By Adam Kaplan
As many of you know, despite the fact that camp was not in session this summer, my family and I spent the summer at camp anyways. Likewise, all of our full-time employees spent the summer here as well. Being the responsible campy kind of people that we all are, despite the fact that we were up here together, we didn’t spend a lot of time together. Everyone was very aware of the safety protocols that we, the general populace, are being urged to follow, and we did. Still, there were times that we saw each other and even had a couple of socially-distant meals together. But for the most part, we all went about our business this summer…at a distance.
But, at this point, it is time for us to head back home to Idaho.
With this in mind, we have been having individual meetings with each of our full-time crew to review their thoughts on this past year, this past summer, and look ahead to the fall, and to the summer to come. While I am not really in the habit of writing about performance reviews in the Arrowhead, this is an unprecedented year…so why not?!
A section of our new pump track
I want to share this because the meetings all went almost exactly the same as usual. When first asked about how they felt the summer went, all immediately went to the positives. Adam Fornear spoke of the decreased stress he felt, and the opportunity he had to build a brand new flow track (or pump track if you prefer the term) for our mountain biking program (IT IS SUPER COOL!!!). Caretaker Joe spoke about appreciating the opportunity to get some maintenance projects done that can really only be done when the weather is good. Andy Mack immediately lit up and the first words out of his mouth were “NO TOILETS TO CLEAN ALL SUMMER!!!” He then spoke, like Joe, about getting the chance to get to some projects that he has wanted to tackle for years…like maintaining camp’s forest, erosion control, and painting. Briggs shared how much he has enjoyed going through virtually every building in camp to clean out some of the accumulated junk and also discover classic treasures that nobody knew were buried in the bowels of the No Man’s Land. And Louis Levin glowed when he spoke about how meaningful it has been to create content, games, Sunday Services, and Council Fires to keep the camp family connected during this time of isolation. True Camp Folks….all of them. They found a way to make lemonade out of their lemons.
But…I will be honest. In each of those discussions, immediately following the positivity and sanguine assessments of their summers, each of their faces clouded up and their heads dropped a bit. And then they spoke of what was missing. The fun, the noise, the laughter, the connection…The kids. Sure there were some things that could be done without camp in session…but they all acknowledged that, the truth is, the summer has been rough without kids around. Those kids are what we all work for all year long (and for most of us, for many years) and their absence was awful this summer. They all felt it. They all talked about it, and you could see it on all of their faces. The lemonade, while made, was unsweetened and quite sour. (Sorry to ruin that sermonette for you all!)
Another thing happened in each of those meetings. Every single one of our full-timers shifted the conversation to next summer. They wanted to know about recruiting, and registration, and getting the ball rolling on making next summer happen. You could almost see them levitate out of their seats as we discussed our conviction and confidence about making the summer of 2021 a great one. They all want it; they all need it. A camp full of kids is what makes each of their jobs worth it, and they all wanted to talk about how we all are going to make it happen next summer.
And so it is with great pride and excitement that we have opened registration for next summer! Louis even made a video to demonstrate our excitement about getting kids back to camp next summer (check it out here!). WE ARE FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR THE SUMMER OF 2021 AND CANNOT WAIT TO GET YOU ALL UP HERE AGAIN!!!!
There, we hiked the historic portage section of the NCNST. This two-mile portage connects the head waters of the St Croix River that flows south to the Mississippi River and the head waters of the Brule River that flows north to Lake Superior (a section of river our campers paddle every summer!). The portage has a long history of use by Native Americans, European explorers, fur traders and settlers who traveled between the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds. Zigs and I used the trail from the St Croix trailhead to the Chuck Zosel Viewing Platform purely for pleasure and logged five miles for the day when we added the ½ mile of the Brule Bog Boardwalk to our in/out hike. These were both great hikes that I would highly recommend to any of you looking for a counselor’s day off or camp family visit day adventure.
6th – Addison Burvall, Milo Solomon