There are currently Stage 1 fire restrictions at our campsite that prohibit the building, maintaining, attending or using of all fires, campfires or stoves. Stage 1 restrictions include all gas and charcoal barbecues or grills, except where posted. These fire restrictions are in place due to high fire danger in the area. We expect fire restrictions to be in effect for the duration of camp, and want to provide you with the information needed to plan accordingly for your trip.
More fire and weather updates will be emailed to camp registrants as the date approaches and forecasts gain more accuracy.
The Spring 2025 Campout will take place Friday, May 30th through Monday, June 2nd in Jemez. It’s been over a year since we’ve had an All-Queers Camp, and we can’t wait to come together!
We’re continuing our tiered registration process. Emails are sent out at the start of each registration section and the link is below.
Spring 2025 Queer Campout Registration Timeline:
April 21: Registration opens for BIPOC*, transfeminine folks, those affected by transmisogyny, and disabled** queers
May 5: General registration opens—all queers can register!
May 23: Registration closes (will close earlier if we reach capacity before this date)
May 30 to June 2: Campout weekend
*We define BIPOC as people who have been racialized as ‘ethnic minorities’, including but not limited to Native/Indigenous, Black, Brown, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indian, Middle-Eastern, and/or multi-ethnicity/mixed-race folks. Rather than gatekeeping, we are relying on community members to self-assess which spaces are for them.
**Disabled: those excluded from aspects society due to lack of accessibility (read: social model of disability) and/or those with physical, cognitive, psychiatric, sensorial, and undiagnosed conditions necessitating accommodation, including those who do and do not self-identify as disabled; identity-first language intentional
Families
Kiddos are an important part of the community and including them is in line with QCO’s Values. Ideally, someone coordinates all things family-related for QCO (activities, youth supervision, and meeting family’s needs). If this is a role you’re interested in taking on, please email us at hello@qcampout.com or let us know in your registration.
QCO is a body-positive space, which means that attendees can expect some nudity. Families should ensure their young people are prepared for and comfortable with this. (Kink and play activities will take place in designated 18+ areas.)
Furry Friends
Trained service animals who will be working while at camp are welcome, but please leave ESAs and pets at home.
We’ve heard from campers that finding reliable and affordable pet care is a big barrier to joining camps located far from home. We hope to connect campers who need pet care with people who are able to offer it to meet this need where possible. If you can provide this support, please email us at hello@qcampout.com. If you would like to receive this support, let us know in your registration.
Volunteering
In the spirit of co-creation, everyone who attends Campout should plan to volunteer for at least one shift. Campers can sign up for role(s) before camp or at camp:
Before camp → We’re recruiting for roles that require varying levels of commitment. From Helpers to Team Leaders, we are looking for campers to join the following teams and prepare together before camp starts: Camp Greeters, Care Bears, Disability and Access Resource Team (DART), Camp Setup & Teardown Crew, & the Medic Team.
Our Volunteer Picnic will be held in northeast Albuquerque from 11am-1pm Saturday, May 24th! We encourage all campers and organizers to attend.
If you’re interested in taking on one or more of these roles, please contact us or let us know when you register. Our Volunteer Coordinator will reach out to you directly.
At camp → At check-in, campers can sign up for shifts on crews that don’t require commitment before camp such as Camp Upkeep Crew, Campfire Crew and Answer Keepers. Folks are also encouraged to help out with empty shifts throughout camp if they can.
Campers have hosted all sorts of fun games and activities at QCO, from kink workshops and play parties to dance parties, talking circles, campfire karaoke, and topless watermelon eating. If you are interested in hosting an activity, please let us know on the registration form and the Activities & Engagement team will reach out directly to help coordinate. In planning an activity, please consider requirements for participation such as mobility, allergies, sensory stimuli, and language interpretation so that campers can make informed decisions about where to direct their energy. If your activity would benefit from ASL interpretation, we ask that you write up a rough summary or script and email it to us by May 27th so that we can forward it to our interpreters ahead of time.
Poetry Circle
Send your favorite poems to hello@qcampout.org so we can share them in a signing and reading circle!
Nature Walk
Nature knows no binary! Get to know your non-human neighbors!
COVID-19
COVID-19 continues to present a very real and serious risk to many people, including members of our community. Queer Campout is an anti-oppressive space committed to inclusivity and accessibility, which means practicing community care through continuing to take COVID-19 precautions although they were lifted across the country and much of the world. Please plan to take at least one COVID test before traveling up to Jemez (sequential tests 48 hours apart have the best rate of catching false negatives!), and make sure to have a well-fitting mask such as an N95 with you at all times.
