Housing and Transportation

Counselor Greets Campers off the Morning Bus

Roughing It is a day camp and there is no on-site housing for staff. Staff often live with family, but may choose to locate apartments/rooms to rent nearby. Staff are responsible for driving to camp, with some accommodations made for staff who live in San Francisco and other outlying areas.

Transportation

Camp Site Location

Our camp site and office are in Lafayette and our swimming site is in Moraga. Most program staff and group counselors will need to commute to these sites  

Transportation from a Roughing It Bus Stop

Roughing It provides bus transportation from outlying areas like San Francisco, Berkeley, Alameda, and San Ramon. Some group counselors will be assigned as a bus counselor and can meet the bus at its first stop. We always provide bus transportation from Noe Valley for San Francisco staff. 

Bus captains should keep the following in mind:

  • Roughing It attempts to assign bus counselors the closest route from home but a specific route/stop is not guaranteed. 
  • There is a weekly meeting / in-service training each Wednesday or Thursday after camp.
  • We do not run buses during Staff Training week. Staff will need to either drive themselves, carpool with other staff, or take BART. We can arrange a shuttle to bring staff to our training center in Lafayette from Lafayette BART.

Junior Counselors

Junior counselors have the option of either commuting to the Lafayette Reservoir or taking the bus.  We do not run buses during Staff Training week so Junior Counselors will need to arrange transportation to camp that week.

Housing Options in the Bay Area

Housing in the Bay Area is on the expensive side, but there are several options for short stay housing needs. Communities nearest Roughing It are Concord, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco.

Berkeley is about 15-25 minutes from camp, and seems to have the largest number of affordable summer housing options available due to proximity to the UC Berkeley campus. Rental costs vary. Beware of less expensive options you may discover on your own, as these “better deals” are sometimes misleading. Take the time to understand all rental agreements and costs.