Why I love camp

[ocean]

Today I visited my camp, because I had a meeting with my camp director. It was very weird to be there when everything was empty. I thought camp would look beautiful no matter what. I was wrong, with the children smiles and laughter gone, and other staffs members jokes not there, camp is boring, and not as beautiful when everything is in operation. What makes camp special and beautiful is watching the children forming friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime, and the teamwork of the staff. Thats what makes camp beautiful, the scenery helps, but its definitely not the most important aspect.

[Angel_Jenny]

I agree on the most of that but I love the scenery at our camp too! especially sunsets!

[happy_camper]

I just visited my *new* camp 2 days ago, and while it was GORGEOUS, the camp director said it is completely different when the campers get there. He said it's so much more alive, and I can't wait to see!

As for my regular camp, sometimes I work on weekends and so I get there before the groups arrive. It's nice to sit and look at the lake in the morning when it's quiet because during the summer there is no time for that.

So while yes, I do agree, sometimes just taking in the quiet and calmness is very relaxing.

:)

[Pooka]

My camp is very beautiful by itself, and quite isolated from everything else. but you're all right-- being there without a crowd of campers and staff is slightly spooky.

(A fun note: I might finally get a birthday on camp! My sister and friends are visiting and want to hike at camp, and the day just happens to be my 18th birthday. Hooray!)

[Mouse...]

I agree with Pooka, it is a little spooky. Usually I leave later than everyone else on the weekends and while I wait around it seems strangly quiet. But sometimes it is nice to take in the scenery and beauty of the woods. I love the outdoors so I've become quite attached to the scenery and settings of my camp.

[ArtisticEric]

Lol, when i first got to my new camp last summer i was like whoa...this is almost too quite without kids, but then it was abuzz with staff..then campers. I dont recommend leaving like the day after everyone else...lol..I did an it was rather sad looking with hardly anyone there...beautiful , but sad.

[Pooka]

I left for the season hours after everyone else did, last year. I was like, "yay! I can... uh... sit on this bench. By myself. And be bored."

I wonder if our camps would seem as pretty to people who didn't have the memories and whatnot attached to the place? It's hard to be objective about our lovely summer homes.

[Mouse...]

Very true, I think we become attached to the places through the memories of the good times we have there. So while our respective camps are probably all very pretty, natural places we probably hold them in higher esteem than someone who just went walking there alone.

[Marzz]

I LOVE my camps when they are quiet and still. It is during those times that being at camp is a spiritual experience. You can hear the subtlties of the breeze moving through the trees and the rustle of a mouse or squirrel in fallen leaves or undergrowth. You can hear the rippling of the creek even when you are not next to it, and at my other camp you can see the breeze create sparkly ripples over the quiet and otherwise still lake. It is during these times I am able to gather my thoughts and reflect on why camp is such an amazing place. One of my camps was closed for several years after a fire. Going up there during the construction and walking around camp when it had been void of kids for so long was spooky. But you could almost hear their singing and laughter floating on the breeze and echoing through the camp like a shadow of the past and what the future would soon behold. It was a surreal, and quite breathtaking experience.

[Pooka]

Wow, Marzz. Sounds like it was a great experience.

I'm kind of wondering what everyone's camps actually look like, now. Not shots of campers or camp-in-action, but just the scenery. Our camp shop sells a gorgeous postcard of camp in autumn, but I think it's from sometime in the 1980s. :D That one postcard conveys so much to me-- "oh, that's the old swimming area, those trees are missing now, the brush around the lake is way taller these days, I nearly fell in the lake there"-- while most of the people I show it to say, "Oh, hey. Trees. Water. Cool."

[Marzz]

My avatar is of Lake Brimhall at Camp Cloud Rim. It's the camp that was closed for a few years after a fire destroyed the lodge. I started going there when I was 11 and went all the way up to staff. The picture is taken from the road in the middle of camp. My super secret special place is just behind the trees on the right. It's where I used to sit and "ponder." LOL

In a few years, much of the land surrounding the camp will be taken over by upscale housing developments. This view as it is now will soon become just a memory.

[Angel_Jenny]

Wow, Marzz. Sounds like it was a great experience.

