Compiled by Louis Levin
Hello Camp Family! This is Louis, and I’m really excited to start bringing you the news of the camp family. Just as a refresher, I have been an Associate Director working year-round for camp for five years, and have spent 16 summers at camp as a camper, counselor, Swamper Push, and most recently, four summers as Program Director. And, for five years now, one of my jobs has been editing the Arrowhead Newsletter — I’m excited to start writing a little for you all too!
This month, of all months to start bringing you the news of the camp family, I have a big piece of news to bring you myself: I got married! My wife Maggie and I decided that our ideal wedding would be at a summer camp, not only because of our ties to Nebagamon (Maggie, despite never actually having worked at camp, has spent plenty of time there over the course of our relationship), but because of the unique opportunities a camp wedding affords. We liked the idea that we could spend a whole weekend with our loved ones, not just a single evening, and it would allow for folks to bond and interact over more than just dinner. Plus, we wanted to spend as much of the weekend as possible outside, and a summer camp is the perfect place. Of course, we were nervous about two things in particular. First, while there were plenty of Nebagamon staff members and alumni at the wedding, the vast majority of our guests did not have summer camp experience, and so we wondered if they would play along. Seriously, sleeping in a cabin, eating meals in the dining hall, and playing a softball game? It just seemed like a lot to ask. Would folks see the benefits of spending a few days in the woods with us? Second, we were putting a lot of extra work on our plates — we didn’t just organize a ceremony, dinner and dancing. There was climbing, archery, a softball game, five meals, oh and yes, a ceremony, dinner, and dancing! How were we going to pull off what basically became summer-camp-for-a-weekend?
With all my camp experience, I should’ve known how it would go. When a new 3rd grade camper arrives at camp, they might feel a little nervous at the thought of interacting with new people, in a new place, without the comforts of home. But for the most part, in 24 hours that 3rd grader has made a few friends, explored their new environment, and made their cabin feel like home. At our wedding, it seemed to happen even faster — as soon as our guests arrived at camp, they were all acting like 3rd graders. I mean that in the good way! Folks were making new friends, going on walks through camp, and really enjoying their time spent together. They all bought into the idea that we could build a community, not in a month, or even a week, but in just a weekend spent together outdoors. After a few days of camp, a 3rd grader knows that you need to contribute to making Nebagamon run smoothly — KPing, cleaning the cabin, and the likes. This “camp person” spirit seemed to flourish at our wedding, and helped us make so many fun things happen for our guests. When we needed food and drink moved from the dining hall to a pavilion, of course the Nebagamon folks at the wedding were ready to pitch in (as guests at a wedding!), but what was even more heartening was having our families, friends from Detroit, and all-comers finding ways to contribute to making sure everything went smoothly. And when Maggie sprained her ankle in the middle of the dance floor, it wasn’t just our phenomenal Nebagamon trip staff who jumped in to help — Maggie’s coworkers from Detroit were the first to make sure she was taken care of (click here for a terrible picture). It seems to me that there’s a little “camp” in all of us, and with the right mindset, we can all access it and build the kind of community we want to live in, be the community members we want to be — really, we can be 3rd graders!
As you can see below, I’m new at this News of the Camp Family bit, so I could use your help in filling up the news section! If you have something you’d like to share next month, please send me an email at [email protected]!
WEDDING CONGRATULATIONS GO TO: Louis Levin (Northbrook IL/Detroit, ’05-’10, ’12-’15, ’17-’23) and Maggie O’Hara (Barrington, IL/Detroit).
IN THE BIBS AND DIAPERS DEPARTMENT: It’s a boy, Jack Fox, for Michael Cohen (Atlanta/Savannah, ’05-’07, ’09-’10) and Emily Cohen.
The excitement is building for the beginning of camp! This week, we have a small community arriving to being setting up camp and putting in the docks. By June 12th, there will be 130 staff on the property preparing for the arrival of 200-or-so campers just a week later. The camp population will explode to north of 300 people! And among those 300 people, there are many common goals shared with each other for the summer — put on, and experience, the best summer of our lives! Of course, we all come to camp with our own goals in mind as well: try new things, or learn new skills, or meet new people… Camp Nebagamon is this wonderful place to try out new activities, ones that catch your eye and make you say to yourself… hey, I’d like to try that. Our program affords you the opportunity to chase that curiosity.
