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6120 Camp Polk Rd, Sisters, OR 97759Monday to Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. · Saturday and Sunday: ClosedMonday to Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.Registration opens in February(541) 555-0121
Kindling CampSisters, Oregon
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The skills path

What each badge covers

A camper starts at Tinder and moves up at their own pace, across weeks and from one summer to the next. Nobody is moved up because a week ended.

  1. 01

    Tinder: camp craft

    Skills

    • Pack and carry a day pack

    • Tie a taut-line, a bowline and a clove hitch

    • Read the day's fire level and the weather at the gate

    • Fill and carry a water bucket to where it is needed

    Moving up

    A counselor watches you do each skill on your own, on more than one day, and signs it off.

  2. 02

    Kindling: the fire site

    Skills

    • Choose a site and clear it to bare soil

    • Build a ring and set the bucket and shovel in reach

    • Sort tinder, kindling and fuel wood by size

    • Lay a fire, and light it with an adult beside you

    Moving up

    You lay and light a fire on two different days, and an adult checks the site before and after.

  3. 03

    Fuel: tend and put out

    Skills

    • Feed a fire in small steps and keep it small

    • Take a turn as the fire watcher for a whole block

    • Put a fire out with water and stir until the ashes are cold

    • Check a site and leave it as you found it

    Moving up

    You run a fire from the first match to cold ashes, with an adult watching and saying little.

  4. 04

    Frame: shelter

    Skills

    • Choose a shelter site away from dead branches

    • Hang a tarp on a ridgeline

    • Build a branch lean-to with a partner

    • Take a shelter down and leave no trace

    Moving up

    You and a partner build a shelter and a counselor checks it, then you take it down again.

  5. 05

    Compass: trail and weather

    Skills

    • Read a map and take a bearing

    • Keep a group together on a trail

    • Cross a creek with a plan

    • Read the sky, the wind and the smoke report

    Moving up

    You lead a short leg of a trail day while a counselor walks at the back.

Where to startWhere a new camper starts

Sample levels.

Older campers who have done this before tell us at registration, and a counselor looks at their skills on the first day.

What camp leaves out

Some things are not part of camp

Fire craft is taught slowly, and a few things stay out of it entirely.

  • No axes, hatchets or knives in campers' hands

  • No lighter fluid or gasoline at camp

  • No flame on a restricted day, only practice

  • No overnight stays: Kindling is a day camp

Hands pushing a tent stake into the ground with a rubber mallet

Ready for the first badge?

Pick a week on our enrollment page, or call and ask where your camper would start.

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