EQUINUNK, PA — It’s 7:30 a.m., and I’m standing at the top of a 30-foot waterslide, barefoot, in a swimsuit, wondering why I agreed to this.
Below me: a wind-rippled lake. Behind me: a line of cheering women, all of whom I’ve only just met. On any other Saturday, I’d still be asleep. But I’m at Camp Social — a luxury, all-women adult sleepaway camp in the Poconos — where the tagline is “99% arrive solo, 100% leave as friends.” And in the spirit of field reporting, I’ve promised myself I’ll say yes to everything. So I take a breath, plug my nose, and launch down the slide.
This weekend retreat, founded by influencer Liv Schreiber in 2023, bills itself as a place where women can unplug and create lifelong friendships. For $884, 450 women joined me from Sept. 26-28 for a weekend that promised to include farm-to-table meals, nightly themed parties and swag bags filled with exclusive goodies.
Seeing the camp’s packing list — which included a suggestion for a styled bus outfit — I couldn’t help but worry I would feel like Hannah Horvath showing up for her high-end Montauk swim camp in HBO’s “Girls,” profoundly unprepared for the coastal-cool energy of it all. But when I boarded the bus on Friday morning, I met women who seemed genuinely interested in making friends before we even departed from Manhattan.
