Camp isn’t just for kids! This past July marked the return of our Annual Wild Women Retreat at Camp K on Kenai Lake after two years away due to the pandemic. This fun-filled yet relaxing retreat gives women the opportunity to unplug from the business of everyday life and connect with the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. This year’s event was no exception.

As we prepared for our return to Camp K with a group of women from various professions, lifestyles, social groups, we thought deeply about what it would mean to return after two years and how would we make this year’s event stand out. We brought back our favorite massage therapists in training from Alaska Career College to offer free massages, there was great BBQ from Glacier City BBQ catering and amazing meals were prepared by our camp kitchen. Every retreat offers fun classes and activities and this year was no different. We offered classes in painting by Teri Lindseth and macramé from Wild North Macramé, not to mention all the camp activities like kayaking, hiking, target sports, and arts & crafts. And, best of all, we had an amazing team of counselors  and staff at Camp K to make it all come together along with special performances and camp songs that had us rolling in laughter.

All of this makes the retreat fun and relaxing, but what makes it extra special is the camp magic. The same camp magic that our youth experience.

Camp magic isn’t something you can see, but you know it when you feel it. It’s the feeling of joy when you are coming back after two years away and you are greeted with a cheer and a hug before you can even unload your luggage. It’s the feeling of anticipation you have when you are about to jump into Kenai Lake at 7:30 am, like a group of 10 ladies did on Sunday morning of the retreat. They were inspired the night before when one of our wild women stood up after dinner and challenged the room to join her for an early morning Polar Plunge. Camp magic is what you feel in the quiet moments you have when you are sitting around the campfire with new friends, enjoying the sounds of the crackling fire and the water on the shore.

The Wild Women Retreat is full of camp magic, the kind that is possible when a group of women come together. One of our wild women shared this about her experience, “Expectations exceeded! As an introvert, I was initially anxious about unstructured “social” time with an unfamiliar group of people, but there were so many activity choices it was easy to bond through shared experiences.”

The retreat is a special fundraiser for Camp Fire Alaska, raising vital funds for the continued maintenance of Camp K and scholarships for youth to attend Camp K no matter their financial situation. This year’s event raised over $22,000 for camp maintenance and nearly $12,000 for scholarships! Thanks to our sponsors, Northern Lights Imaging, LYNDEN, and Providence Alaska Medical Center, the costs of the event were fully covered. And a special thank you to Rain Proof Roofing for providing a match for the camp scholarship donations.

We are already counting down the days until this year’s retreat. We cannot wait to see our Wild Women again! Interested in even more details? We have a whole page about the event.