Ekone Ranch offers a one-of-a-kind camp program on over 1,000 acres of canyonlands, forests and meadows near the Columbia Gorge. Our residential, co-ed camp program features small groups and a high staff to camper ratio.

We offer many camp programs that focus on horses, projects and skill-building, as well as spending meaningful time outside exploring the forests, grasslands, and canyons. All of our sessions emphasize creating a supportive camp community, healthy peer relationships, and a positive work ethic. Campers have an unforgettable immersion experience in healthy lifestyles, good eating, and great friends. They learn that good work can be great fun, and they come back year after year for more!

Our approach to horsemanship emphasizes the special relationship between children and horses. Everyone spends time grooming and caring for the horses, learning safe ground habits, and building relationships with horses from the ground while taking care of their minds and bodies. As for riding, we ride primarily bareback, especially with beginning riders. 30+ years of experience have taught us that children learn to ride much faster bareback, gain their balance more quickly, develop a more empathetic relationship and better communication with the horse, and are actually safer without the trappings of tack to get tangled in and distracted by. For more advanced riders, we may progress with our wide selection of western and english saddles. We ride primarily in bitless bridles, keep our horses barefoot, and work toward providing the most species-appropriate lifestyle we can for them.

Programs also offered in art, music, ranch skills and projects, horses and other animals & more. Each camp is unique and tailored to the specific group of campers each week.

Our garden-fresh, from-scratch food is a highlight of the camp experience (many a camper has learned to love their vegetables in the Yummy Tummy Cafe). Campers sleep in our new bunkhouse (built in 2019), under the stars, or on very special occasions in the barn near the horses!

All of our sessions emphasize creating a supportive camp community, healthy peer relationships, and a positive work ethic. Campers have an unforgettable immersion experience in healthy lifestyles, good eating, and great friends. They learn that good work can be great fun, and they come back year after year for more!

Please visit our website at www.ekone.org or call 509-773-4536 for more information.

Serving campers ages 8-18.

Facilities description:

Ekone's facilities are full of rustic character and charm!

The spacious octagonal Lodge greets all visitors when they arrive in the Ekone valley. The first thing you notice is the giant hole in the ceiling...which allows us to have campfires “inside”! The Lodge also holds our craft area, tack room, and ranch offices.

Most campers sleep in the Bunkhouse, which is an A-frame structure with lower bunks and upper lofts. Kids eyes go wide when they see this place! One each end of the bunkhouse are what we lovingly call ‘staff dens’, where there are always at least two staff members on-call all night long.

The Yummy Tummy Cafe is our scrumptious camp kitchen, that cranks out delicious, abundant, from-scratch meals for all, highlighting fresh produce from our own garden and from area farms. We eat as much organic and local food as possible.