Camp Mystic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

At the camp I attended there absolutely was a counselor tasked with being up all night for medical emergencies, weather, comms, etc. I’m floored there wasn’t someone looking out.

PP again. A counselor?? That's not good enough. If you have 850 CHILDREN as your responsibility, again sleeping out in the middle of the woods away from serious medical help, etc., for weeks at a time, there damn well should be a full staff of adult security guards.

The more I think about it, this is 100% on the camp. I hope parents are lining up lawsuits.

There were failures at many levels, federal, state, county, and local. A perfect storm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

PP here. Are you kidding me?

Suppose you're the owner/ operator of a camp that hosts 850 children on site at one time. Don't you think you would spring for a couple of overnight security people at $25 an hour to make sure everything is OK overnight, while all of the children and staff are sleeping??? Or are you OK to just go to sleep in the middle of the woods, away from everything, and hope nothing happens for 6-8 hours?

There was a night security guard and he helped evacuate and rescue the girls.

He didn't start the evacuation the day before, which in hindsight is when the evacuation should have started.

"A" night security guard, at a camp for hundreds of kids? You've got to be kidding. What were these owners thinking??

The evacuation call was most likely not the security guards to make. That is the responsiblity of the camp owner/ director. I can understand the call not being made the day before. But the warnings grew increasingly strong throughout the night. They should have been up at midnight, 1:00 am, 2:00 am working on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

Not make sense?? And pray tell why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

PP here. Are you kidding me?

Suppose you're the owner/ operator of a camp that hosts 850 children on site at one time. Don't you think you would spring for a couple of overnight security people at $25 an hour to make sure everything is OK overnight, while all of the children and staff are sleeping??? Or are you OK to just go to sleep in the middle of the woods, away from everything, and hope nothing happens for 6-8 hours?

There was a night security guard and he helped evacuate and rescue the girls.

He didn't start the evacuation the day before, which in hindsight is when the evacuation should have started.

"A" night security guard, at a camp for hundreds of kids? You've got to be kidding. What were these owners thinking??

The evacuation call was most likely not the security guards to make. That is the responsiblity of the camp owner/ director. I can understand the call not being made the day before. But the warnings grew increasingly strong throughout the night. They should have been up at midnight, 1:00 am, 2:00 am working on this.

I don't know if there was one or more, although I think you might be overestimating what a camp for 100s of kids would require. The evacuation call was not his to make, at least not the day before.

It's not clear if the camp had good cell reception or how aware they were of the increasing warnings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

Not make sense?? And pray tell why not?

Because forecasts are predictions about the future (often the distant future, which is knowable with less certainty), and NOAA weather radio warning sirens are actionable information about events that are actually about to take place.

According to what I have read, NOAA correctly identified the flood potential here. However, the supervisor who would normally have been responsible for calling up local officials to say: "Hey, this could be a big one, get ready" had been DOGEd, so that did not occur.

These cabins are located in a place where there is no cell phone service, so cell phone-based alerts like the ones I am continually getting from MoCo about various weather events would not have worked.

The locals voted against an audible siren system because of cost.

So the NOAA weather radio would be the way to go. I am buying one today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

PP here. Are you kidding me?

Suppose you're the owner/ operator of a camp that hosts 850 children on site at one time. Don't you think you would spring for a couple of overnight security people at $25 an hour to make sure everything is OK overnight, while all of the children and staff are sleeping??? Or are you OK to just go to sleep in the middle of the woods, away from everything, and hope nothing happens for 6-8 hours?

There was a night security guard and he helped evacuate and rescue the girls.

He didn't start the evacuation the day before, which in hindsight is when the evacuation should have started.

"A" night security guard, at a camp for hundreds of kids? You've got to be kidding. What were these owners thinking??

The evacuation call was most likely not the security guards to make. That is the responsiblity of the camp owner/ director. I can understand the call not being made the day before. But the warnings grew increasingly strong throughout the night. They should have been up at midnight, 1:00 am, 2:00 am working on this.

I don't know if there was one or more, although I think you might be overestimating what a camp for 100s of kids would require. The evacuation call was not his to make, at least not the day before.

It's not clear if the camp had good cell reception or how aware they were of the increasing warnings.

That is my whole freaking point.

These people had owned that camp since 1974!! 1974! Do you think that perhaps they had not yet become aware that cell reception can be iffy miles away from a major city??

