Greetings from the North Woods. Jason Yale here. I am the Wilderness Trip Director at camp, and while Adam is away, I volunteered to write one of his updates. I am grateful to have the opportunity to write to you all as we have had a busy start to the tripping season and I have news to share.
On this 4th of July evening, I am typing away in the comfort of a cozy Range cabin, tucked away in a quiet corner of camp, listening as a light rain falls and the last of the of the local town’s Independence Day revelers light off their dwindling stock of fireworks. It wasn’t that long ago that I spent almost every 4th of July in the Boundary Waters, either as a camper in the mid-90’s, or when I was leading wilderness trips in the 2000’s. My current role at camp requires me to stay put, and while Lake Nebagamon is a great place to celebrate our country’s independence, I have to say, I miss being out in the wild at this time of year. For me, paddling the border lakes in the Boundary Waters, through vast and rich wilderness, is an expression of liberty and my pursuit of happiness.
When I was a camper, we canoed the border lakes over the 4th and pretended like we were some sort of patrol, protecting the United States from Canadians. We felt we were fulfilling our patriotic duty, and this was undoubtedly a result of too many late-night screenings of Canadian Bacon in the Herb Hollinger Museum during my 8th grade summer. (Yes, I felt that because this is, after all, “Adam’s Update,” I should reference an outdated piece of pop culture. And rest assured, times have changed, and there are no longer any late-night screenings at Herb’s.)
As I sit here and contemplate trips of yesteryear, we have campers and staff out in the woods tonight, spread out in different wilderness areas from Minnesota to Michigan, up to Ontario and down to the Bois Brule, just a stone’s throw from camp. While all our boys are undoubtedly pursuing fun and happiness out there, Mother Nature has a way of demanding more and revealing other traits within us. It is for this reason I get a little excited when a trip returns to camp, and they tell me that something about their experience was really challenging for them. Whether it is a long and muddy portage, or rain, or mosquitos, I know that when they inevitably overcome that challenge, they will have revealed grit and fortitude within themselves. Sometimes, they will do something they never thought they could do. Some of my best memories as a wilderness trip leader are the faces of the kids who climbed a mountain or completed a portage they never believed they would finish, let alone survive. The sense of their accomplishment and confidence is plastered on their face for days.
Next to Adam’s desk in the Big House sits a small bulletin board where we keep a roster of each trip that is currently out in the field. As I was examining “the board” this morning, I was struck by the fact that we had a suite of trips out there that characterized the full spectrum of our wilderness program. Tomorrow morning, a cabin group of our youngest boys will head over to the Bois Brule campground on their first Nebagamon trip. For some of them, this will be the first time in their life they have ever slept outside! Over the course of their trip they will learn to set up their tents and rain tarp, light campfires, cut vegetables for dinner, open cans with pocket knives, and importantly, how to work as close knit team. They will start to pick up tricks of the trade, like storing their boots under the tarp at night to keep them dry and working together to fan the mosquitos out of the tent at night. The lessons learned and experiences earned on these early trips will serve these boys well, in years to come.
On Adam’s board, next to the Swamper cabin trip, is the roster for a 5th and 6th grade Sylvania Lakes Wilderness canoe trip. They return tomorrow. And alongside that, another Swamper cabin trip to the Eau Claire Lakes, an Axeman Boundary Waters trip, our first Quetico Big Trip of the summer, and Isle Royale #2. But it was the Grand Portage list that held my attention. To state it simply, I love the Grand Portage trip. It is a perfect culminating experience for some of our oldest campers, as they get to put into practice all the lessons they have learned on trail over the years. By this point in their camping careers, these boys are well-versed in canoe travel. And their previous experiences at home, camp, and on trail, have revealed leadership traits and a strong sense of community in them. I had the fortunate experience of leading a Grand Portage trip in 2007, and I sat back and witnessed a group of young men put it all together and take complete ownership over their experience. My co-leader and I hung on for dear life as our campers went forth down the 7-day route to Grand Portage, with little need for our guidance or expertise. Some of those campers from that trip went on to become excellent staff members and trip leaders themselves. This is likely no coincidence.
On this 4th of July evening, I can report that Camp Nebagamon has six trips out in the field, and they are all doing well. And when they return, I expect that, along with some pretty awful garbage and an empty food pack, they will carry with them the knowledge that they can achieve something that is hard. Overcoming that difficulty takes resilience and teamwork, and at times leadership, or vulnerability.
Having already left the comforts of home for the challenges and opportunities of summer camp, they will have temporarily left behind the familiarity of camp for the unpredictability and wonder of the wilderness. And they return having realized that not only can they do it, they most likely want to do it again. Indeed, there are many forms of independence to celebrate tonight.
All is well in the North Woods…
