Perhaps the most important lessons we teach at camp are learned with a pocket knife in one hand and a s’more stick in the other. Our Wilderness Tripping program teaches campers how to rely on themselves and their peers, and how to step out of their comfort zones and into the unknown of the woods. Last night was an evening of practice for that program. In camp, we had our last cabin cookout of the first session. Meanwhile, our entire Swamper Village paddled to the other side of Lake Nebagamon for the Swamper Overnighter.
Cabin cookouts have long been a cornerstone of our wilderness skills program at camp. On Monday nights, each cabin heads into the woods to cookout sites scattered throughout camp to cook their dinner over an open fire. It’s a program that involves a good deal of orchestration. Last night when the bell rang at 5:15, campers from each cabin retrieved a dutch oven and chopped firewood from CNOC (the Camp Nebagamon Outdoor Center, our wilderness skills project), a cookout box full of ingredients from the Rec Hall, and full water bottles, pocket knives, camping chairs and cards from their cabin. Some campers built their fires, while others prepped food for their meal. The menu was a camp classic last night: enchilada pie for dinner and banana boats for dessert. Cabins precisely lined their dutch oven with tortillas, then piled enchilada fillings high and cooked the whole layered pie over coals. Walking through the cookout sites, I saw cabin after cabin revealing golden brown tortillas and melty cheese. One cabin even did a little unveiling ceremony of their enchilada pie, circling their dutch oven and chanting in unison while their counselor popped the top off. It was a goofy and rowdy affair – boy were those campers hungry! Next, campers folded foil packets and hollowed out bananas before stuffing them with marshmallows and chocolate chips and cooking them in the fire. It’s a delicious, melty mess that leaves campers with smiles as wide and gooey as their banana boat.
Cookout was a hit, and campers got to practice their wilderness trip skills only a few steps away from their cabin. They worked with pocket knives, built fires, and made sure to leave no trace of their cookout at the end of the evening. They got to eat a meal outside with their cabin – a meal that tasted much better due to the hard work and collaboration that our campers practiced by cooking the meal themselves.
As cabin cookout began, our Swamper Village assembled on the waterfront to partake in a longstanding tradition: the Swamper Overnighter. All of our swampers piled into our oversized peace canoes and paddled to the other side of the lake for a one-night, whole-village camping trip. (A sorta long aside: I think the rest of the camping world calls them “war canoes,” but it’s so incredibly Nebagamon-y that we call them peace canoes – a naming convention that screams Nardie and Sally in the 60s. We don’t use them for war; we use them for community building! For peace! Although… later this week on Paul Bunyan Day we’ll tie the peace canoes together for perhaps my favorite camp competition: canoe tug-of-war… But nevermind that!)
Last night’s Overnighter was a truly special experience. The swampers paddled three miles to the other side of Lake Nebagamon, where our friends at Superior YMCA Camp Tall Pines have hosted us for years. The Swampers set up tents, roasted hot dogs and s’mores over a fire, and watched a sunset over Lake Nebagamon. The village’s trip was guided by members of our wilderness trip staff, as well as the Swamper counselors and village director. Well, their village director went on the trip dressed in a Big Foot costume to provide some ridiculous comedic relief. This sasquatch wasn’t terribly scary though; Big Foot was in a motor boat accompanying them on the paddle, and enjoyed s’mores around the fire with the Swampers. It’s a special evening, one that made camping feel safe and approachable for our youngest boys. The staff approached the trip with the utmost care, ensuring that everyone was well supported and enjoyed this early and formative camping experience. Truth be told, camping can be an intimidating undertaking, particularly for our Swampers, and the Overnighter is perfect for ensuring our youngest and least experienced trippers have a spectacular first time in the woods.
Later this afternoon, after the Swampers paddled back this morning and the cookout boxes from last night were cleaned out and stored, our first session Quetico Big Trips returned from their 14-day expedition into the Canadian wilderness. Returning from Quetico is a phenomenal accomplishment, one that we’ll surely devote an entire Summer Update to toward the end of the summer, and to me, it’s poetic that both our Overighter and our Big Trips returned to camp today. Our Swampers paddled back this morning, beaming with pride having banded together as a village on their initial foray into the woods. And just a few hours later, our whole camp family gathered on our waterfront to greet the Big Trippers and watch them return to camp to run into the lake. As they sprinted into Lake Nebagamon, they thumped their chests in celebration of a spectacular career in wilderness tripping at Camp. The young men finishing their Big Trips spent the last two weeks setting up the same tents they slept in on their Swamper Overnighter, and cooking the same meals they’ve prepared for years at Cabin Cookout. These Big Trippers triumphantly returned to the Camp Nebagamon waterfront this afternoon, and will have succeeded because of those years of preparation. And last night the preparation began again for a new crop of budding trippers as our Swamper village launched their peace canoes off that same exact waterfront.
All is well in the Northwoods!