This is a total lack of preparedness on the part of the camp. If you are bringing this many kids to your facility for this length of time in the summer -- hey, did you know there are thunderstorms in Texas in the summer time? - -you'd damn well better step up and take more precautions than they obviously did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

Not make sense?? And pray tell why not?

Because forecasts are predictions about the future (often the distant future, which is knowable with less certainty), and NOAA weather radio warning sirens are actionable information about events that are actually about to take place.

According to what I have read, NOAA correctly identified the flood potential here. However, the supervisor who would normally have been responsible for calling up local officials to say: "Hey, this could be a big one, get ready" had been DOGEd, so that did not occur.

These cabins are located in a place where there is no cell phone service, so cell phone-based alerts like the ones I am continually getting from MoCo about various weather events would not have worked.

The locals voted against an audible siren system because of cost.

So the NOAA weather radio would be the way to go. I am buying one today.

We're not talking about your little house and your family of 3.5.

We're talking about business people who ran a camp that brought HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN to its location for WEEKS AT A TIME during the summer months. This is a whole other level of obligation and responsibility.

Of COURSE you have multiple people, on staff, every single night of the summer, awake and taking care of problems during the night. Don't give me the DOGE BS - the warnings were there, grew more dire throughout the night, and were ignored.

Like I said, I hope the parents are lining up lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

Devastating all around. The camp Mystic owner and operator, Dick Eastland, also died — he was trying to save the girls in the cabin. I think the camp has been in his family for over 90 years, and he was a third-generation owner. His kids, grandkids and extended family are also heavily involved with the camp.

Easy to think about what could/should have been done but I’m trying to use this as a wake up call to make sure we are prepared for weather and other related emergency situations. I used to think it was odd/disciplined/unnecessary

When traveling, along with keeping paper maps in their vehicle and having a flashlight on the hotel bedside table, a friend of mine would also have their kids practice locating and using the fire escape route, and they would also briefly rehearse with their kids what to do if there was an emergency in their hotel room (they did this every time they traveled). I used to think it was extreme but will now start to deletion habits of being more prepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

Not make sense?? And pray tell why not?

Because forecasts are predictions about the future (often the distant future, which is knowable with less certainty), and NOAA weather radio warning sirens are actionable information about events that are actually about to take place.

According to what I have read, NOAA correctly identified the flood potential here. However, the supervisor who would normally have been responsible for calling up local officials to say: "Hey, this could be a big one, get ready" had been DOGEd, so that did not occur.

These cabins are located in a place where there is no cell phone service, so cell phone-based alerts like the ones I am continually getting from MoCo about various weather events would not have worked.

The locals voted against an audible siren system because of cost.

So the NOAA weather radio would be the way to go. I am buying one today.

We're not talking about your little house and your family of 3.5.

We're talking about business people who ran a camp that brought HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN to its location for WEEKS AT A TIME during the summer months. This is a whole other level of obligation and responsibility.

Of COURSE you have multiple people, on staff, every single night of the summer, awake and taking care of problems during the night. Don't give me the DOGE BS - the warnings were there, grew more dire throughout the night, and were ignored.

Like I said, I hope the parents are lining up lawsuits.

You seem confused.

The people who got DOGEd were government employees who accepted early retirement and whose positions have not been filled.

The camp is not run by the government.

I agree that there is a level of obligation about safety. I asked the original question as to whether it would be common for a camp like this to have overnight staff (that are awake and on duty vs simply on-call if someone wakes them up) who would be tasked with managing something like this. It sounds from coverage like the owner of the camp was assisting with the evacuation and died doing so. Someone above also mentions a night security guard. I genuinely didn't know what would be normal for a camp like this as I've never attended one and haven't send my children to any overnight camp. The only things I know literally come from movies.

I did, however, have a baby in daycare the year of the DC earthquake, which was the first time I became aware how little I knew about the actual emergency procedures of the daycare my child was at. I knew a lot about the day to day experience safety stuff related to sleep and diapers and ratios, but when the emergency actually occurred, I had no idea where their emergency evacuation point was. I now check these kinds of things somewhat pathologically and wondered if someone had real information about what was supposed to happen here.

That said, I can only think about the policy aspect of it for about 45 seconds before I remember that I also have an 8yo daughter this summer. So I'm with the PP who cried herself to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the south and understand camp culture and its importance to many families. I have multiple friends with some association to Camp Mystic as former campers, counselors, etc. It's not my thing, but I get it.