Even though The Arrowhead is going into hibernation for the next three months, please keep on sending any news of the camp family. Thank you for your contributions, and I look forward to sharing updates with you after the summer. And for those of you arriving here in the next few days and weeks… See you soon!
Sailing…what an amazing sport. I love watching all of the campers taking our fleet out on the water every summer, and I’m super stoked to see those boats cruising along in a heavy breeze from the west! I know many of our campers have gotten hooked on sailing at camp and have continued on. Even though I didn’t attend Nebagamon as a camper, I was introduced to sailing at a young age on Booth Lake in East Troy, WI. We grew up sailing a Laser (a similar boat to our Barnetts, but a little bit faster) and windsurfers – always trying to go faster.
These life skills that Nebagamon offers have the ability to bring joy to our campers well past their camp years. I’m proud to be a part of the team that gets to provide these life skills and proud of everyone who finds their passions at camp! Can’t wait to see all of you participating in those activities this summer!
We all rappelled down to the base of the climb. Everyone took their turns picking their way up Cascade Falls, and were having a grand old time. Laughing, kids playing in the snow, kids and adults both climbing, eating great cheese from Hill Valley Dairy and soaking up some vitamin D on a10-degree day. This was my first time to the Cascade climb and it was everything and better than what my friends described.
On my last climb of the day, I was at this crux move, the hardest part of the wall… The crampons had a good bite in the ice and my axes were solid too (so I thought) but as I stepped up with my right foot, both axes came off the ice and I fell eight feet. Scott had me on belay and I found myself hanging there checking out the sights and wondering what the heck just happened. Then suddenly, both of my hands got the screaming barfies… fatigued and in tons of pain, for those of you who don’t ice climb. Of course, because of our safety double and triple checking, I was unscathed from the fall and took a minute to gather myself. I had Scott lower me back to the bottom so I could shake out my arms and get some blood flowing back to my hands! After a ten-minute break (and with some new gloves – always bring extra) I began my climb again. And on my second try, I got back to the crux move and conquered it! Up and up, I went and finally got to Scott and got a fist bump. Admittedly, I worked pretty hard on that last climb. But through encouragement from my friends, some extra communication, and a bit of perseverance, I was able to get to the top and was proud of the hard work it took.
Last weekend we had an epic adventure of sorts. I loaded up the truck with ice climbing gear, donuts, firewood, cheese, cookies, river skis, and a portable fire pit. My destination was up on the North Shore, nearby where a lot of our trips kick off. 30 miles north of Duluth and just 3 miles up the road from Betty’s Pies there is a great exposed rock face overlooking Lake Superior called Silver Cliff. This cliff turns out to be a great place for rock climbing during the summer and ice climbing in the winter months. Well, last winter we started a tradition to get together outside with a great group of friends and set up shop proper for a winter picnic with ice climbing. There’s a fire pit for warmth, ambience and cooking brats. Just a couple feet away is the cliff covered in climbable ice, and most importantly great people that all enjoy hanging out in sub 20-degree temperatures.
Zigging and zagging up Silver Creek we went. The sun was setting and the moon was rising in the early darkness. We laid the first tracks in the area with the exception of some coyotes and deer. Great laughter again, fun frozen waterfall drops on the return and catching the final rays of the sun setting in the distance over Lake Superior.
Despite a shorter window to send out trips this summer, we got all campers who wanted to go out an incredible wilderness experience. We got our 3rd graders out on their cabin trip to the YMCA camp across the lake and the 4th graders paddled the Eau Claire Lake chain in the Chequamegon National Forest. Our 5th graders paddled down the Namekagon River, scouting out some new sections for me that I’m excited to send trips to next summer as well. Then there were the older boy trips, 6th through 10th grade.
Needless to say, I am proud of what our wilderness trip program accomplished this summer. The staff did an incredible job. The camper’s enthusiasm for backcountry travel is refreshing and I believe that there was very quantifiable personal growth for everyone that went out on trail or helped make it happen. I cannot wait to fire up the Nebagamon Wilderness Tripping program for next summer!
