personal responsibility! They are helping you keep track of your belongings. Assisting in packing and unpacking, monitoring borrowing and lending, creating an honest environment, helping with lost and found, and supervising laundry preparation.
- Nurture your physical and emotional health! They are monitoring and assisting with personal cleanliness, encouraging physical conditioning and challenge, escorting you to the Health Center for medication or illness/injury, encouraging adequate sleep and rest, and more. Encouraging self-reliance and independence. Talking with you, listening to you, playing with you, and reading. Being available.