What It Really Takes to Get Ranch Camp Ready for The Summer
If you find yourself driving down Elbert Road in December past the JCC Ranch Camp, you might think the place is fast asleep. The cabins are quiet, the fields are still, and the trails are patiently waiting under a blanket of snow. But every year, in May, something starts to shift…staff return, tools come out of storage, and even our herd of goats begins gearing up to serve as one of our first lines of defense against fire season.
Opening camp for the summer isn’t just hitting the light switch and singing “We welcome you to JCC,” as campers pour in. It’s weeks of preparations, hundreds of tiny details, and a whole lot of TLC poured into the property to make it feel like a home for the best summer ever. Our team sweeps out the cabins, clearing away the dust bunnies that nested over the winter months. We test smoke detector batteries, replace worn shoe racks, and swap out light bulbs. The spaces that remain quiet for 10 months of the year begin to feel ready for laughter, late-night cabin chats, and the joyful chaos that defines camp life. Outside, the grass gets its first haircut of the season; trails are cleared of weeds and branches, and common spaces get stocked with supplies and prepared for games, adventures, and camper creations.
Spring is also when we tackle our list of camp improvements. This year, we built new benches at Eddie’s Corner, creating an even more peaceful and spiritual place for reflection, prayers, and the quiet moments of Shabbat. We redid the floor in the art room to create a space that’s even more welcoming for creativity and messy masterpieces. And for those who know camp well, the resurfaced floor in the Mo means something very important: a lot less dust. Meanwhile, the kitchen begins preparing for the most important job of all: feeding hundreds of campers and staff (we make over 300,000 meals each summer!). Shelves slowly fill with the ingredients that make camp taste like camp: flour and chocolate for challah and babka, cases of tomatoes for our classic first-day grilled cheese and tomato soup, apples and oranges for snack, granola bars for trail days, and bags upon bags of coffee to fuel the incredible staff who make the magic happen. We give the post office a heads-up. Once the summer starts, they’ll deliver hundreds of letters and packages.
But for our team, camp never truly feels alive again until the animals arrive.
In early summer, trailers pull up to the front gate and suddenly the quiet road fills with movement. Forty horses trot up the drive; their hooves pounding rhythmically against the dirt road. It’s like the heartbeat of Ranch Camp returning after a long winter. For anyone lucky enough to witness it, it’s a moment that feels unmistakably like the start of summer. Soon after, the sheep settle into the farm, the chickens start clucking around their coop, and of course, the goats arrive ready to get to work. Our goats do more than just make campers laugh (though they’re very good at that). They help us with a vital part of preparing for the summer: natural fire mitigation. As they are let out of their pen, they graze through tall grasses and weeds across the property. They help reduce excess vegetation and help clear areas that could otherwise become field during Colorado’s fire season. With the dry winter we’ve had this year, our goats are especially important, and we’re grateful to have such enthusiastic four-legged helpers on the job.
By the time campers arrive in June, every corner of the Ranch has been carefully prepared. The cabins are ready. The trails are waiting. The kitchen is stocked. The animals are settled. Space is buzzing with the anticipation of campers arriving for another unforgettable summer!
And when the first cars pull through the gate, that’s when we know camp season has truly begun.
