For six days, the campers had the opportunity to explore parts of New England on their feet, canoes, and climbing up rocks. Luckily for them, the weather was perfect and all five groups returned with endless stories, new skills, and big smiles. One group hiked through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Another experienced a section of the Long Trail by Little Rock Pond and even saw the Long Trail Questers. Eight other campers went to Maine to canoe on Rangeley Lake and came back looking stronger from all the paddling and the portaging. The fourth group headed over to Silverlake area where they hiked for a few days and then climbed. The final group, Flagstaff, was made up of eight 14 -year-olds who first hiked along the Appalachian trail for 2 ½ days and then paddled along Flagstaff Lake.
Once back from our long trips, we started in on our last full week of program for the first session. We began to work on our biannual periodical, the Blue Heron, which serves as a sort of yearbook for each session. Our campers have been working hard to create lyrics, puzzles, and trip pages to commemorate their summer achievements
Another large part of this week is preparing for “appreciations”. Each person randomly selects a name out of a hat and then devises a way to appreciate them at the end of the week. Their current projects are both thoughtful and ambitious. Even though we try to emphasize that what is said about the other person is the most important, it doesn’t deter campers from trying to make the best gift possible; people have been beading on looms, needle felting, building things out of wood, carving, and sewing.
When we’re not working hard on our appreciations or preparing for our end of camp traditions, such as our Banquet and Variety Show, we’ve been playing at every chance we get. We’ve played disc golf and soccer, gone running and swimming, and even had a chance to climb a stack of milk crates in the food shelter.
Our big highlight of the week so far has been hosting our very own Contra Dance here at SAM camp. All of Flying Cloud, some of Indian Brook’s First Lodge campers, and some friends from the Barn Day Camp joined us. The weather even cooperated and the thunderstorm held off until the end of the final waltz.