Hi all! We’re so excited summer is here, and excited to greet our campers later this month. Although we’re still looking for a Dean of Women for Senior Week (please let us know if someone comes to mind!), we have all our other staff positions filled. We’ve got a great crew of enthusiastic, fun-loving leaders to help our campers out this year.
Registration for Summer 2024 is open!
The dates have been nailed down and we are ready to accept Registration Forms! As usual, those who send in their Registration Forms early will benefit from significant registration fee discounts. But remember! Only $25 is required as a deposit at the time of registration. The rest can be paid in person on the day camp begins.
The dates for Camp Ortoha Youth 2024 are:
Junior Week
Sunday, July 21 - Thursday, July 25
Senior Week
Sunday, July 28 - Friday, August 2
More details are available here.
Junior Camp includes kids who are about to start the 4th grade through kids about to start the 7th grade. Senior Camp includes kids who are about to start 8th grade through 12th graders.
Got questions? Don’t hesitation to reach out! You can visit our Contact & Directions page for the best email address or phone number to use. You can also drop us a message via our Facebook page.
2022 Registration Form Now Available!
We are very excited to release our 2022 registration form and get things underway for our summer 2022 camping season.
2019 Ortoha Youth Camp Begins This Sunday!
The week we’ve been waiting for all year has finally arrived! High schoolers will be kicking off the youth camp season at Ortoha this coming Sunday, July 21st. Check out the full 2019 camp schedule below, in addition to details about Mission Fest Sunday, and the staff who will be serving our high school campers this year.
2019 Camp Schedule:
High School Week
Sun. July 21 - Fri. July 26
Registration opens on Sunday at 3 pm, camp starts at 5 pm
Camp ends at 1 pm on Friday
Grade School Week
Sun. July 28 - Thur. Aug. 1
Registration opens on Sunday at 3 pm, camp starts at 5 pm
Camp ends at 3 pm on Thursday
Middle School Week
Sun. Aug. 4 - Thur. Aug 8
Registration opens on Sunday at 3 pm, camp starts at 5 pm
Camp ends at 3 pm on Thursday
Mission Fest Sunday & Potluck
Your are invited! Please join us for church in the Gazebo building at Camp Ortoha on Sunday, July 28th at 11 am. This is a cherished annual tradition, as well as an excellent opportunity to worship God surrounded by His beautiful creation. Our speaker will be Clark Kraemer, and his message is titled "Living Life with Your Hands Open." Our world-famous potluck will follow the service. Feel free to stay as long as you like and take advantage of the close proximity to Lost Lake, Strawberry Mountain, and the Big Trees. Mark your calendars - we look forward to seeing you there!
Meet the High School Week Staff:
Cooks: Amy Schertlin & Rev. Alan Visser
This is an incredible father/daughter duo who have come together for yet another year of service and delicious flavors!
Amy is an Ortoha alumni and her father acted as a speaker at camp on many occasions. They have traveled a long way to be here, but they’re enthusiasm for the Ortoha experience, and their mastery in the kitchen is sure to bless our campers greatly!
Speakers: Rev. Steve Nickodemus & Rev. Tim Winterstein
Both pastors have been speakers at Ortoha before and they’re dedicated to the good work God is doing through the ministry of Camp Ortoha. We’re so thankful to have them!
The 2017 Registration Form is Ready for Downloads!
Make sure to get in on the Early Bird action and download your Registration Form today! Forms returned before June 10th will receive a discount of $35, for a total registration cost of $85. Keep in mind, though, that only $25 is required as a deposit when mailing in your registration form. The rest is due upon arrival at camp.
We are so looking forward to another exciting summer of skits, games and the great outdoors! Remember to mark your calendar for this year's dates. Also, check out our FAQs page if you still have a few lingering questions. We hope you will join us this year!
Click here for more registration information
Millie & Georgia Are Returning this Year as Camp Cooks!
We are so pleased to announce the return of Millie & Georgia, a long-time team of culinary perfection, as Ortoha's camp cooks this year. They have several decades of dishing out the best camp food you can imagine under their belts! As all camp cooks do, Millie and Georgia will stay in one of the cabins right across from the Mess Hall during the camp week. We appreciate all they do; they often have to rise very early to get breakfast started, and with three square meals for 20-40 campers to manage, they've signed on for some VERY full days! We are so lucky to have them! Millie and Georgia have a special place in the hearts of many of our alumni campers and we're very excited that the new campers this year will get to know this pair for the first time. Seriously, people, the food is beyond amazing. Mad skills.
As you might have already noticed, the 2016 registration forms have been released so please don't hesitate to get yours printed out and sent back in. A deposit of only $25 is required to reserve your spot and if you send it in early you'll qualify for the Early Polar Bear Special of $85! (Regular registration is $120.)
We'll be sending more updates soon, but until then, don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Registration Forms Will Be Available Very Soon!
The Ortoha planning board has been working hard in preparation of the 2016 camping season! First up is getting the Registration Form updated and available online for download. (We plan on having the form available on both the website and the Facebook page within a week!) This year we will also be mailing out a form to each camper who attended Ortoha last summer, making registration very convenient for all those alumni campers and parents. The forms will be dropped in the mail next Monday, March 28th, so they should be delivered with plenty of time to return the form ahead of the Early Polar Bear Special deadline. Remember, those who postmark their registration forms by June 11 qualify the discounted price of $85! Of course, if you have a new camper this year, the registration is process is still very simple and straight forward. All you'll need to do is download the form, fill it out in pen and mail it in with a deposit. The return address is clearly listed on the form, and you can always contact us through the Facebook page with any concerns. We look forward to meeting all our new campers this year!
Another big preparation piece involves plans for a Camp Ortoha video. We hope to have enough footage taken during the 2016 season to compile a short but information video that can help prospective campers, their parents, as well as potential speakers learn more about Camp Ortoha's wonderful traditions and exciting program.
Stay tuned for more updates as we near the summer season! And don't forget to mark your calendars with the 2016 camp dates.
Registration is open!
The Camp Ortoha planning board has been working hard to get the word out that camp registration is open. In addition to local radio announcements, we have been posting regular updates to our Facebook page and using all kinds of outlets provided by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to spread the word.
Brian Bowes, who has over 25 years of experience as the Camp Ortoha Director under his belt, is returning to lead our campers this summer after a two-year sabbatical. He is thrilled to rejoin the mission of providing young people with a Christ-centered opportunity for fun, fellowship and spiritual growth.
Our staff of counselors have already undergone their first few sessions of training and they are eager to help steward the campers later this summer. Our camp cook has fine-tuned the menu after receiving helpful suggestions from our supporters through Facebook. Our planning board is now gathering all the food ingredients we will need for three weeks of camp this year.
We will be celebrating our 70th year of operating this summer! For such a big occasion, we have planned out a very exciting Mission Fest Sunday church service to celebrate, which will focus both on the past; all the lovely care, dedication and hard work that has driven camp all these years, as well as the future and what might be to come. We hope you will join us on Sunday, July 26th at 11:00 a.m. at the camp gazebo for the service. A potluck lunch and an afternoon of sunshine (not to mention lake time at the nearby Lost Lake) is to follow. Grade School camp will officially start at 5:00 p.m. that evening.
See you then!