Your questions, answered
Work at camp FAQs
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For Summer 2026, counselors will begin work on June 6th and finish work on August 9th or 16th. Support staff will begin work on June 1st.
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See our 2026 pay scale here. Housing, food, and laundry service are included for all resident staff.
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We require counseling staff to obtain two current certifications:
1) Lifeguarding + CPR/AED training
2) Wilderness First AidWe offer both of these courses at the Ranch prior to the summer. You may also take these courses in another place prior to arriving at the Ranch, and we subsidize the cost of these courses.
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Counselors start the summer with a week-long staff orientation. This week gives counselors the opportunity to settle into life on the Ranch and familiarize themselves with our program. This week is packed with hands-on training and review of all the essentials our staff need to be ready for camp. This includes leadership development, skills, team building, and sessions on child development, abuse prevention, food handling, and mental health support.
We provide ongoing support to our staff throughout the summer. This includes regular 1:1 check-ins, weekly staff meetings, and a midsummer evaluation. Our leadership team works together to provide feedback and guidance to staff to help them be better counselors and to work on their own goals.
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Morning: If you are an early riser, you might get up for a run or help with animal chores down at the barn. Or you may just sleep in until the wake up bell at 7:30. Breakfast at 8. After breakfast, you announce to the campers a fun activity that you’ve been planning in your program area. The rest of the morning you spend running your program, spending time with the campers that chose to join you that day and getting to know them through teaching and play. Time to clean up, that’s the 10 minute bell for lunch!
Afternoon: After lunch is rest hour, a favorite among counselors. Everyone returns to their platform during the warmest part of the day to rest. You may take a nap, read a book, or write a letter to someone back home. After rest hour, everyone heads down the hill to the river on the swimhole trail. At the river, you run a few rotations lifeguarding, have a refreshing swim, and then sit with some campers and fellow counselors on the beach where you might play some cards or explore the banks for critters. After a few hours, you’re ready for the hike back up the hill, powered by another favorite, the homestead stack! Then some relaxing time before dinner to shower and get ready for the evening.
Evening: After dinner, we have an evening activity that is different every night of the week. Evening activities include platform night, dances, big group games, campfires, or a special event like the International Festival, Untalent Show, or Apple Jubilee. Counselors participate in planning these activities and supervising kids throughout the evening. When things wrap up, it’s time to head back to the platform for bedtime!
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We offer a wide variety of activities at the Ranch including horseback riding, crafts, hiking, and campfire events—see the full list here.
As a counselor, you will have one main program area that you are responsible for, often in collaboration with another counselor or two. Counselors plan activities within their program area for each day.
We also encourage counselors to share any unique skills and passions they have and will work with you to develop your program or run activities outside of our normal offerings. Other activities that counselors plan and lead include group games, themed overnights, special events, and more.
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Counselors hold a lot of responsibility for making Camp a safe, fun, and magical place for our campers and for each other. We see the counselor responsibility as breaking into three main categories:
1) Platform Responsibilities: getting to know your assigned campers and helping them navigate Camp, facilitating the living space and group dynamic, planning platform activities, etc.
2) Program Responsibilities: planning activities in your program area for each day, prep and gathering materials, running the activity and teaching skills, getting to know campers that show up and helping them with their own project ideas, maintaining the equipment/space, etc.
3) Shared Responsibilities: working as a staff team to ensure that all Camp events/activities are planned and run smoothly, noticing campers need extra support, helping one another through tough moments or to get appropriate support when unsure of how to solve a problem, noticing the soap is empty at the handwashing sink and replacing it, etc.
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During summer sessions, our staff live on outdoor sleeping platforms. Counselors live on a platform with their assigned group of 5-12 campers, and usually a co-counselor. Support Staff live on a staff platform.
Platforms are wooden structures with three walls and a ceiling – fully open on one side, but tucked privately into the forest. Each person has their own space on the platform that includes a bed and several shelves to store clothing and other belongings. Each platform has a sink and single-stall bathroom.
Our campers and staff are organized onto platforms based on gender identity and expression—campers and staff choose the living area they are most comfortable in. Each living area has one shower house.
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Camp is a dynamic environment and working at the ranch, in any capacity, is a demanding job. Resident staff receive one 24-hour day off each week, when they can leave the ranch. Staff are off in groups of 4-6 and often carpool for their day off.
The Ranch is 2 hours from the closest large town and 30-45 minutes to cell range. Day off activities commonly include camping at a gorgeous nearby river, hiking in the mountains, getting extra sleep, or exploring nearby small towns.
We intentionally build downtime into our schedule to ensure that counselors (and campers too) get moments of rest and recovery during the day—mornings, rest hour, river time, before dinner, can all be times to slow down or take a beat to yourself.
Kitchen Crew members work three meal shifts each day and have several hours free between each shift where they can rest in staff spaces or join in on camp activities.
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One of our goals is to provide campers and staff with a respite from screens and internet and encourage personal interactions between people of all ages and backgrounds.
We rely on our staff to help us maintain this screen-free environment. Camp’s living areas have no electricity, and cell phones, tablets, e-readers, laptops, smartwatches, or other personal electronics are not allowed in living areas or around camp—even for basic functions like alarm clocks. Cell phones also cannot be used as cameras during Camp.
We have a secure place for staff to store their devices, which they may use on their time off.
