Camp Daggett

Looking for an alternative to the typical PowerPoint business seminar to rally the troops? Make an appointment for your group with Camp Daggett’s Adventure Center.
Tucked in the woods near Walloon Lake, the Adventure Center offers a fun, challenging program guaranteed to get participants moving, working together and supporting each other -- all skills that are critical to an organization’s success.
The Adventure Education program began in 1997 with outdoor problem-solving and ropes courses at Camp Daggett,
best known for its 81-year history of providing a summer camp for boys and girls. Just over four years ago, the 6,000 square-foot Indoor Adventure Center opened, offering year-round group activities for all ages and abilities.

ADVENTURE FOR EVERYONE
“Adventure education lends its teach-ings to pretty much all that seek it,” says Brent Marlatt, director of the Adventure Center since 2002. “If you have 12 or more participants, we’ll run a program if we have a spot on the calendar.”
Over 3,000 visitors per year – youth groups, Boy & Girl Scouts, sports teams, local businesses and corporate groups – take part in team-building programs which help foster improved communication, trust and camaraderie within the participants.
Programs are tailored to individual groups and are available as half-day, full day or multiple-day programs.
“Usually a daylong program will give the participants the most benefit from the programs that we offer,” says Marlatt. “For a half-day program we try to at least get three hours in. It’s hard for me as a facilitator to know what full-day programs can provide and to know what [half-day groups are] missing out on.”

A TYPICAL EXPERIENCE
Daylong adventure programs usually start at 9 a.m. and go until 4 p.m. with an hour-long break for lunch.
“On a typical day we’ll start out laughing and loosening up quite a bit with some ice-breakers, just to get the group thinking a little bit and build up that camaraderie,” says Marlatt. “What we want to do is develop a safe environment for learning and we keep things safe here, not just physically, but emotionally.”
“If we don’t keep an emotionally safe atmosphere, then people aren’t going to want to challenge themselves or step out of the comfort zone and maybe attempt some things that usually they would not do.”
Working with teammates can reinforce leadership roles already present and foster new ones as group members collaborate to reach a common goal.
“After a few problem-solving activities we move into the low ropes course,” explains Marlatt, “which involves more support and trust within the team. We use different types of props and ropes and different things like that for people to challenge themselves more.”
After lunch, participants tackle the high ropes course. “A high ropes course is a challenge course devised of cables, pulleys and ropes, that uses heights as a way of encouraging a participant to challenge his or her own comfort level,” says Marlatt.
The rock wall covering one end of the indoor building, or elements like the Centipede – a series of suspended vertical beams with metal hand and foot holds to climb up – are two examples.

CHALLENGE BY CHOICE
“It’s challenge by choice out here… you have the choice to challenge yourself in a number of different avenues. I’m not going to be the one to force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, because that’s counterproductive,” says Marlatt.
Many participants’ fear of heights prevents them from attempting anything on the high ropes courses, but those who take the chance are often surprised.
“Sometimes we can forget, as we get older, what we’re able to do,” says Marlatt. “It’s a good healthy thing to have a fear or respect for heights, because we’re not normally in those positions; but the high ropes course is one of the safest recreational activities you can actually do.”
High ropes participants wear helmets and harnesses with a belay (safety rope) attached and trained Adventure Education Facilitators help with belaying – controlling the rope – so that a participant doesn’t fall.
For those unable to challenge themselves into participating on the course, teamwork’s still the focus.
“There are so many things on the high course that can be done without actually putting on a harness,” explains Marlatt. Team members can offer words of encouragement, assist as spotters and help coil extra rope for the facilitators.

STAY AWHILE
Groups wanting a getaway can plan longer programs offering outdoor education, winter camping or snow sports, with housing available in Camp Daggett’s main lodge.
“The main lodge can actually comfortably house 70 people. It’s dormitory style, but it’s 35 in the girls’ wing and 35 in the boys’ wing, right in the lower level of the main lodge,” says Marlatt.
Schools from as far away as North Carolina have attended for extended programs. The Great Lakes Leadership Program affiliated with Michigan State University spent about four days at Camp Daggett and the Adventure Center this past winter. In January, 125 faculty members of North Central Michigan College enjoyed a three-hour program with an emphasis on communication.
Northern Michigan’s unpredictable spring weather creates the perfect time for companies to bring their staff for a team-building and self-confidence boosting experience.
“We would like to see more business at this time of year with our corporate groups and business groups,” says Marlatt. “It might be a great break for them to come out and do something a little different with their colleagues.”

For more information on Camp Daggett Adventure Center programs, call 231-347-9742 or visit
www.corporateadventureteambuilding.com View On Our Website