Every year, WES members and friends take a camping trip together during the Memorial Day weekend. This year we will be heading to a new location, the Opequon Quaker Camp in Clear Brook, VA. The camping trip is a great opportunity to enjoy nature, to make new friends, and to deepen connections with existing friends.

Opequon Quaker Camp is located about 90 miles from Washington, DC near the Virginia/West Virginia border, about 10 miles northeast of Winchester, VA. It sits on approximately 30 acres on a ridge that overlooks the upper Shenandoah Valley. The facilities are relatively primitive, but there is a well-equipped kitchen with cooking utensils and appliances, an unenclosed dining pavilion that seats up to about 80 people, a second pavilion with power and running water for arts and crafts, and two bathhouses each equipped with four flush toilets, and four showers and four sinks with hot and cold running water.

There are 8 screened-in cabins with bed frames that sleep 12 to 14 people in each. Most are bunk beds, but there are also some single bed frames in each cabin. There are some mattresses available, but not enough for every bed. There is also the option to stay in a tent. If sleeping in a tent or in a cabin is not for you, there are several hotels just a few miles away, close to Route 81.

Camping trip planners create the menu, do the shopping, and make cooking team assignments. Everyone will get assigned to one meal to be responsible for helping to cook and clean up. All ingredients and cooking implements are provided; each person simply brings their own place setting. Dish washing stations are set up after every meal and each person washes their own dishes.

The camping trip is always a time for fun and relaxation – everyone works together to organize activities, like hikes, a scavenger hunt, a talent show, and making s’mores over the camp fire. There’s also plenty of unstructured time for playing games, doing arts and crafts, and splashing around in the stream.

Several families have already registered for this year’s camping trip, and we hope you will join us. You can find more information about the camping trip, and complete the online registration form. Please contact Kate Lang with any questions, at klang20910@yahoo.com.

Happy Camping,

Kate Lang