About
Echo Hill Ranch offers horseback riding, swimming, creative arts, athletics, hiking, cookouts, and camping. Activities are led by professional staff, with each special activity taught by experts. Children live in western-style bunkhouses with counselors in the cabins and participate in family-style meals with their bunkhouse groups, including dinners typically served in an outside picnic area with hot dogs, hamburgers, a veggie option, and ice-cold watermelon. Swimming takes place in nearly a mile of Big Foot Wallace Creek, a spring-fed tributary of the Guadalupe River, in two main swimming areas controlled by rock dams.
Echo Hill Ranch operates a 266-acre ranch camp with bunkhouses, a fully equipped dining hall, an infirmary, and activities run by professional staff. Housing is in western-style bunkhouses, each with its own bathroom containing sinks, showers, and commodes, with hot and cold water. All meals are prepared on-site by certified and experienced staff, and children eat family-style with their bunkhouse groups.
Echo Hill Ranch is internationally recognized for its noncompetitive child-centered program, with a focus on each youngster’s successful away-from-home experience. The ranch includes over 200 acres of Texas Hill Country owned by the Friedman family since 1952, with Wallace Creek, Echo Hill, Mount Min, Mount Baldy, canyons offering hiking opportunities, and the South Flat used for cookouts and camping. Nearly a mile of Big Foot Wallace Creek, with crystal clear waters controlled by rock dams, is used for swimming. Camperships are provided at no cost to military organizations serving Gold Star families and similar communities.
The mission of Echo Hill Ranch is to provide a safe, fun, relaxing, and empowering professional summer camp experience for the children of Gold Star families, immediate family members of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict, or those of first responders. Echo Hill Ranch Foundation partners with military non-profits already serving Gold Star families and works closely with military advisors to meet the children’s needs. Echo Hill will provide camperships, at no cost, to different military organizations which can then identify the children.
Echo Hill has been operating since its founding in 1953, and the ranch has been owned by the Friedman family since 1952. It was successfully operated by Marcie Friedman’s parents for 50 years. A testimonial from Kinky Friedman notes that his parents, often called Aunt Min and Uncle Tom by the children, spent sixty years helping to create childhood moments at Echo Hill Ranch.
Camping professionals with extensive experience are the program leaders, and each special activity is taught by experts. The camp has a fully equipped infirmary with a nurse on staff and a doctor on call. The director, Marcie Friedman, is a certified camp director, described as the highest professional credential that the American Camping Association bestows. She holds a master of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in biology and social behavior, graduated with honors from Yale University with a bachelor’s in psychology, and earned a master’s from the National Defense University at Fort Bragg in International Security Strategy. She is currently serving as a diplomat and foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department.
Echo Hill is internationally recognized for its noncompetitive child-centered program. Marcie Friedman has served on the State Board of the American Camping Association with responsibilities including representing the private camps of Texas on key child development issues, education, and safety. Dr. S. Thomas Friedman held 8 decorations including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 3 Oak Clusters.
Last updated July 24, 2026.
Echo Hill Ranch operates a 266-acre ranch camp with bunkhouses, a fully equipped dining hall, an infirmary, and activities run by professional staff. Housing is in western-style bunkhouses, each with its own bathroom containing sinks, showers, and commodes, with hot and cold water. All meals are prepared on-site by certified and experienced staff, and children eat family-style with their bunkhouse groups.
Echo Hill Ranch is internationally recognized for its noncompetitive child-centered program, with a focus on each youngster’s successful away-from-home experience. The ranch includes over 200 acres of Texas Hill Country owned by the Friedman family since 1952, with Wallace Creek, Echo Hill, Mount Min, Mount Baldy, canyons offering hiking opportunities, and the South Flat used for cookouts and camping. Nearly a mile of Big Foot Wallace Creek, with crystal clear waters controlled by rock dams, is used for swimming. Camperships are provided at no cost to military organizations serving Gold Star families and similar communities.
The mission of Echo Hill Ranch is to provide a safe, fun, relaxing, and empowering professional summer camp experience for the children of Gold Star families, immediate family members of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict, or those of first responders. Echo Hill Ranch Foundation partners with military non-profits already serving Gold Star families and works closely with military advisors to meet the children’s needs. Echo Hill will provide camperships, at no cost, to different military organizations which can then identify the children.
Echo Hill has been operating since its founding in 1953, and the ranch has been owned by the Friedman family since 1952. It was successfully operated by Marcie Friedman’s parents for 50 years. A testimonial from Kinky Friedman notes that his parents, often called Aunt Min and Uncle Tom by the children, spent sixty years helping to create childhood moments at Echo Hill Ranch.
Camping professionals with extensive experience are the program leaders, and each special activity is taught by experts. The camp has a fully equipped infirmary with a nurse on staff and a doctor on call. The director, Marcie Friedman, is a certified camp director, described as the highest professional credential that the American Camping Association bestows. She holds a master of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in biology and social behavior, graduated with honors from Yale University with a bachelor’s in psychology, and earned a master’s from the National Defense University at Fort Bragg in International Security Strategy. She is currently serving as a diplomat and foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department.
Echo Hill is internationally recognized for its noncompetitive child-centered program. Marcie Friedman has served on the State Board of the American Camping Association with responsibilities including representing the private camps of Texas on key child development issues, education, and safety. Dr. S. Thomas Friedman held 8 decorations including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 3 Oak Clusters.
Last updated July 24, 2026.
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