Menogyn

The YMCA Camp Menogyn is a wilderness youth camp located off the Gunflint Trail near Grand Marais, Minnesota

The mission of YMCA Camp Menogyn is to provide transformational experiences for young people age 12-18 through the practice of wilderness travel and the emphasis of the four core values of respect, honesty, caring, and responsibility. More information is available at Menogyn

Location

YMCA camp Menogyn is situated on West Bearskin Lake, in the Arrowhead region of Northeastern Minnesota. Camp literature states that the word Menogyn is derived from the native language of the Ojibway people, and in translation, means "to grow more fully." Founded in 1922, Menogyn is administered by the Camping Services of the YMCA of Minneapolis, along with camps Icaghowan, Ihduhapi, and Warren.

Menogyn is located on the border of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Menogyn is not accessible by automobile, and nearly all visitors reach camp by crossing West Bearskin Lake. Menogyn's physical location and facilities are used almost exclusively as a base camp where small groups are outfitted for their wilderness trip, logistics are arranged, and groups are welcomed upon their return. Exceptions include programming during the off season (September through May), when Menogyn is often used as a base camp for day trips and shorter overnight trips in the surrounding wilderness. In addition, Menogyn offers introduction to winter wilderness weekends, which include dog sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

Programs

Menogyn staff lead groups, usually of four to six campers, on wilderness canoeing, backpacking, and rock climbing trips. Combination trips are also offered. Canoe sessions of 8 to 15 days visit the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, while 8-14 day backpacking sessions utilize the nearby Superior Hiking Trail and Isle Royale National Park. Rock climbing sessions climb at sites at Tettegouche State Park, on the Superior Hiking Trail, and within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

In order to provide young people with ongoing and appropriate levels of challenge in their wilderness experiences, Menogyn offers a series of invitation-only trips. Youth who exemplify the Y core values of respect, honesty, caring, and responsibility are invited on these trips upon the recommendation of their counselors. These trips range from 21-day sessions (canoeing in Quetico Provincial Park of Ontario, as well as backpacking in Yellowstone National Park and in the Rocky Mountains), to Nor'Wester sessions of 30–31 days.

Nor'Wester sessions take their name from the French-Canadian voyageurs of the late 18th and 19th centuries, whose part in the fur trade took them Northwest of the Laurentian Divide (separating the watersheds of Lake Superior and Hudson Bay). Nor'Wester canoe sessions travel wilderness waterways of northern Manitoba and Ontario, and backpack Nor'Westers have travel to different wilderness areas of the Rocky Mountains. Nor'Wester sessions are designed to offer greater challenge and responsibility to their participants, who also learn new skills such as the navigation of class I-II whitewater for canoe Nor'Westers.

The culmination of Menogyn's invitation-only long trips is a series of 50-day sessions that travel in some of the most remote and austerely beautiful wilderness areas of North America. Canoe sessions include Hommes du Nord (Men of the North) and Femmes du Nord (Women of the North), which choose historic wilderness rivers of Canada's Far North. Backpack sessions include the Wahkanee (for young women) and Waputik (for young men) trips, which like Menogyn, take their names from the first people of Menogyn's area. Wahkanee, for example, translates loosely into "sacred walk across the land."

Special programs include a wood canvas canoe building program as well as a cedar strip building program, started and run by compassionate employees of the camp. The designs are adaptations of what the camp has been using for 80 years, and culminates into the best craft for the job. Currently the camp has 3 cedar strip canoes with one in progress, and then a fleet of 17 wood canvas canoes with another in progress.

People

YMCA Camp Menogyn employs three full-time, year-round staff, in the positions of Director, Program Director, and Caretaker, as well as a summer staff of approximately 40 people. Summer staff includes trail counselors, or guides, who work directly with youth to facilitate wilderness travel experiences, as well as in-camp support staff. Support staff include a Trips Coordinator who manages equipment and travel logistics, a Trail Department coordinator who oversees the packing out of food for all Menogyn's trips, a kitchen staff of four cooks who provide made-from-scratch, family-style meals that are a camp signature, a Canoe Master, charged with the upkeep and repair of Menogyn's fleet of classic cedar-canvas, whitewater, and aluminum canoes, as well as the rotating volunteer position of Health Officer, a Registered Nurse or Medical Doctor who oversees the physical well-being of campers and staff.