What is widely considered the best summer camp for young people in the USA?

Absolutely no way to answer that. There are so many and so many different kinds of camps. Are you looking for a sports camp, a computer camp, a Zionist camp, an environmental camp? There are books and websites that will describe different camps; I don’t think there is any ranking agency. Try looking at www.acacamps.org for descriptions and suggestions on how to find a camp.

my dad used to go to camp carmel and im going this year.it is considered the best camp ever to many people.

Weight-loss camps, horseback riding camps, theater camps, old-fashioned camp camps, 8 weeks, 4 weeks, lots of visits from parents, tents and out-houses, cabins with plumbing?

How old and what sex is the child? What’s his/her temperament. Tough and independent, athletic?

I and everyone I knew went to the camps in Maine, which were considered wonderful.

I just checked ( http://find.acacamps.org/pdf/ACA_Camps_List_Normal_By_Maine.pdf) and the great ones, founded in the teens or the 1920’s, are still going strong.

Notre Dame has an amazing summer camp. It is free, they keep the kids busy and feed them.

The Fighting Irish always show up and interact with the kids.

@ChazMaz: For the right kid, that sounds wonderful. If I were 12 again, I would want something a little different ( having been to one football game in my life other than some college games…all of which I found boring.)

It is not about football at all. It is about a positive, motivating environment.

But lets face it, to live in South Bend Indiana is to be a Notre Dame junkie. :-)

@ChazMaz: And how about three-day climbing trips (up Mt. Washington and across the Presidential range, for example)? You get to stay in the Appalachian Mt. huts and flirt with boys. That was my experience at a single-sex camp, at least. We hiked in brown oxfords, I do remember.

Now that is sweet! I like that, thought I would prefer to flirt with the girls. ;-)

@ChazMaz: What’s the highest mountain in Indiana?

Space Camp probably gets the mist press

Indian is Corn and soy country. highest elevation is 1,257 feet above sea level.

I meant “most.” to late to fix it. Sorry!

Camp Crystal Lake.I’d avoid going Friday’s though, bit of a bad atmosphere,you can cut it with a knife I swear.Dunno why, strange but true.

Buck’s Rock Camp.