Weekly Update: July 16th, 2023

Tonight was the first “Sunday Rocks” or “Vespers” of our second month-long and third Sanborn Junior sessions. Every week, our individual camp communities gather together to sing songs, read quotes and reflect on the week past and on the week ahead. With the arrival of the midway point of summer–whether we have been at camp or not–there is a recognition of the ephemerality of this special season and its importance to the experience of childhood.

Summer is a time of slowing, lengthening and revising. We take more time to do what we enjoy during the longer, sun-filled days and we give ourselves more space to consider the options and seek new perspectives and possibilities because there are so many “summer opportunities.” These moments and experiences can change our perspectives and our lives. One of our current campers, Kate Mallory, wrote a prize-winning essay that speaks to how she experienced this special sort of “revision” last summer at camp.

She writes, “I never knew the importance of revision, altering one’s viewpoints on experiences, until I was faced with the beauty of a lit-up city below me.” As Kate writes about summiting Pikes Peak, her first 14,000 foot mountain, she moves from the physical, “my head was pounding” and into the metaphysical, “the rest of the hike, with a rising sun behind us, made me realize how beautiful the sky is. How beautiful the groups of mountains, subtle behind the clouds, are. How beautiful the bees and the flowers and the leaves are. When I first saw the view and the stars, I changed.”

Even though campers have only been here for two days (some even less because of canceled flights yesterday), they are already in a process of revision. They have moved into living units and started building friendships through shared experiences like ridge meetings, trip sign-ups, meals, round-ups (our daily living unit or trip debrief), games like 9-Square In The Air and Gagaball, time exploring the main camp areas, making crafts, swimming and participating in Basic Equestrian Training at the barns. They are learning the ropes, remembering the rhythms of camp and revising their understanding of themselves and their place in the world.

Tomorrow, Big Spring month-long and Junior campers will head out on their first backpacking trip of the camp session: the unit overnight. On Tuesday, all of the High Trails campers will do the same. These trips build the foundation for the summer. They teach the outdoor, LNT (Leave No Trace) skills campers will use on every outdoor trip and experience they participate in for the rest of camp and they are a fast track to friendship and authentic connection. Without phones or technology, campers can experience each other and the natural world in a more authentic, unfragmented way. Later in the week, High Trails and Big Spring campers will participate in one of the many all day trips they signed up for today and the Sanborn Junior campers will head to the South Platte River and to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument for their own unique all day, outdoor adventures.

And this is where it all begins.

“Nature,” Kate writes is, “something I have been surrounded by my entire life, has always just ‘been there’. I appreciated it, but I rarely stopped to watch the bees hover over a flower or watch the leaves pile upon each other as they fell.” Then, like your campers, she came to camp and began to experience the Sanborn mission of “living together in the outdoors, building a sense of self, a sense of community, a sense of the Earth and a sense of Wonder through fun and adventure.” After her successful climb, she “no longer thought of nature as something that lingers around. Nature is one of the greatest parts of this Earth. These views were gifted to us for our eyes.”

“I understand revision. I understand changing one’s point of view, especially after some wonderful realizations. Revision is important in our world because one is supposed to be able to grow and change. Our bodies and minds are made to adjust to new experiences, it is part of what makes us human. I am so grateful for that moment on the side of the mountain. That day, that moment, changed me for the better.”

This first week of camp is all about adjusting to new experiences, and–for some–that may involve working through moments of homesickness and longing for the simplicity of the comfort zone that is home. We trust our campers, our staff and you to be open to the process of individual revision and the growth and change we will experience through these powerful moments at camp. We know there will be physical and emotional (and literal) peaks and valleys over the next two to four weeks, and we also know this summer in the outdoors will engender positive change in all of us.

Thank you, Kate, for sharing your essay and your insight and thank YOU for sharing your campers with us. We are thrilled to celebrate the 75th Summer of Sanborn Western Camps with all of you!