Idyllwild Pines Camp & Conference Center

We had a women’s retreat at IP this past weekend. I have only good things to say about Idyllwild Pines. The location is beautiful of course but even the staff are so lovely. They went out of their way to make our stay successful. One staff member saw one of our ladies struggling to walk and commented that she didn’t have coffee. She said she couldn’t walk up to get any. He walked her to the meeting hall, took her cup and brought her a cup of coffee so she didn’t have to do without! They even opened another cabin up for us at the last minute to accommodate a last minute issue.
It is a camp. Don’t come expecting hotel beds, but man the food was fantastic! I mean really really good!
Thanks for the great weekend!

I have never stayed here. I have never interacted with any of the staff or management.
However, they went out of their way to interact with me. I stayed in a campground a mile away. Night after night, they rudely blasted amplified music so people camping on the other end of the mountain would be kept up until well past ten pm. It ruined the camping experience.

I’m wondering where to begin with my review of this camp. This place has a very special place in my heart, as I’ve stayed here for a week of almost every Summer of my 32 years. The grounds are beautiful, we’ve NEVER had anything stolen from our cabins, and the staff is truly the best part of the experience for me. They are kind, considerate, competent, attentive to the needs of the campers, and the best part is that they treat each other wonderfully, too — I’ve never heard negative words exchanged, which is quite uncommon these days in a workplace. Many of my most treasured memories were made at this camp and now my four children get to make their own in the same place I did every Summer. This is truly a special place and if you visit, you definitely won’t regret it.

I went for a weekend retreat with a group of co-​workers. We had a wonderful time! Idyllwild is a charming mountain town with some very unique stores. The camp is definitely charming, there weren’t too many other people there when we were so we had plenty of privacy. If you are looking for a mountain getaway, this is the perfect place!

We just returned from our stay at Idyllwild Pines. Because of the previous post by the owner of the camp regarding the amped up security measures, we disregarded the reports of robberies and took our kids to the camp anyway. Unfortunately, the camp lied about the increased security measures. There were NO SECURITY CAMERAS, the motion lights did not work properly, and the doors are flimsy and some even had locks that were falling off! We kept our doors locked but we were also ROBBED on the first night of our stay. The robber simply crow-​barred the flimsy doors open. As if that were not bad enough, the camp hosts response was less than adequate. They told me to wait until the next day to call the police (I called immediately anyway), and the «repair» to the door was ridiculous and definitely showed their lack of financial ability to properly provide security. They simply screwed the lock back into the splintered door. I had a group of 50 scared young girls and we were told that we would be provided with protection from an outside security firm for the rest of our stay. We trusted they were telling us the truth, but security never arrived.
Beyond the disregard for security, the camp was overbooked and the staff, particularly the camp host, was inept at meeting the basic amenities this camp claims to provide. None of our rooms were cleaned on time for check in. We were mistakenly given the key to our leader’s room and moved in, only to be told at dinner that the room had actually never been cleaned and they were currently in there cleaning around our personal belongings. Every single activity we had reserved was either not available to us at the reserved time or the proper staff showed up 2 hours late. When this left our group with nothing to do there were no helpful suggestions, instead, I was told to «figure something out». Some of the staff running the zip line, giant swing, and archery activities stood around and socialized for most of the time we were there until I barked at them to help us out. One such time, 2 female staff members were socializing while a male staff member pushed a huge wooden ladder by himself over to the bottom of the zip line for the 6 year old girl riding to exit. HE RAMMED HER WITH THE LADDER TWICE and when we yelled at him to stop, he looked at us and screamed at us that he couldn’t see her. Total teenage rude attitude, No apology.
There were water jugs located in front of the kitchen that were empty. After repeated requests by our chaperones to have them filled, we gave up and went and bought cases of water for our kids.
The facilities are run down and in need of repairs. One of our dorms reeked of sewage (#19). The same dorm had major plumbing problems and we spent a lot of time plunging toilets.
While there were a few staff members who were friendly, for the most part the staff was utterly rude and condescending. The main camp host was impossible to have a conversation with and refused to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made by the camp. I was told repeatedly «It’s not my fault», «It’s not my problem», «The person who handles that is gone and you can talk to her on Monday» (after our camp was over), and my favorite, «We have 6 groups here right now and it’s really a lot to juggle».
Meals were mediocre (not worth $ 10 each), and portion sizes were extremely stingy. Kitchen staff was rude and not helpful. The coffee bar did not open at all during our stay. Most annoying was that for some reason the camp hosts either stopped me at the entrance or interrupted EVERY single meal to have a little «meeting» with me. It became a joke in our group as to whether or not I would get to eat anything at that meal as many times the food was gone before I got to it.
Any of these issues on their own would have been acceptable, we would have overlooked it, and even returned again next year. But the combination really resulted in an overall bad experience for our campers and chaperones and we will be looking for a new place to host our camp next year.

This an annual trip we take approximately 150 of our high school senior to. The get to experience truly cabin style camping, group counseling session, career planning and more. The camp is kept clean, but my favorite is the family style service in the dining hall. Students learn to clean up after themselves and other before the go off to experience college life.
They have so many group activity area at this camp that it was easy to keep the student entertain and focused. The day we went up it snowed over 14 inches of snow. Our student had a great time having snow fights, making snow sculptures and more.
At the end of our trip, student pack up, cleaned their cabin area and took a group picture and then got on the buses for the return trip back down to sunny California.
I can think of any complaints to the campground or the great camp staff.

BE FOREWARNED…
I must say, at first it was pretty much like other retreat sites… the food was ok, the cabins are heated, plenty of outdoor space… until we were ROBBED. There were almost 200 of us and the larger cabins on the outskirts were burglarized. The robbers stole money, cell phones, whatever was of value and ransacked one of the three main cabins. The thing is, the staff never told us ONCE that this was a possibility, that they are known for this issue and did not warn us whatsoever or was not very helpful at all. We didn’t lock the doors every hour of the day because we had kids going in and out throughout. However, whoever did this knew exactly when and where to look which is another shady thing. They came at 9 p.m. exactly when we were all by the firepit. The cops had an «emergency» on the way and didn’t show up until 11 a.m. the next morning.
We will NOT be coming back. Please, be careful.

well the camp site is huge. but the only thing i had a problem with was. It was too close to the streets. also there was a cabin that got broken into when we were there… sad…but other then that people and staff was really nice…

We took our students here for a retreat and Emerson Hall (a huge cabin) is BEAUTIFUL and great for groups of 30. Beds for everyone, large open space, and a large kitchen. It’s right smack in the middle of the San Bernardino mountains. Emerson Hall is next to an open field, a small amphitheater and the pool. We loved it and had a great time here!
P. S. This is a Christian camp but they are very respectful and are not imposing.

Well, currently my child is at this camp, and her complaint is the horrible food. Hardly any of the kids are eating. My child is living off of the pizza and candy from the snack bar. Should be calling the state board or the Health Department.