Although much of our time will be outdoors and well-ventilated, we are grateful for any additional actions you take to protect our beloved community!
QCO was–and is continually–created to offer an opportunity for those with less access to nature/camping to enjoy the outdoors in safe, inclusive community. This means prioritizing accessibility for disabled** campers. In addition to using campsites with ADA-compliant features, the QCO Disability and Accessibility Resource Team (DART) is prepared to collaboratively develop accommodations for those with a range of disabilities and accessibility needs.
**Disabled: those excluded from aspects society due to lack of accessibility (read: social model of disability) and/or those with physical, cognitive, psychiatric, sensorial, and undiagnosed conditions necessitating accommodation, including those who do and do not self-identify as disabled; identity-first language intentional
RVs & Campers
Space for RVs and campers is limited at the campgrounds. We ask that only those who need to use RVs and campers do so and that all others plan to car camp or use a tent. The QCO Disability and Accessibility Resource Team (DART) will reach out to those who note in their registration that they hope to use an RV/camper to make appropriate arrangements.
Donations
This year, we will collect donations via Venmo and Givebutter prior to and at camp. We ask that all campers who are able to make a contribution to help cover the costs of the campground rental and supplies needed for the weekend. We suggest a sliding scale of $10-25 per camper.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds. We want everyone to be able to enjoy the weekend regardless of their ability to contribute financially.
We’re so excited to be in the woods with you so soon!
P.S. If you have IG, follow us! And, if you have any questions or feedback, please email the Organizing Team at hello@qcampout.org ♥️
If you identify as a black or indigenous queer, a trans fem/woman of color, or disabled queer person of color, you can begin registration from today.
Things to note:
Please ensure that everyone in your group who is 18 years of age or older registers individually.
Please make sure you specify if you require any accommodations and fill out the registration form as accurately as you are able.
Early registration is an opportunity for people who are historically underrepresented in the community to join and participate in camp activities before all spaces fill up. Don’t let this opportunity eclipse you by!
We are excited to announce that the May 2024 Campout will be the first QTBIPOC Campout and will take place Friday, May 17th through Monday, May 20th in Jemez.
We’ve all felt how powerful it is to have time and space in nature specifically for us. Guided by our values, we aim to be intentional and conscientious in centering and prioritizing those who are intersectionally marginalized within our community and outdoor spaces at large. Gestures like tiered registration have started to help us do this. Still, we’ve seen camp after camp that QCO remains a predominantly white space (as well as predominantly nondisabled, cis/transmasc/nonbinary, and other dominant groups).
We envision additional specialized campouts, such as one for disabled folks, another for trans women and fems, and one for families with children. Everyone in the QCO community is invited to participate in making these spaces happen, even if the space itself is not designed for you. This is an opportunity to actualize and practice the values of equity, allyship, and community care, all in service of our collective well-being.
Part of our goal is for QCO to not only support and center BIPOC, disabled, transfemme/TMA, and other intersectionally marginalized members of our community but to be organized by BIPOC, disabled, transfemme/TMA, and other intersectionally marginalized folks. Ideally, QTBIPOC folks will be the ones making decisions about what this (and future) campout looks like.
Regardless of the level of involvement you can commit to, please let us know if you would like to be part of the planning and decision-making for the May 2024 QTBIPOC Campout! A small core group of white organizers is committed to providing labor and support for the QTBIPOC campout and assisting in displacing the amount of labor. (If other white folks would like to offer labor, we invite you to join us in doing so as well.)
September 2024 Campout
The fall 2024 campout will also be in Jemez, Friday, September 6th – Monday, September 9th, and open to all queer campers.
Queer Campout’s values are aligned with and aimed at equity: equitable inclusion and access. This is not the same as equality and does not assume that everyone is welcome in the same way. Equality acknowledges that every member of the queer community is entitled to care, dignity, and safety. Equity, on the other hand, acknowledges the diverse identities, circumstances, and challenges within the queer community, and aims to give everyone what they need so that they can participate and access in the ways that are meaningful and essential for them.
Inclusivity, therefore, does not mean including everyone in the same way; it means including people in an equitable way. Sometimes that means certain folks aren’t included to allow others to participate more fully. Protected spaces–such as the campout itself, where only queer people are welcome, or community activities/circles at campout like the transfemme support circle, where only trans feminine campers are welcome–provide a different kind of safety and community that cannot exist without that protection and exclusivity.
