My sister and I swam to this place over summer break, and we found it and thought it was abandoned. Great experience but almost got hit by a deer lol. I love this place definitely worth exploring read more

Great facility and great program. One of the most beautiful BSA camps I've ever seen. The food and kitchen crew were AMAZING AND MET ALL OUR NEEDS. read more

Accidentally turned in their camp whilst looking for the public area of Shaver Lake and they were very rude, gave horrible direction, and yelled slurs at us. read more

I loved going to camp chawanakee, first you get a orienteering tour of the camp and where stuff is, Second when you go to your tent at night you sleep at 10 Pm in a tent cabin fusion, third they had a ton of Merit Badge's to do, and fourth there shooting range was sublime, it felt like I was getting treated like king Kaiser Wilhelm the second. The 10/22s where very fluid, and the instructor (I did not remember his name) was very nice Rk meier 2021 June 27-July 3 read more

First off, beautiful location! Our Boy Scout Troop came up from San Diego, which was a good haul in itself, but all considered was worth it. The camp is adjacent to Shaver Lake, which is a public lake with fishing, boating, water skiing, etc. A good portion of the campsites are near the lake and none are too far from it. The camp itself is undergoing a number of upgrades. They opened a new camp office when we were there and they are in the process of building a number of cabins that will be available to groups to rent. As well, they are in the final stretch of raising money to build a new dining hall that will accommodate something like 500 people. The basic accommodations that most people use are raised platform tents. Those are in a various stages of repair, including the cots. If it's hot (which it was when we were there) make sure you get one that one that opens in the front and back (we didn't) for better ventilation. The toilets while better than a port-a-potty emitted a smell from quite a distance. The showers however are fairly new and work pretty good but are spartan in nature. A good portion of the merit badge programs focus around the lake, which was about 60% of capacity due to the drought. In fact the first thing you need to do is pass a swim test when you get there, Scouts and adults included. However, if you don't plan in participating in activities on the lake, you aren't required (plenty other things to do anyway). All of the water based activities are confined to the one section of the lake though, so don't plan on swimming wherever you want, although you can fish just about anywhere. There are fish, but nothing of any consequence. In terms of hiking there are some trails around the camp, but not much. Just outside camp (on the dirt road in) there are a number of trails, including where you can ride a mountain bike, although you aren't allowed to ride them in camp. They do have a few bikes free to borrow, but they aren't well maintained to best to bring your own bikes which one of the other fathers and I did. The counselors were mostly good although some could have used a little more experience. That being said, they had good attitudes and were helpful. Being that we are wed to our phones, Verizon service is very good and ATT is there but depends on where you are in terms of reception. The camp wireless is confined to a small area around the camp office and the dining hall where you would expect it would be has none. They do have a space there for charging your cell phones which was always busy. The food served in the dining hall was okay, probably nothing better than you could expect for camp food. The dining hall is run by a woman who must have been in the Marine Corps. Lots of rules and definitely no hats. When the camp is fairly full as when were there, meals are served in two shifts. The early dinner is 4:45 pm, so expect to be hungry before going to bed. No lack of food though, as they always seemed offer seconds. One thing that surprised me though was the amount of food waste. The lunches consisted of the Scouts bringing open tubs of food to the other campers to cook on the camp grills or make sandwiches along with fruit, chips, etc. There was always too much food and we were told to just throw it away as there was no way to climate control it due to how the food was supplied in the tubs. The amount of waste was staggering and I know it wasn't an isolated problem as a number of people brought it up at weeks end. In fact the waste is really contrary to a core Scout virtue of being "Thrifty and Conservation Minded". So in summary, great camp and with the new amenities and hopefully a handle on the waste, it will be even better. read more

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Not a bad Boy Scout camp but the breakfast and dinner food was extremely disappointing. We were the first week of camp and some of the kitchen staff left right before we arrived so maybe this affected this. read more

Went to summer camp five times with my troop/friends and have nothing but pleasant memories!