I'm kind of wondering what everyone's camps actually look like, now. Not shots of campers or camp-in-action, but just the scenery.

me toooo! I wanna see tooooo!!! LOL

There are a couple rare ones without campers lol just realised how many people pics I have rather than scenery but thats good right? I just tried uploading them but not 1 of the 4 worked :-o!

[Pooka]

It looks incredibly pretty, Marzz! It's a shame to think of it being developed and available only to those who end up living near there.

My avatar is of Keyser Lake, which is the central feature of my camp's landscape. Here's a really bad scan of my camp's postcard from years ago. (http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8877/postcardvj2.png)

People pics are great, Jenny. Most times landscapes don't change that dramatically within a few years, but campers and friends certainly do. I'd probably prefer to document that.

[happy_camper]

Pooka -- that's beautiful (the postcard, that is)!

I think it would be cool to go to another camp for like a week and just see what other camps are like.

[camper]

our camp is beautiful in the fall, i've seen it then...and i've seen pictures of it in the winter and it is beautiful then too. i've also seen it as things are just beginning to bloom in the spring and that's great too, but my favorite time is the first time i drive into camp for the summer. even though the kids aren't there yet, that summer feeling is in the air and it fills up with people so quickly! there is just an element of excitement that time that is never there again for the rest of the summer...although there are different excitements during the summer, this feeling is just so cool...it's like i'm home again!

[Mouse...]

That's sad Marzz, it sounds like it was a great experience. I feel bad for the generations to come who won't grow up seeing places as beautiful as that.

I agree with camper that the feeling when you first go back to camp ranks near the top of cool moments.

I'm so campsick!

[Pooka]

Camper: I've totally inadvertantly told people, "oh, yeah, I get to go home next weekend" when I was talking about camp. The first few moments back on camp are wonderful.

I'm campsick too, Mouse. I've told myself that I can't afford to spend time feeling like that unless I do something semi-productive with it. So far I've worked on a songbook, researched hiking boots and other camp gear, and tried out some campfire recipes, all while going around, moaning, "God, is it summer yet?"

[ArtisticEric]

I was just asking the same thing to friend Anna who i work at camp with... Is it Summer yet?....

[Mouse...]

It feels a little like summer today. I know how you feel about trying to feel productive Pooka. I think it helps to feel like your doing something towards camp- that it's maybe a little closer than before.

[Marzz]

Here are some photos of Cloud Rim in the snow. I hope the link works! I don't have any digital photos of Cloud Rim in the Summer right now, but you'll get the idea. :)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=mmpdlx9.2n9d0jz9&Uy=-l0js9f&Ux=0

[Angel_Jenny]

Very pretty landscape!! I also looked at pookas postcard and that looks lovely too!!

[camper]

i am totally and completely in camp mode right now because i'm on spring break and not doing any school work. i'm helping my mom look through tristate handouts picking which sessions to go to (she's SO lucky she leaves for the conference tomorrow!) and i'm supposed to be designing a new friday night service for our camp this week. and my camp friends and i started talking about the new camper picnic, which is the 1st weekend in june! time is going to move really fast now! (hopefully lol)

[Pooka]

You're so lucky, Camper! I envy your having a camp-oriented family. I hope the Friday night service thing goes well.

My body and subconcious both want to launch into camp mode. I made my friend sing 'Swingin' on a Star' with me in school, and I took myself on a nature walk/puddle-jumping expedition this evening. Hopefully this will tide me over, so I can concentrate on graduating high school and all that other stuff.

Going along with Marzz, here's our bell in winter! (http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=356910766&size=m&context=set-72157594253180422) Can you believe that this was January in New York?

[ocean]

Those are all pretty pictures of everybodys camps.

I am definitely getting into camp mode now. Three weeks is midstates, and in less then 3 months, I will be driving through the gravel pathway at camp, and will finally be home. I've missed home. I am so homesick.

Camp really is my life, and I cant wait to make a career out of it after I finish college.

If you go to gsmanitou.org and click on camp and then camp video you can watch a video of what camp life is like for our campers and staff.