Camp after camp, we’ve seen that Queer Campout remains a predominantly white space (as well as predominantly nondisabled, cis/transmasc/nonbinary, and other dominant groups). This has shown us that despite our intention of inclusivity, some aspects of QCO are not accessible and welcoming to all members of our community.
Since white dominance is widespread, having a distinct space for non-white folks isn’t meant to segregate but to focus on a unique experience for QTBIPOC* individuals, different from the one shared with white QT people.
Creating a campout exclusive to BIPOC campers doesn’t dismiss the needs of others in our community. It’s a both/and situation, aligning with our values by focusing on BIPOC campers while inviting all queer campers to the general campout in September. This approach may feel uncomfortable for non-BIPOC campers, but it presents an opportunity to support and celebrate the centering of historically marginalized individuals within our queer community.
We anticipate a range of feelings and reactions to arise for some folks. We encourage you to approach this with an open mind, engage in critical thinking and inquiry, and consider the following reflection questions:
What are my initial thoughts and reactions to this post? How did the content make me feel, and where did those feelings show up in my body?
Do I feel provoked? What specific aspects of the post provoked me? Are there any underlying factors or personal experiences that may have contributed to this emotional response?
Do I feel any anger or resentment when I see that there are spaces exclusively dedicated to the BIPOC community? Why? Am I feeling excluded or invisibilized?
What biases or feelings surface when I meditate on this?
What sources of information or perspectives could provide a more comprehensive understanding of my experience and QCO’s stance on these issues?
What resources do I have to help me sit with and then move through what I’m experiencing right now?
*QTBIPOC stands for “Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.”
We are proud to openly align QCO with the Albuquerque Queers for Palestine and the call from Queers in Palestine for community members and groups across the world to voice their support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people amidst this most violent and vicious bombardment of Palestine. Our support for the Palestinian people, their lives, and their freedom is not, in any way, a statement against the Jewish people or support for the denial of their lives or their freedom.
“Queer Campout intends to be an inclusive, consensual, and anti-oppressive space, meaning we actively work against racism, ableism, transphobia, fatphobia, classism, sexism, white saviorism, xenophobia, and other forms of systemic oppression.”
As organizers and campers, we return to our values and use them to guide our path forward as Queer Campout grows and evolves. We invite you to reflect on them as well. We recognize Zionism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, capitalism, and US imperialism as additional forms of oppression that we must actively resist and dismantle in order to realize the kind of community that we envision.
As such, we resolutely believe that voicing our support of Palestine is an opportunity to not only reaffirm our core values but also practice steadfast commitment to them and to the liberation of all oppressed peoples. By supporting our Palestinian siblings in Gaza, the West Bank, and across the world—be it through the signing of a letter, calling our representatives, participating in public demonstrations, or myriad other acts of solidarity and resistance—we are enacting the values and principles that underpin Queer Campout and the community we strive to create together.
We believe, also, that failing to state our support of Palestine speaks just as loudly, if not louder, than this statement.
We stand–both metaphorically and often literally–in solidarity with folks of conscience who are rising up to say no to ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and settler colonialism; in Palestine, here on Turtle Island, and across the world.
Queer Campout is in the Jemez mountains from May 19th–22nd. Want to join us? We’re trying out a few new things! Find the link to register below.
The May Campout Will Be 18+
One of our values at QCO is creating an inclusive space. That means providing necessary support and resources within our capacity to those that attend. We’ve realized that making QCO a genuinely family-friendly event requires us to have a Family Coordinator and a team of folks who are willing and able to create a space for children to be entertained and cared for during the campout. We don’t have enough capacity to coordinate this for the May campout. Please let us know if you want to make this happen for the September campout in Tijeras!
Registration Is Open!
April 3: Registration opens for QTBIPOC, trans fem/women, and disabled folks
April 17: General registration opens—all queers can register!
We’re so excited to receive our first grant ever! QCO co-founder León was one of the Summer 2022 recipients of the Reclaiming the Outdoors grant. These funds will allow us to compensate a small team of queer folks with marginalized identities to help us lead the growth and direction of Queer Campout NM, purchase camping equipment to loan folks who otherwise cannot afford it, and pay for website hosting and other ongoing expenses.
Reclamation Ventures is a venture studio and fund that invents and invests in companies building a better future for all of us. Each quarter, they grant $50,000 in non-equity, direct support funds to under-represented leaders making wellness more accessible. A million thanks to Reclamation Ventures and their fantastic founder, Nicole Cardoza!
