About Us

We hold the Backcountry Institute at Camp Carolina each spring. We offer courses by American Canoe Association, American Red Cross, National Archery Association, Civil Marksmanship, United States Youth Soccer Association and Wilderness Medical Association, to name a few! We offer these courses to the general public, other summer camps and provide these courses for our staff, allowing us to have the most medically and professionally trained, certified camp counselors in the country. The average age of our staff is 23 years old. 98% of our program staff takes advantage of Backcountry Institute courses. Our overall ratio: camper/staff is 2.5/1.

We travel the world each year in search of the finest role models, the most skilled instructors, and staff with the highest degree of moral character and maturity. Applicants must go through a thorough application process by our administration-including a lengthy application, multiple interviews, provide a clean criminal background check, provide a minimum of three character or work references and pass a drug test.

Activity Diversity and Opportunity

Every activity and all trips at Camp Carolina are available to all age campers on a level specifically designed for their age group except for wakeboarding, surfing and paintball which are only offered to boys who have completed the 5th grade and above.

Our cost is all inclusive, except for incidentals and camp store charges. We run all our own programs (except for paintball) so our campers are always under the direct instruction from our vetted and hired counselors. For instance, our Raft Guides & Climbing Instructors are part of our summer camp community and must go through our complete staff application process.

Our commitment to all aged campers transcends throughout our camp program. We encourage the younger campers as well as the older campers to challenge themselves in our high adventure program and focus on skill development over age. Our goal is to help all our campers discover a lifelong passion during their time at CCB.

Camp Carolina Philosophy

Camp Carolina is about adventure and meeting challenges head-on. It’s about the simple faith that anything can be accomplished through determination and enthusiasm. It’s about living fully, setting personal goals, making friends and enjoying accomplishments.

The Old Man of the Mountain Award and CampfirE

There are many things you can do at Camp Carolina, but the only award you can receive here is The Old Man of The Mountain Award which is given out for good citizenship. Boys do not receive awards of any significant merit for athletic prowess or excellence in any activity.

There are ten steps in the award with the first step being the Old Man of the Mountain paddle itself. After receiving their first step (the paddle) our campers can earn a brand on their paddle each summer thereafter. This award is given on Friday nights at Campfire -- where the whole camp gathers to publicly recognize and celebrate each camper’s achievement. At Camp Carolina, being a good citizen means that you treat others respectfully and considerately, practice taking initiative in keeping our shared spaces clean, and work on being an overall positive member of the community under the guidance of our counselors.

Our Counselor Assistants can earn a special True Gentleman Brand after a successful session at camp embodying the values of the True Gentleman poem (see below).

THE TRUE GENTLEMAN from Camp Carolina on Vimeo.