It's a really beautiful camp with nice scenery...but the food? WACK! The staff? WACK! The Tents? WACK! The Mattress with tons of holes in em? WACK! Their commissioners and other people who are supposed to keep the camp clean and running efficiently? WACK! Their Trading Post and their prices that strive to scam young scouts? WACK! They got a new dining hall and apparently all the budget for food went into it because the proportions are small and the food is of the lowest quality. Overall this camp is WACK! read more

It was a great scout camp. Had an awesome time over the summer with my scout troop and loved the counselors there. Tents and campsites where a bit run down but worked. Some of the food was not great including the eggs but some stuff was fine. read more

Amazing camp. Tons of merit badges, friendly staff and fairly decent food. Went last year, some of the classes need caps to make the classes easier and more effective to teach however Chris the Program Director handled everything the absolute best he could. Also on a note for Chris, this guy is the best program director I have ever encountered,(been to 3 other camps) very friendly and professional, he was energetic with the scouts, fair but stern with his staff and very professional and honest with the adults. His daily adult leader meetings answered all our questions, and he heard our concerns (even some I believe to be a little out there) . He also gave out his personal cellphone number to us, so we could all contact him ICE, or if there were any other issues, or just verbal questions. Cons: Office manager joseph was fairly rude (Chris stepped in and helped along with Greg) Get rid of Asian Persuasion night Classes need Caps, not all but some. Pros: Great camp Amazing view Great classes and variety A1 program director Food was decent Good facilitates. read more

Great camp. I've joined my son's Boy Scout troop twice at Chawanakee and it has been great each time. The camp has friendly and energetic staff that really want to both help the kids grow and to help the kids have a lot of fun. The camp has quality facilities for activities including boating, climbing, fishing, shooting and dozens of merit badge opportunities. All of this is provided on picturesque Shaver Lake. I highly recommend it for BSA troops. read more

Came here for the first time with my son's scout troop. Checked in on Sunday and getting settled into our camp went fine. As we got to Tuesday, we noticed a couple of our boys having nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. We just attributed it to poor hand washing, but as the day wore on, more boys showed the same symptoms. On Wednesday, two more boys came down with the same symptoms, so our Scoutmaster and myself went to the camp medical center. The med center is staffed by volunteer EMT's. Being a medic, I explained the medical issues we were having. The staff never asked for names, camp location, onset of symptoms or severity. They just said they will "note" it. I asked if there were any other boys from other camps presenting these symptoms, they said there were a number of others. On our way back to our camp, we ran into the camp commissioner. I explained the exact same thing to him, and again, like the med staff, he didn't write down anything or take any pertinent info from us. He said he'd look into it. It was apparent he was just placating us. Thursday saw an increase in sick boys plus three adult leaders. It was obvious we had a mini epidemic starting and the risk totally outweighed the reward of staying until Saturday. Since other boys from other camps were experiencing the same problems, it was obvious it wasn't an isolated issue in our camp. Was it the water supply? Poor food handling? Someone in the kitchen sick? At this point and without proper testing, it is difficult to determine the source. As a side note, on Thursday morning of that week, two of our Scouts were so sick I had to transport them to a hospital down in Clovis where they were treated in the ER. Parents then came and picked them up. Myself and our Scoutmaster were extremely disappointed in the staff's apathetic response to a potentially dangerous medical issue. Because of this, our Troop will not be returning to Camp Chawanakee. read more

The food and the bathrooms were a bit iffy, but the staff were amazing and were very friendly (shout out to CJ Ryan Bodie Trevor Abel and Gabe) read more

I went there as a scout, it was fun except for the meals and some of the staff members were fairly rude other than that the place was tons of fun read more

Been to Chawanakee 7 times as a scout! I have done many of my merit badges, done much of my rank advancement and had most of my scouting fun here. Chawanakee is about as good as it gets. The staff is always great, the activities are fun, and the trading post is top notch. The food could always be better but it is a camp so what do you expect. Keep it up guys and I plan to back next summer for an eighth time as an adult. read more