[KiwiCRB]

My camp is the prettiest right now because flowers are blooming and the grass is sometimes a little green! For the last 6 years of my life I've been able to go out there nearly every month to help with various things and now I'm 10 hours away and haven't been there since the end of last summer :(. I can't wait for school to be over so I can go back!

[Pooka]

What are you majoring in, ocean? I'm really curious. I realized today that I love my intended major, English, but I also love camp and outdoor activities and helping kids learn things, and I would do that for a career if I could. (Strangely, I don't aspire to teach. Huh.)

Ach, I'm having a career-anxiety episode and I'm not even properly in university yet!

[camper]

hahahaha sometimes the camp-oriented family gets me in trouble pooka...i'm sworn to secrecy to not tell anything camp-related in my house that hasn't been released to the "camp public" yet...it can be annoying to know a lot sometimes! but most of the time it's GREAT!

[Pooka]

Ooh, that must be tough. I dunno whether I'd like being privy to all the secrets about programming and new events all the time. Sometimes it's fun to be surprised about things. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw what our session themes are this year. :)

[Mouse...]

I am jealous camper. But I know what you mean about getting over excited about when I finally do get some information Pooka.

[tigerfan]

I too am in such a camp mood right now. It'll be here before we know it!! I agree with Mouse and Pooka, finding out new camp-related information that you've been waiting to here is definitely exciting!

[Pooka]

I think I'm a bit too obsessed with being up-to-date on camp news. I check the council's website at least once a day, despite their updating it once a week or less.

My camp is running a '007' session this year! It's sort of a mystery/secret agent -themed week, where the campers get challenges to overcome and clues to solve to figure out a mystery. I'm SO psyched. What neat things are all of your camps doing, this summer?

[Flukie]

We're going surfing! I'm so excited - I'm at that camp for Session 1 and will be the FIRST to volunteer to drive the van/take photos. I think it's going to be fantastic. That camp is also offering a "Day Trippers" program where the girls have a budget and get to plan out day trips on the Cape that they want to do. Oh! And "Can You Do That?" which lets them do what they want (within reason!) - pizza delivery for a cookout? trip to the movies? stay up till dawn? Go for it!

The other camp I work at, in NH, is running an art program that is taking the girls to the Sunapee Arts Festival, which I also find really neat and a really cool program called "You Go Girl!" which is all about destressing, keeping healthy, and taking time to relax.

I CANNOT wait for camp!

[Mouse...]

Me Too!

We're starting sailing programs this summer which I'm really excited about. I've never been sailing before so it will be an awsome program to see start.

[ocean]

What are you majoring in, ocean? I'm really curious. I realized today that I love my intended major, English, but I also love camp and outdoor activities and helping kids learn things, and I would do that for a career if I could. (Strangely, I don't aspire to teach. Huh.)

Ach, I'm having a career-anxiety episode and I'm not even properly in university yet!


I am either majoring in Camp Management or Non Profits and organizations

[Pooka]

Wow, ocean. I didn't even know a camp management major even existed. That's awesome.

Those sound like some amazing programs, Flukie! I could see the 'Can You Do That?' session as becoming legendary. We did a 'Night Owls' session last year, in which the campers and staff were almost noctural-- it was one of my favorite weeks.

Sailing sounds so cool, Mouse. I hope it goes well, and that you get to try it!

[peanutakapunit]

I'm in total camp mode right now.
And MIDSTATES is in like two weeks and this will be my first year attending.
I'm so excited!!!

[Marzz]

Pooka,
Alot of people who want to "major in camp" get degrees in "Youth Agency Leadership" and "Recreation." My degree will be in Social Work with an emphasis in Recreation as I want to work year round with youth agencies, focusing on seasonal camp programs. I think you will find there are LOTS of different majors to study when you want a degree in "camp."

[laurathistle]

Another question from a firs time international?

What exactly is are the Midstates and Tristates? I am guessing they are some sot of camp conference, possibly ACA?

[Flukie]

You got it, Laura!

We just had ACA New England last weekend in New Hampshire. It was a great time - it's empowering to be a room with that many people who all believe that camp is one of the best things for kids!

[Mouse...]

That sounds really, really neat!