In general, we hope that staff are able to benefit from the reduced presence of screens and internet that we believe is so important to our Camp program. Still, we understand that our staff want to be in touch with family and friends during the summer. For that reason, we make phone and internet services available to you after hours during your time at the Ranch. Shared staff computers with internet access and a phone (to North America) are available for use after hours.
Our office has a wired phone line and computers for administrative use. We will absolutely help you find a way to deal with any time-sensitive matters (registering for classes, paying bills, etc.) that cannot wait until your day off. If someone at home needs to reach you, they can call our office.
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Mealtime is an important part of camp. We eat meals ‘family style’ at our outdoor Eating Platform. Homemade tables seat 10-12 people and meals are enjoyed with mixed table groups, making mealtime great for getting to know all sorts of people at camp.
We aim to provide well-balanced and healthy meals. Lunch features a salad bar, often with some fresh greens and veggies from the garden. All of the beef and pork we serve is raised on the Ranch.
Our kitchen is able to accommodate most dietary restrictions. We provide options for vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free diets, and we work with parents, campers, and staff directly to address other specific food allergies or needs that may arise.
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We expect staff to use good judgment in this position working with youth. Clothing should be appropriate for that work environment, as well as for our active, outdoor lifestyle.
Closed-toed shoes are required at all times at the ranch (no sandals). Tattoos and piercings are absolutely fine as long as content is not explicit/inappropriate for kids. No uniform.
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During the summer, we have medical staff on site at our infirmary who are available to help campers and staff with basic health and wellness needs.
The infirmary is equipped with medications and first aid equipment to deal with most ailments that arise at the ranch. As per American Camping Association standards, all medications for campers and staff —both prescription and over the counter—are stored and dispensed at the infirmary.
For more complex issues, we utilize local clinics and hospitals. In an emergency, we follow standard procedures and call 911.
Taking care of your own health is one of the best things you can do to ensure a positive experience at Camp. We have found that the basics—getting enough sleep, properly hydrating, using sunscreen, and accessing support from peers and supervisors—go a long way towards ensuring good health while at Camp.
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The Bar 717 Ranch is located in rural Trinity County, in Northern California, about five hours north of the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re situated at 2,000 feet on a 450-acre ranch surrounded by the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The closest towns are Hyampom (7 miles west) and Hayfork (17 miles east), and the City of Redding is about a 2 hour drive away. Read more about our location and find directions here.
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While we do not provide travel to/from camp for staff, we are happy to help you coordinate your arrival at the beginning of the summer.
If you have access to a personal vehicle that you can bring for the summer, you should do so for use during time off! Many staff drive and carpool from near and far, and we have parking areas where cars can be kept while at the Ranch.
For International Staff, we guarantee transportation to the ranch from the Sacramento Airport in a shuttle prior to our orientation week. We can also provide rides from the Redding Airport.
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Working as a camp counselor at the Bar 717 Ranch is an immersive experience unlike almost any other job—it means stepping into a role that is all about hands-on learning and life skills that will matter in any job you’ll ever have.
Daily life at the Bar 717 Ranch is incredibly varied and will challenge you to grow both personally and professionally in ways that a traditional job likely won’t offer.
Working at camp, you’ll gain direct experience in childcare, youth development, leadership, outdoor skills, and teaching. In your role, you’ll be planning and leading activities, managing group dynamics, mentoring campers, fostering an inclusive environment, building relationships with campers, coworkers, and supervisors, and responding to the dynamic needs of camp life.
From this work, counselors develop key transferable skills such as communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, problem solving, and professionalism. This role also nurtures emotional intelligence, resilience, and adaptability – invaluable traits in any path.
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One of our main goals at camp is to provide campers with opportunities to develop profound connections with nature and others. This is our mission for staff too. We encourage staff to step out of their comfort zones, embrace new challenges, and develop a deeper sense of self, of empathy, and of community. Our staff leave with incredible stories to share and the kind of friends that can last a lifetime, but also a unique perspective and a set of life experiences that enrich their personal narratives and future paths. The bonds formed and the lessons learned at camp are assets that our community members carry with them and that will shape how you approach whatever comes down the road. Be sure to read our staff testimonials on our Work at Camp webpage.
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The one thing you absolutely must have to be a counselor is a genuine enthusiasm for spending time with kids! We seek enthusiastic individuals who are passionate about youth development and outdoor activities.
Ideal candidates are also team-oriented, proactive, self-driven, and ready to take on varied responsibilities in a dynamic setting.
Prior experience in the outdoors is not required to be successful at Camp. We realize that not every prospective counselor will have all of the skills and experiences we mention. We encourage you to apply if you feel passionate about the work and to emphasize how your lived experience, volunteer positions, or work history would help you contribute to the Camp community.
The Bar 717 Ranch is committed to core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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References should be people who can speak to your skills and ability to do the job you are applying for. We ask for three professional references.
A supervisor from a previous job is ideal, especially if you have relevant experience. Other great options include a coach, a teacher/professor, a mentor, or a coworker.
Personal references like parents, friends, or siblings are not appropriate.
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Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are not able to respond to every submission. If your application aligns with our needs, we will contact you to arrange a phone interview.
You can usually expect to hear from us within a few weeks. The first interview will be 45-50 minutes long and gives us a chance to get to know you and your interest in camp, as well as give you a chance to assess whether this job might be a good fit for you. We’ll share more information about our program and the job. Bring all of your questions for us!
You are welcome to reach out to our Assistant Director, Clara, regarding the status of your application.
Additional questions? We’re just a phone call or email away.