There are fewer and fewer places where girls can completely step away from technology, spend their days outdoors, challenge themselves, and have the freedom to discover who they are. YMCA Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha is one of those places.

Nestled into the sloping, pine-covered hills surrounding beautiful Arbutus Lake, Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha feels like a step into another world. Towering tree canopies surround historic cabins and buildings that reflect Camp’s roots dating back to 1914. As part of the more than 120-year tradition of YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps, Arbutus has been a summer home for generations of girls who have found friendship, adventure, confidence, and a deep connection to the outdoors here.

While much has changed over the generations, the heart of the Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha experience remains wonderfully traditional. Girls live together in cabins, share meals, sing songs, swim in the lake, gather around campfires, spend their days outdoors, and venture into the wilderness together.

A Summer Unplugged

At Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha, girls have the increasingly rare opportunity to truly unplug. Without phones and everyday distractions, campers become fully immersed in Camp life. Days are filled with face-to-face friendships, laughter, time outdoors, campfires, challenges, and adventures.

There is something especially meaningful about the single-gender Camp experience. Girls are encouraged to try new things, lead, make mistakes, be silly, take healthy risks, and support one another. Friendships develop naturally through shared experiences rather than through screens.

The cabin group is at the heart of Camp. Girls live and learn together, developing responsibility, independence, communication skills, and an appreciation for what each person contributes to the group.

Our historic motto, Each for All, All for Each, comes to life as girls learn to contribute, listen, encourage one another, respect differences, and recognize that everyone has something important to offer.

Wilderness Adventure Sets Camp Arbutus Apart

One of the experiences that makes Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha truly distinctive is its long tradition of wilderness adventure. Our tripping program is designed around a Pathways to Growth, allowing campers to build outdoor skills, confidence, independence, and leadership year after year.

As campers grow, so do their adventures. Younger campers begin with introductory outdoor experiences that help them become comfortable hiking, paddling, camping, and spending time away from Camp. Each year, campers can progress to a new wilderness experience that is longer, more challenging, and appropriate for their age and developing abilities.

Over the years, campers may progress from shorter trips close to Camp to multi-day hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and biking adventures throughout Northern Michigan and Canada. Skills learned one summer become the foundation for the next adventure. A camper who once needed encouragement to carry her first backpack may return a few summers later ready to paddle for days, navigate a wilderness route, prepare meals, set up camp, support her trip group, and take on greater responsibility.

The destination changes. The trips become longer. The challenges become greater. And with each experience, girls discover a little more about what they are capable of. For many campers, looking ahead to the next adventure in their Pathway to Growth becomes one of the reasons they cannot wait to return to Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha each summer.

The Best of Traditional Camp on Arbutus Lake

Back at Camp, girls experience the activities and traditions that have defined summers at Arbutus for generations. Days are filled with sailing, swimming, paddling, archery, arts and crafts, nature, climbing, field sports, songs, campfires, cabin traditions, and more.

Campers have opportunities to make their own choices, discover new interests, and return to activities they love. The setting is an important part of the experience. Girls walk beneath towering pines to activities, gather in historic buildings, head down the hill to the waterfront, and fall asleep surrounded by the sounds of the outdoors. It is a childhood experience that has become increasingly rare.

Positive Role Models and a Strong Cabin Community

The people who lead Camp are an important part of what makes Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha special. Our mature, dedicated staff serve as positive female role models, encouraging campers to be confident, compassionate, adventurous, and independent.

Many of our staff were once Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha campers themselves, and our staff return rate approaches 70%. They understand the traditions of Camp because they have lived them, and they return because they believe in creating that same experience for the girls who come after them. Small cabin groups allow counselors to truly know their campers, recognize their individual strengths, encourage them through challenges, and celebrate their successes.

A Place Where Traditions Still Matter

There is something powerful about knowing that girls today are walking beneath the same towering trees, paddling the same waters, gathering around campfires, singing many of the same songs, and heading into the wilderness just as generations of Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha campers have done before them.

Camp provides something that can be difficult for girls to find today: time away from screens, meaningful independence, genuine friendships, strong female role models, outdoor challenge, and a connection to the natural world.

Historic. Traditional. Unplugged. Single-gender. Wilderness-based.

A summer at Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha is more than time away from home. It is an opportunity for girls to grow, year after year, into confident, capable, connected young women.