YMCA Camp Menogyn: by Joey, Alma, and Liam
Fish story: The fish in the arctic are gigantic. We were paddling down a section of the river that was super deep and had a really strong current. There were so many fish in the water that if you just stared in front of the boat for a minute you were pretty much guaranteed to see a tail fin poke out. As we were scooping my fish into the net, another fish came up close to the surface to investigate. It was easily 3 feet long. When we finished the trip I was talking to a woman in Baker Lake, the town at the end of the river, and she told me she once saw a fish the size of a car. She might have been messing with me, but the fish do get pretty big up there.
Since 1922, Camp Menogyn has been providing transformative wilderness experiences for youth. Only accessible by water, Menogyn is uniquely situated on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on West Bearskin Lake in northern Minnesota.
Menogyn’s primary focus is backcountry outdoor adventures for youth. In the summer, the camp provides canoeing and backpacking trips throughout North America for teens ages 12–18. These trips range in length from five to fifty days long! During the school year Menogyn works with high schools, colleges, partner groups, family camps, affinity groups, and more in retreat-style programming to facilitate outdoor adventures and community building. Their mission is to develop in young people respect for self, community, and the environment, through outdoor adventures.
Many buildings at Menogyn were built in the mid 1940’s by Charlie Boostrom, a well-known log builder of the time. From this base, the camp launches over 150 camping trips a year. Some campers paddle out, others travel as far as the Brooks Range of Alaska, the Rocky Mountains of the West or the rivers of the Far North of Canada.
In the Fall and Winter, Menogyn runs retreat-style, outdoor adventure programming that extends to all ages. Program offerings in the fall and winter vary and are planned to meet each group’s needs. The highly trained staff lead day trips to various destinations in the surrounding Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In the fall, day trips travel via canoeing and hiking. During the winter months, day trips travel via cross country skiing, snowshoeing, or hiking. Menogyn is also home to 21 sled dogs, and they offer dog sledding rides.
Advice to Others:
Everyone needs some sort of reset or escape from the same-ol’ of everyday life once in a while. What makes Menogyn special is how quickly it strips life down to the essentials. Out there, your priorities shift: weather matters, teamwork matters, and the simple rhythm of paddling or hiking becomes deeply satisfying. You trade screens for starlight, schedules for sunrise, and noise for the quiet that only a remote lake can offer.
OK, there can be some challenges. Like bugs, or rain, or cold, or muddy trails. But that’s what builds character and fond life-long memories.
And you don’t need to be an expert adventurer to go – just willing. The guides teach you the skills, but more importantly, they create the space for you to discover your own capability. There’s something powerful about realizing you can navigate a lake, carry a pack, or push through discomfort and come out stronger on the other side.
If you’ve been craving a reset, a challenge, or just a reminder of what the natural world feels like, Menogyn delivers. It’s not just a trip—it’s a perspective shift.
Give YMCA Camp Menogyn a try. You’ll discover that, like the 3 kids in my podcast episode, you won’t have any regrets for doing so.
