Camp Nebagamon

The Mailgabber features writing by members of the Camp Family. This month, we present an essay by 2021 10th Grade camper Drew Smith, reflecting on how camp has shaped his past year. Interested in submitting for Mailgabber? Send submissions to Louis.

I think the only proper way I can begin this camper feature is by referencing our favorite cowboy who has too-many-nicknames, Adam Kaplan. One phrase that our camp co-director likes to use quite often is, “The geniuses that created Camp Nebagamon…” Well, I’d like to take that expression and use it today: The geniuses that created Camp Nebagamon intentionally created the slogan “Keep the Fires Burning” to unify campers, staff, alumni, and all who are part of the Camp Family. In a year where we didn’t have the privilege of retreating to the Northwoods, keeping the fires burning has never been more relevant.

Without the normalcy of playing push-ball in our favorite North-Western Winsconsin lake or eating in (or outside) the Rec Hall walls packed with Big-Trip plaques, the Camp Family has adapted to stick together and keep the fires burning. During the last few months of quarantine, the LJs held Zoom meetings to hang out and play some online games. These online calls even had a couple of guest features, including our former LJ Pushes, A-Co (Andy Cohen) and Noah Stein. Other campers and alumni started “Nebagablocks,” a Minecraft server with the goal of re-creating Camp virtually so that we could be surrounded by the Northwoods pine trees once again. I had the pleasure of playing a Euchre match with another camper against two kids from another neighboring camp (Nebagamon won in the third game, ten to nine). With online Council Fires and Sunday Services, our camp traditions have not gone as neglected as many of our suitcases have this summer. Of course, we can’t forget about the fantastic care package campers received a few months ago with a Briggs’s Surprise candyline and a little vial of sand from the beach where we all wanted to be this past summer. Lastly, our favorite monthly newsletter: whether it’s seeing the Axemen Cabins covered in snow or reading a story from Adam on the road, the Arrowhead never fails to make me smile and think about my adventures at Camp. On that note, I’d like to thank everyone at the winter office for keeping this tradition alive and inviting me to write this camper feature. Although we could not be at Camp this year, I have never felt more connected to our community during an offseason.

Throughout this year, Camp Nebagamon has always been at the back of my mind. A few weeks after the lockdown first began, I kept on thinking about and wishing that I would get to go to camp this past summer. Even towards the end of spring, when things weren’t looking good in terms of COVID case numbers, I just wanted to be among my friends and the pines to escape from it all. Sometimes life is like your first Nebagamon hiking trip: you may want to set up the tents right in the middle of the trail, but the only real way to make it to the real campsite is to keep walking, one step at a time. The day came when Adam and Steph finally made the right decision to close camp this year, and I watched that video knowing that there was nothing I could do about it and that I wouldn’t get to see my friends that year. But I also knew one other thing: in these sometimes stressful, tiring, and turbulent times, we would assemble as a Camp Family once again. We would make it all the way to the campsite after a long day of hiking. A few weeks later, I checked the camp website and saw the little counter at the bottom listing that we had just over a year until camp began once again. That small counter gave me hope for next summer. It kept my fire burning.

I know that this upcoming camp season will be the best one in a very long time. Not because of anything different about Camp Nebagamon, but instead because of our greater appreciation for swimming in the lake, going on trips, Generally Messing Around/going rowing with cabinmates, and merely being at Camp Nebagamon. This coming year we will be thankful for the pines around us in a whole new way. Until we have the pleasure of seeing each other again (hopefully not in little boxes floating around my laptop) on those seventy-seven acres up in the Northwoods, I hope we all can continue to find new ways to stick together as a Camp Family.

Keep the Fires Burning