By:
Submission
Oof. I was here as a cabin counselor for a week. To start with the positive, it was in a beautiful area in the mountains.
On to the negative - the golden bell staff was shockingly rude and difficult to work with. The staff at the activities (when they actually showed up) were rude to the kids, moved slowly, and were extremely disorganized. At one point the woman running the climbing wall/zip line made a joke about being high to our 10 year old campers, which is extremely concerning as she was belaying our little campers on the rock wall. The lifeguards made all of the staff nervous, they didn’t seem to be paying attention. The kitchen staff tried to deny my one celiac camper gluten free food multiple times. The kitchen also forgot to pack gluten free food for campers on an offsite trip, so the celiac kids didn’t get to eat all day.
Golden Bell added about 10 last minute requirements for all of our staff that made getting ready for camp nearly impossible. They required second and third background checks, fingerprinting, and medical checks.
The facilities were fine, just very low budget activity wise (I.e. slip n slide made of tarps and lacking enough water flow to get down it on a tube, “courtyard games” on a hot black asphalt court with no basketball hoop, just a few yard games like corn hole, etc). There was a zip line and rock wall, but most of the kids didn’t get to do it after being turned away due to time constraints (sometimes at the fault of the golden bell staff) and summer weather conditions. The cabins were very very small and rugged, which is fine if that’s what you’re looking for.
We were also sharing the camp ground with another group, which was odd and made it feel like less of a safe space.
Overall, the staff made everything incredibly difficult all week. We fought to make the best of it, but will definitely not be returning.
We camped here with our four kids in our trailer for a family vacation after it was recommended to us. We absolutely loved the setting of being in the woods! My kids loved being next to tetherball and the horseshoes area. All of the staff were very friendly and visited with us and our kids. The mini golf and large indoor pool were huge highlights as well. It is well maintained and knowing we were at a Christian business was wonderful too. We appreciated the no alcohol rule, as well. Have recommended it to friends and would love to come back sometime!
