If you’ve already read this week’s Camp Journal:
During week six Camp is a bit quieter than usual, as many of our campers are in the backcountry. Indeed, every tent, stove, canoe and paddle is being put to good use, as are the skills the children have honed during the earlier weeks of summer. Campers are feeling confident and strong as they set out in small groups for their final and often most challenging overnights of the summer. One ventured out on a blindfolded sensory hike, heightening their other senses and trusting each other and their leaders to keep them safe. Others paddled canoes and kayaks through winding rivers, across larger lakes, and through a myriad of smaller ponds. Two hiking five days (our longest trips for Supers) began their trips in different parts of the Dix range, briefly crossed paths, and set off in different directions only to meet up again on the last day to hike back into camp. Some campers became forty-sixers this week, and others led fellow campers on difficult bushwhacks as part of our guide skills program.
In camp, some swam quarter-mile triangles in swim class for the first time, others put in the last careful hours on a paddle or a salad bowl in the wood shop, and still others patiently dipped wicks alternately into tinted beeswax and cold water to create beautiful, multi-colored candles.
No matter the form, campers are rising to challenges that were difficult to imagine before arriving here at the end of June. Whether in camp or off property, they are calling upon newly found skills and self-reliance, helping each other through challenges and celebrating successes.
Our days together may be winding down, but we continue to grow, create, and share, cherishing our last weeks together.