Here's what I don't understand.

This camp - and many camps in that area - have been there for 100 years. This is a big part of the tradition; campers literally stay in the same cabins that their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. did. They are not going to up and move the location of the camp. But, given the nature of the river and history of flooding there, why are they not better regulated? Are they inspected for safety, beyond the dining room kitchens? How do they get insurance being situated so close to the river as they are?

It seems to me that any of these privately held camps that host thousands of kids across the course of the summer would pay more attention to safety factors. I'm sure they do some sort of weather drills and training, etc. with their young staffs. But this is the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed and thought through on an annual basis. Why was no one awake that night, all night, watching the weather forecast? The warnings were there and they grew increasingly dire throughout the night. That should be standard operating procedure for any facility like this.

Is it common to have someone literally awake watching the weather forecast at any camp? I'm sure that many of y'all will become experts on the Camp Mystic Safety Manual as soon as it's available.

Having someone watching a forecast all night is not done and would not make sense. It would have been reasonable for the cabins closest to the river (and the camp's leadership) to have had NOAA weather radios that emit a warning siren when warranted. These cost about $40 apiece.

Not make sense?? And pray tell why not?

Because forecasts are predictions about the future (often the distant future, which is knowable with less certainty), and NOAA weather radio warning sirens are actionable information about events that are actually about to take place.

According to what I have read, NOAA correctly identified the flood potential here. However, the supervisor who would normally have been responsible for calling up local officials to say: "Hey, this could be a big one, get ready" had been DOGEd, so that did not occur.

These cabins are located in a place where there is no cell phone service, so cell phone-based alerts like the ones I am continually getting from MoCo about various weather events would not have worked.

The locals voted against an audible siren system because of cost.

So the NOAA weather radio would be the way to go. I am buying one today.

We're not talking about your little house and your family of 3.5.

We're talking about business people who ran a camp that brought HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN to its location for WEEKS AT A TIME during the summer months. This is a whole other level of obligation and responsibility.

Of COURSE you have multiple people, on staff, every single night of the summer, awake and taking care of problems during the night. Don't give me the DOGE BS - the warnings were there, grew more dire throughout the night, and were ignored.

Like I said, I hope the parents are lining up lawsuits.

NP. Don't some camps have limited cell service? I feel like some places advertise being so isolated as a positive thing for the campers.

[Anonymous]

There were more children at this camp than at our public elementary school.

I can't believe they have never in the past feared the river will flood and created a system for having the river cabin occupants to sleep elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Mystic did have a night watch and he raised the alarm at 2:00 am according to him. They started moving the lowest lying campers up to the Rec hall at that time. They were still moving kids when the flash flood came at about 4:00am. The two cabins where the kids were swept away were 25 ft up from the edge of the river, near the rec hall. The river has never risen that high before. The water rose more than that in 40 minutes and reached the Rec hall but it thankfully didn’t collapse. By the time they tried to get to other cabins near the rec hall the water was going up incredibly fast and one of the cabin walls collapsed. That was the cabin were all the girls were swept away. They were in the middle of getting the girls from the cabin beside it and rescued most of them but the camp director was swept away with a few girls. There was an interview with the night watchman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mystic did have a night watch and he raised the alarm at 2:00 am according to him. They started moving the lowest lying campers up to the Rec hall at that time. They were still moving kids when the flash flood came at about 4:00am. The two cabins where the kids were swept away were 25 ft up from the edge of the river, near the rec hall. The river has never risen that high before. The water rose more than that in 40 minutes and reached the Rec hall but it thankfully didn’t collapse. By the time they tried to get to other cabins near the rec hall the water was going up incredibly fast and one of the cabin walls collapsed. That was the cabin were all the girls were swept away. They were in the middle of getting the girls from the cabin beside it and rescued most of them but the camp director was swept away with a few girls. There was an interview with the night watchman.

If this account is true (I have no idea) it should not take 2 hours to move children to safety. TWO HOURS!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, historically a good number of these oldest camps have not been particularly religious, including Mystic. I was surprised to see it described as that in the media but then I saw that they even have that word on their website and social media now. In decades past they have been "Christian" like TCU or SMU are "Christian".

There are other much more faith-based camps in the area that are funded by church organizations, etc.

I attended Camp Mystic in the 90s. I don’t remember it being particularly religious. I had a cabin mate who I remained friends with through college who was Jewish, so non-Christians were definitely welcomed.