CAMP PHILOSOPHY — General Rules & Guidelines

Camp Philosophy is built around friendship, curiosity, good conversation, exploration, and respect for one another. These guidelines exist to help everyone feel safe, comfortable, and welcome.

Respect for Others

• Always treat others with respect. Discuss and challenge ideas, not the character, intelligence, or motives of the person expressing them.
• No personal attacks, bullying, harassment, intimidation, threats, or deliberately hostile behavior.
• Disagreement is expected. Disrespect is not.
• Give others room to speak. Do not continually interrupt, dominate conversations, or prevent others from participating.
• Do not pressure anyone to participate in a discussion, activity, hike, meal, photograph, or anything else they do not wish to join.
• Respect personal boundaries and personal space.
• Sexual harassment, unwanted touching, or unwanted sexual attention will not be tolerated.
• Do not discriminate against or mistreat anyone based on race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, nationality, age, or other personal characteristics.
• Make a reasonable effort to help new attendees feel included rather than leaving them on the outside of established friendships.

Philosophical Discussions

• Camp Philosophy welcomes a wide range of beliefs, viewpoints, and philosophical positions.
• No one is required to agree with the majority of the group.
• Ask questions in good faith and make a reasonable effort to understand what another person is actually saying.
• Avoid turning every casual conversation into a debate. Sometimes people are simply talking, joking, relaxing, or sharing a personal experience.
• Know when to let a disagreement go. Not every question must be settled before the conversation ends.
• Do not follow someone around or repeatedly restart an argument after they have made it clear that they are finished discussing it.
• Criticism of ideas, religions, political systems, moral theories, and worldviews is permitted. Targeted hostility toward individual people is not.

Safety and Conduct

• Speak up and immediately report suspicious behavior, dangerous conduct, harassment, or anything that makes you or someone else feel unsafe.
• Follow reasonable safety instructions given by camp leaders, park staff, rangers, or emergency personnel.
• Do not create unnecessary risks for yourself or others.
• Tell someone before leaving the campsite alone, especially at night or when hiking into an unfamiliar area.
• Do not wander into restricted areas, enter abandoned structures, approach dangerous wildlife, or disregard posted warnings.
• Never leave a fire unattended.
• Follow all current fire restrictions and completely extinguish fires before leaving the area or going to sleep.
• Do not handle another person’s equipment, vehicle, food, medication, or personal property without permission.
• Weapons must never be displayed, handled carelessly, used to intimidate others, or brought into a discussion or disagreement.
• Illegal activity is not permitted at Camp Philosophy events.
• Alcohol must be used responsibly. Disruptive, aggressive, dangerous, or severely intoxicated behavior is not acceptable.
• No one may drive while impaired.

Campsite and Environmental Care

• Do not litter, damage, or trash the campsite.
• Leave the area as clean as—or cleaner than—we found it.
• Dispose of garbage, food waste, and other materials properly.
• Do not leave food outside where it may attract wildlife.
• Respect plants, animals, geological features, historical sites, and the surrounding environment.
• Do not cut live trees, damage vegetation, carve into natural surfaces, or disturb wildlife.
• Respect campground rules, quiet hours, neighboring campers, and nearby communities.
• Avoid unnecessary noise late at night or early in the morning.
• Help with basic shared responsibilities such as cleaning, cooking, gathering supplies, maintaining the campsite, and packing up.

Food and Shared Supplies

• Ask before taking food, drinks, camping equipment, or supplies that belong to someone else.
• Let camp leaders know in advance about serious food allergies or other safety-related dietary restrictions.
• Be honest about what ingredients are in shared meals.
• Practice reasonable food safety and cleanliness when preparing meals for the group.
• Clean up after yourself rather than leaving dishes, garbage, or equipment for others to handle.
• Contribute fairly when participating in shared meals, supplies, transportation, or other group expenses.

Privacy and Photography

• Ask permission before photographing or recording someone in a private, embarrassing, vulnerable, or uncomfortable situation.
• Do not secretly record private conversations.
• Respect requests not to be photographed, filmed, tagged, or posted on social media.
• Do not publicly share another attendee’s personal information, private conversations, travel plans, or location without permission.
• What someone shares during a personal conversation should not automatically be treated as public information.

Guests and Attendance

• Do not invite or bring additional people who have not first been approved by camp leaders.
• Do not share private campsite locations, entry instructions, access codes, or event details with unapproved guests.
• Pets must be approved in advance and remain under the owner’s supervision and control.
• Attendees are responsible for informing camp leaders of any important condition or circumstance that could reasonably affect group safety during the trip.
• Anyone who must cancel should notify camp leaders as soon as reasonably possible.
• Approval for one Camp Philosophy event does not automatically guarantee approval for every future event.

Resolving Problems

• Whenever possible, minor misunderstandings should be handled calmly and directly.
• Serious problems, repeated misconduct, or safety concerns should be brought to camp leaders.
• Retaliation against someone for reporting a legitimate concern will not be tolerated.
• Camp leaders may separate participants, restrict certain behavior, or ask someone to leave when necessary to protect the group.
• Anyone who seriously or repeatedly violates these guidelines may be removed from the current event and excluded from future Camp Philosophy events.

The Basic Principle

Use good judgment. Treat the campsite, the environment, and the people around you with care. Help create the kind of camp experience that you would want others to create for you.