Near the Snoqualmie River, amid sprawling pastures and farmland, far from the nearest neighbor, is Camp Korey. Camp proper lies nestled on a wooded hill by the southwest side of Carnation Farm Road. A sprawl of pastureland spanning nearly 300 acres, also owned by the Camp, stretches to more woods and Sikes Lake in Carnation, Wash.

To someone who is familiar with the sight of a children’s summer camp, Hollywoodized or otherwise, the face of Camp Korey is peculiar. From the parking lot a steep rise of cement and pavement presents several large red-roofed, white-and-gray-sided buildings like those one might find on an old commercial farm — which is what the property once was. The site is the Carnation Farm, once ground zero for Carnation evaporated milk and the estate of the Stuart family, previous owners of the company.

Further onto the property the sights continue to appear less like a summer camp. There are no rough-hewn dirt paths or seedy log cabins here. Hedges and lawns are precisely manicured, resembling a theme park. Neat asphalt paths lined with lamp posts and garden lights lead to tidy, modern-looking buildings tucked behind their monstrous red, white and gray neighbors. A swimming pool overlooks the valley to the northeast, and further up the hill there is a rose garden, pruned and sleeping in the winter morning air next to a fountain — cherubim-like statue at its head — that is taking a hiatus until spring.

The lavishness of this place makes sense; it was once a corporate retreat. Nestlé acquired the property when it bought Carnation in the 1980s and modified it. Its modern air suits its current occupants perfectly.

Since 2008 the unique property has been the home of an equally unconventional organization. Camp Korey is a proposed member of the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, a collection of camps founded by the late Paul Newman, devoted to providing children with medical needs — who cannot partake in a typical summer camp — a place to fish, garden, ride horses and enjoy the same leisurely pastimes offered at those camps.

The relative comfort of the well-cultivated property lends well to the needs of these campers. Camp Korey has the capacity of a small community hospital, says camp director Hillary Carey. A graduate of the University of Montana who has been with Camp Korey since its inception, she led us to the sky-lit medical center, which had previously been a home to a portion of the Stuarts and still retains much of its casual comfort. A staff of local doctors and nurses volunteer their services during camp sessions to make sure all campers’ medical needs are met. The camp hires 10 to 12 paid summer staff that work during the summer sessions serving as cabin leaders and program directors. About 20 additional volunteer counselors assist in each camp session. There will be five sessions this coming summer that will round out a nearly three-to-one counselor-to-camper ratio.

This summer the Camp will need more volunteers than ever before, said volunteer coordinator and UW graduate Laura Gehmen, because it is increasing the number of sessions from last summer, from two to five.

Camp Korey didn’t acquire Carnation Farm until the beginning of July; so last summer’s sessions were limited to two.

Each volunteer will serve for at least one of the condition-specific weeks: children with facial differences, mitochondrial disease, children with liver transplants, or the general session accommodating children with varying conditions.

Currently Camp Korey can accommodate 32 children per session, but cabins will soon be built, allowing for as many as 120 children per session. This would mean the camp would need between 250 to 300 staff members per session during future summers.

Carey took us into the arts and crafts building, nearly barren during the off-season, with only handprints of paint left as remnants from last summer’s campers, and motioned to where the sun would be positioned in the upcoming mural on the room’s walls. She talked about plans for the bathrooms to be painted in an underwater theme and explained how camper and counselor selection works at Camp Korey:

“We don’t want to set anybody up for disappointment,” she said, speaking of the camper selection process. “We work with a team at Seattle Childrens’, let them know about our session. They know what our site looks like and they would work internally to identify which kids would be a good fit.”

After a potential camper is pitched the idea of Camp Korey by a member of the hospital staff, they must fill out lengthy applications — 16 to 17 pages — detailing their medical condition and needs. The applications are examined by Camp Korey’s medical advisory committee, which is constituted by medical professionals and a dietician that will supervise the preparations and alterations necessary to accommodate the camper.

About half of last summer’s non-professional staff were UW students, she said. This statistic is no coincidence.

“The college-age student is our ideal counselor,” Gehmen said. “They have summers off usually, are able to donate a week of their time and get into the cheers and the songs, are high energy and play with the kids.”

Plenty of energy is a must, as counselors will likely be working 18-hour days, Carey said.

At 7:30 a.m. campers will have the option of an early-bird activity, such as gardening. Come 8:30 a.m. it’s breakfast time, then two sessions of morning activities. In the afternoon there’s rest time, and then more activity sessions where campers can do anything from horseback riding to fishing to arts and crafts. Dinner comes next, followed by an evening activity.

“We try and get the kids back to their cabins by 9 o’clock because rest is very important.” Carey said as we took a walking tour of the camp. “If we can get them back by 9 o’clock, they might be in bed by midnight.”

Counselors typically go to bed two hours after the children are asleep.

Around six hours a day are spent by campers and counselors alike in the Camp’s dining facility, the Hippodrome Pavilion — a massive open-air, raftered structure built of wood — which doubles as a theater for camper talent shows and a fashion show put on with the help of a local designer that raised money for Camp Korey.

It costs around $2,500 for each camper to attend a summer session, Carey said. The staff works year-round with community support to raise enough money so that no camper will ever have to pay to attend. This is a corner stone of Camp Korey, she said.

“It’s a neat place to meet young people,” she said. “I think that’s what’s appealing for college-age volunteers. It’s a place they can come and meet people with very similar interests.”

Shar Ahmed, a junior at the UW studying chemistry, was one volunteer last summer. He looks back on his experience as a volunteer cabin counselor as nothing but positive.

“I feel like I’m at the Heartland there, it’s really Americana,” he said referring to the Camp Korey’s campus and surroundings. “I think my favorite thing was letting kids be kids, which was Paul Newman’s original idea, and that’s what this camp is all about. That really resonated with me.”

His favorite event at Camp Korey was the Silly Olympics. Campers move from station to station in a flat grassy area at the heart of the property, participating in pie-ing their counselor in the face, antiquing their counselor — throwing a wet sponge, followed by flour, on them, thus giving them an antique look — making ice cream sundaes on anybody and finally enjoying a spaghetti fight. To top everything off, a fire truck from a nearby fire station comes to hose everyone off.

Abbey Pearl, a UW junior studying women’s studies and public health, remembers the Silly Olympics as one of her favorite times at camp. She worked as the arts and crafts program director for both sessions and was part of the paid staff. Pearl says she’s already turned in her application to work at the camp this coming summer.

“It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life,” Pearl said. “You think you’re going to camp so you’ll stay in really old cabins with spiderwebs everywhere, but because it was a corporate retreat, everything is really nice. It’s better for the kids as well.”

Reach reporter Camden Swita at features@dailyuw.com.