About
Catoctin Quaker Camp offers days filled with boisterous games, arts and crafts, swimming, singing, reflection, candle-making, stream-wading, capture the flag, campfire singing, and performing skits. Campers also take part in General Swim at “The Lagoon,” as well as hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing. Campers live their summer to the fullest by combining lively in-camp days with meaningful out-of-camp adventures, including trips that vary by age and interest such as hiking, canoeing, and rock climbing.
• Ages: 9–14 years old
• Schedule: Three different two-week sessions, with weekly two-night trips away from camp and a Ten Day extended trip for campers in their final year
Catoctin Quaker Camp follows a daily rhythm that includes a 7:45am wake up bell, breakfast, breakfast chores, Fire Circle for silent worship and reflection, Unit Time, and a half hour of General Swim before lunch, followed by lunch, a rest period, an Afternoon Activity, and an hour of General Swim, then dinner, cleanup, an Evening Activity, and bed by 9:30pm. Drop off runs from 2–4pm on the first day of each session, and pick up runs from 10am–12pm on the last day of each session. Once each week, counselors lead small groups on two-night trips away from camp where each camper carries their own bedding, clothes, mess kit, toiletries, and group food and gear, and campers in their final year go on a Ten Day extended trip that serves as a capstone to their time at Catoctin. Lifeguard-supervised General Swim happens twice a day at “The Lagoon,” canoe trips go down the Antietam, Potomac, and Shenandoah rivers and are led by at least one lifeguard and certified instructor, and rock climbing trips are led by a certified climbing instructor.
Catoctin Quaker Camp is one of four summer camp programs operated and stewarded by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and is on 383 acres of woods under the ridge of Catoctin Mountain, with a small lodge, a dining hall, a state of the art eco bathhouse, an infirmary, and cabins. Catoctin is a gender-inclusive summer camp where community members are supported to be in housing and social groupings that most align with their gender identity, and the new bathhouse at Catoctin is described as a shining example of BYM Camps’ values made visible and tangible in the world. BYM Camps invests in partnerships with youth-facing organizations throughout the mid-Atlantic region that have similar values around youth empowerment and experiential education.
The mission of Catoctin Quaker Camp is to build a vibrant, diverse, and youth-centered community where the camp welcomes all with open arms, nurtures campers’ ability to both find themselves and be themselves, creates opportunities for campers to step into community leadership, and cultivates life-long connections to wild spaces and to each other. Director Dyresha Harris (she/her) first joined the BYM Camps community as a child in 1988, was a camper for 8 years, on staff for 11 years, and has been director since 2012. She co-founded the Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments (STRIDE) program in 2010, served as the Director of Education and Training for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and earned a BA with a double major in Sociology and Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
One camp parent says, “We love the culture of joy and kindness and unconditional acceptance. I know it takes a LOT of work to build that magic — it doesn’t just happen. But the work is so evidence in that culture of how the kids treat each other and how supported they feel in treating each other with respect, how free they feel to find and be who they are. That to me is the absolute core of camp.” Another camp parent shares, “My daughter glows when she talks about her time at camp. She confirms what we’ve heard from a number of others, that the camp provides a very special place for growth, learning, self expression, and friendships.”
Last updated January 22, 2026.
• Ages: 9–14 years old
• Schedule: Three different two-week sessions, with weekly two-night trips away from camp and a Ten Day extended trip for campers in their final year
Catoctin Quaker Camp follows a daily rhythm that includes a 7:45am wake up bell, breakfast, breakfast chores, Fire Circle for silent worship and reflection, Unit Time, and a half hour of General Swim before lunch, followed by lunch, a rest period, an Afternoon Activity, and an hour of General Swim, then dinner, cleanup, an Evening Activity, and bed by 9:30pm. Drop off runs from 2–4pm on the first day of each session, and pick up runs from 10am–12pm on the last day of each session. Once each week, counselors lead small groups on two-night trips away from camp where each camper carries their own bedding, clothes, mess kit, toiletries, and group food and gear, and campers in their final year go on a Ten Day extended trip that serves as a capstone to their time at Catoctin. Lifeguard-supervised General Swim happens twice a day at “The Lagoon,” canoe trips go down the Antietam, Potomac, and Shenandoah rivers and are led by at least one lifeguard and certified instructor, and rock climbing trips are led by a certified climbing instructor.
Catoctin Quaker Camp is one of four summer camp programs operated and stewarded by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and is on 383 acres of woods under the ridge of Catoctin Mountain, with a small lodge, a dining hall, a state of the art eco bathhouse, an infirmary, and cabins. Catoctin is a gender-inclusive summer camp where community members are supported to be in housing and social groupings that most align with their gender identity, and the new bathhouse at Catoctin is described as a shining example of BYM Camps’ values made visible and tangible in the world. BYM Camps invests in partnerships with youth-facing organizations throughout the mid-Atlantic region that have similar values around youth empowerment and experiential education.
The mission of Catoctin Quaker Camp is to build a vibrant, diverse, and youth-centered community where the camp welcomes all with open arms, nurtures campers’ ability to both find themselves and be themselves, creates opportunities for campers to step into community leadership, and cultivates life-long connections to wild spaces and to each other. Director Dyresha Harris (she/her) first joined the BYM Camps community as a child in 1988, was a camper for 8 years, on staff for 11 years, and has been director since 2012. She co-founded the Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments (STRIDE) program in 2010, served as the Director of Education and Training for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and earned a BA with a double major in Sociology and Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
One camp parent says, “We love the culture of joy and kindness and unconditional acceptance. I know it takes a LOT of work to build that magic — it doesn’t just happen. But the work is so evidence in that culture of how the kids treat each other and how supported they feel in treating each other with respect, how free they feel to find and be who they are. That to me is the absolute core of camp.” Another camp parent shares, “My daughter glows when she talks about her time at camp. She confirms what we’ve heard from a number of others, that the camp provides a very special place for growth, learning, self expression, and friendships.”
Last updated January 22, 2026.
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