Family Camp
Come spend quality time with your family in a relaxed atmosphere, featuring great food and Christian community in a peaceful Black Hills valley. Outlaw Ranch welcomes families of all sizes and descriptions. Weeks include multiple generations, as parents, children, grandchildren, and singles come together for a week of family camp. During this week you’ll live in a community of grace surrounded by family and friends as you play, pray, worship, and grow together in faith.
Typical Day at Camp
You’ll find a lot of flexibility and freedom at Outlaw, but here’s a typical day:
Homemade breakfast, with weekly Breakfast Trail Ride
Roundup! Family-friendly morning worship
Morning sessions:
- Adults meet with the adult resource leader, who guides them through interactive study and group discussion.
- Youth meet for Bible study and fun activities with their college-age counselors & age group.
Lunch (Sack lunch available for those leaving camp)
Afternoon options for families:
- Ride horse
- Canoe
- Fish for trout on Bismarck Lake
- Play games on site (i.e. volleyball, soccer, basketball, and ultimate frisbee)
- Hike
- Create arts and crafts
- Participate in low-ropes challenge course
- Relax (read a book or take a nap on one of the camp’s hammocks)
- Explore the Black Hills
Supper - homecookin’ served family style
All-camp Activity:
- Taste of the Old West and Hoedown
- Christ Hike
- Candlelight dinner for adults (while kids enjoy a cookout)
- Variety show
Campfire worship under the stars
In the mornings, adults spend time together in conversation and learning, guided by the weekly resource leader, while youth enjoy activities with our well-trained counselors and artist-in-residence. Afternoons are open for families to spend time together in many camp activities or enjoying all the attractions the Black Hills of South Dakota have to offer. The family camp community comes together each evening for intergenerational activities. Each night draws to a close with worship around the crackling of the campfire. And, the delicious home-cooked meals speak for themselves.
Resource Leader
Each week a different instructor leads the morning adult sessions in a variety of engaging topics. It is an opportunity for thoughtful and honest discussion, as people grow together throughout the week.
Artist-in-Residence
Each week includes one or more professional Christian musicians who come to share their gifts with the camp community. Each morning, they work with the kids to create new songs that are performed before lunch. On Wednesday nights, the artist performs a special concert in the Barn. On another night, they may lead an informal sing-a-long. Worship times are always enlivened by the new original music they bring.
Exciting Features For Your Week
Custer State Park Wildlife Loop
Several mornings each week Outlaw Ranch offers its own guided tour of Custer State Park. You are likely to see buffalo, deer, elk, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, and maybe even a mountain lion. Leaving at first light returns you to camp in time for breakfast.
Black Hills Attractions
(for those who want to be tourists in the afternoon):
- Custer State Park entrance – 2 miles from camp
- Crazy Horse Memorial – 9 miles
- Sylvan Lake & Harney Peak trailhead – 10 miles
- Jewel Cave National Monument - 17 miles
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial – 24 miles
- Wind Cave National Park – 25 miles
- Evans Plunge and Mammoth Site in Hot Springs – 35 miles
Housing Accommodations For Your Week
Choose from the following three options:
- The Vision Quest Lodge has semi-private rooms with adjoining bathrooms. A handicap-accessible room and cribs are available. Maximum four per room.
- The Cabins have light and heat and can sleep up to eight. They are clustered in villages around a central showerhouse. Some cabins are divided for small families, singles or couples.
- The Campground is available for tent, trailer and RV campers. Sorry, no hook-ups, but a shower house is nearby.
