For over 70 summers, children and young people have been coming to the shores of Mary Lake in the heart of Muskoka for an incredible summer camp experience. Over the years, we’ve been known primarily as one of Ontario’s premier summer camp destinations. However, about 10 years ago we started making significant capital investments in our year round facilities and are now proud to offer Mini-Yo-We experiences 12 months of the year.
Bringing a group to Mini-Yo-We in the winter time is second to none. Our state-of-the-art facilities get transformed into a breath-taking location for you to experience and cherish through the wonder of snow and ice. In fact, Mini-Yo-We is even better in the winter than it is in the summer! Here are 5 reasons why wintertime at Mini-Yo-We is better than summer:
- Designed with Winter in Mind // All of our facilities that we open this time of year are designed with Muskoka winter in mind. The floors in our cabins are heated, so when you get out of bed in the morning, your feet land on a nice warm spot. We have an indoor rock climbing wall, so you can enjoy challenging yourself or friends in the warm indoors. Our new “Muskoka Hall” has an incredible view of the frozen lake which makes for a stellar backdrop for any meeting or presentation.
- Frozen Mary Lake // Our lake at Mini-Yo-We is one of our greatest natural assets. In the summertime, she welcomes our campers to participate in a wide variety of watery fun and the winter time is no difference. Skating on a lake is a quintessential Canadian experience. One of our tobogganing runs goes right down onto the lake! Mary Lake exudes a certain beauty in the winter and is enjoyed even from the shore lines with amazing views. An extra special treat is a still night where you can lie down on Mary Lake and hear the giant plates of ice grinding against each other; now, that is a memory that lasts a lifetime!
- Program Designed Around Your Needs // During winters, we open our facility up for a wide variety of groups … schools, church youth groups, corporate teams. Each of these groups has very specific needs in how they want their programs to run. Our team works to customize their Mini-Yo-We experience, so it fits their goals perfectly! We only offer programs for kids and young people during summer time, we do offer adults groups the opportunity to jump in and be part of the fun during the winter! Unlike a conference centre at Camp Mini-Yo-We, your group will most likely have the site exclusively for yourself, so that you do not bump into other groups but are able to focus on your team’s goals and outcomes. Did you know that every summer we have hundreds of parents joke with us that they wish they could come to Mini-Yo-We when they drop their kids off? You can! Just bring a group from your church, work or community and you can enjoy Camp too!
- Winter Only Activities // If you’ve only experienced Camp Mini-Yo-We in the summer, you are missing out on some amazing exclusive winter activities. A highlight for our guests is a night time torch walk where you the opportunity to explore our facility with the stars above you, crunchy snow below you and the wonder of God’s creation all around you. You also get a chance to see the evidence of animals around our facility that generally remain hidden in the summertime … tracking rabbit tracks through our fields and forests is so much fun!
- Leadership Development Opportunities // At its core, Mini-Yo-We is about developing tomorrow’s leaders through life-changing adventures in God’s creation. If you’re group is interested in leadership development in any way, we can help you augment your development program. Time away for your future church leadership team is poignantly paired with some activities with our staff that will help your team come closer as a group. Challenging your leaders to step out of their comfort zone is a part of development and we have 250+ acres of opportunities for that every winter!
Camp Mini-Yo-We is open all through the year to serve you and your groups. We’d love to talk with you about what sort of an experience we can custom design for your group. Check out our website for more information on what we provide and reach out to our team to initiate the conversation. Believe it or not, we’re already taking bookings for next winter!
Rich Birch
Executive Director