(Photo courtesy Seattle Parks)
Though the fire-gutted lodge will be closed for years, the rest of Camp Long still rocks – including its climbing area! That’s the message park staff asked us to share with you tonight, along with words of thanks, plus volunteering and even job opportunities:
Thank you all for your patience and support as we have navigated through the tragic fire that destroyed our beloved lodge a little over a year ago (November 2024). We wanted to first acknowledge that it has been a tough year for us and the community who are used to gathering and using that space and share some updates on both the lodge and the park itself.
(WSB file photo, June 2025)
For those who have not seen the sign on the corner of the fence around the lodge for details about the project, we wanted to reiterate that all construction work being done on the lodge right now is to stabilize the building to prevent further damage in the hopes of full restoration in the future. The current work should be wrapped up in the next few weeks to months. In the long-term future, we are looking at cost estimates and preliminary design planning for what restoration would look like but as of right now the earliest that could start is sometime in the 2030s. We understand that this is a long timeline, but it is a very old and unique building that requires special considerations in construction, which adds to the costs associated with that.
In the meantime, we did want to emphasize that the park is open during its regularly scheduled hours (Tuesday through Saturday 10 am – 6 pm in the winter, and it will be open on Sundays as well again after March 1st). We have plenty of other rental opportunities for you to enjoy at this amazing park, including our shelters, the large central fire ring at the south end of the field and our very special and unique (albeit rustic) cabins! We limit some of the cabin availability in the wintertime due to the lack of heat but feel free to contact us if you are brave enough to stay in the chilly, though quieter, winter months here!
In addition to our rentals, we are still actively running our challenge course and rock-climbing programming at the park! We had a very busy 2025 and are already booking out for spring and summer of 2026, so if you want to bring a group out to any one of our 4 different challenge course experiences and/or rock-climbing programs, please reach out to us. We specialize in working with educational and youth groups but are open to all types. Our first big event of the year, Mountain Fest, is already scheduled for June 13th, so add it to your calendar! In addition, if anyone is interested in working as part-time temps, taking groups out on our Challenge Course, we are currently hiring and about to enter our training season! See the job description and application linked here for more details.
Lastly, a big update we have is that our staff will be able to be onsite more soon as we are establishing a temporary office trailer in front of the lodge for on-site operations. This will help us run more programming, smooth out our rental processes and bring the staff who love this park around on a more regular basis. This building will not be open to the public, but this just serves as an announcement as it will be a big change happening right in front of the lodge. For ongoing Camp Long announcements check our bulletin board in the parking area or our Facebook page.
Once again, thank you all for your support and we will continue to update you all as more develops on any of these projects. As we gear up for this next year, we are hoping to have many more opportunities for folks to get involved in the park. These will range from opening more positions on our Camp Long Advisory Council that meets monthly to plan and put on some of our large events; to some trail work parties; to volunteering as part of the Camp Long Climbing Corps to support Rock Climbing programs at Schurman Rock. So, if you are interested in doing more to support the park take a minute to fill out this form to let us know what you are interested in!
Thanks again to all for supporting this unique and special park!
Camp Long Staff