Weekly Update: July 2nd, 2023

There is a supermoon tonight. This means tonight the moon’s orbit is closest to the Earth (226,000 miles=perigee vs. 253,000 miles=apogee) at the same time it is full. It makes the moon seem bigger and brighter and allows us to walk in the moonlight, casting shadows. It reminds us of the scope of the universe and our small place in it, yet it also reminds us that we all share the same sky and now, the same camp.

We have thought a great deal about the importance of legacy and shared experiences today. At High Trails, we had our Tan & White lunch, a nod to the days when Sunday lunch at camp included a white button down shirt and khaki shorts or pants…which, ironically enough, was pretty much what Laura Sanborn wore everyday (plus a little splash of turquoise jewelry!). At Big Spring, campers and staff planned, packed and prepared for their long trips: pouring over maps, picking up food from outcamp, checking tents and packing gear. Though they may seem like different activities, both are steeped in the process and legacy of 75 years of rich learning, practice and history.

Last week at Big Spring and this week at High Trails, Jerry McLain (Director of Alumni Relations and Chief Historian) carefully packaged up 75 years of camp unit photo scrapbooks and brought them to the lodges where they are spread out on tables by decade. Jerry prints up lists of current camper and staff family members who attended camp in the past, so campers and staff can find photos of their family members. This event is prefaced with another Laura Sanborn tradition: the Able/Mabel party, now known as Sunday Sundaes. Every Sunday, Laura and Sandy would host an ice cream sundae party for the week’s Able or Mabel Waiters in their house on the hill. During that event, Laura would pull out the scrapbooks (these real books are still in the Sanborn house on the hill), and would help campers find the people who they knew in the photos.

Because it isn’t just family in those books. Campers look for the old neighbors or the family friend’s older brother or my mom’s best friend who came here in the 80’s or even some of the current directors of the camp who used to have a terrible spiral perm and funny braces. The photos capture hairstyles, fashion (or lack thereof), and every emotion imaginable. These photos–always taken during the first few days of camp–show campers who look excited, nervous, silly, uncomfortable, happy, teary and hopeful.

Then camp happens and the posed, rigid smiles morph into arms over shoulders, smudged, wind-chapped, grinning faces. We sometimes wish there were 75 years of end-of-camp unit and cabinside photos so we could see the same new-found strength, the comfort with uncertainty, the wonder-filled curiosity, the tenacity and grit, the competence and confidence, the ease and comfort, and the sense of authentic community we see in the campers right now.

You will see in the uploaded camper letters highlights from the High Trails long trips last week and some of what the Big Spring campers enjoyed and are looking forward to on their long trips this week.

As you can see in the uploaded photos, we had a great time at our All Camp Carnival and the fireworks we shot off after the Red, White and Blue themed dance weren’t huge, but the novelty and the spontaneous, patriotic singing made them memorable and unique. Our new group of Sanborn Junior campers arrived on Tuesday and are already seasoned outdoorskids having gone on multiple horseback rides, hikes and an overnight backpacking trip.

Our final full week of camp is filled with continuous adventure and excitement–we are trying to pack in as much as we can in the time we have left together–and so, while Big Spring campers are climbing mountains and “hawking” horses under a waning supermoon on their long trips, High Trails campers will be finishing off the session with Cabinside All Days, another overnight trip and other all day trips leading up to our last weekend as a whole community. The Sanborn Junior campers will head to the South Platte River and to the Florissant Fossil Beds National monument and they will also have another tent camping overnight trip.

Even if this is your camper’s 1st or 10th summer, all of these campers are now part of the history and the legacy of Sanborn…which, beyond receiving a birthday card for almost forever, means that–someday–someone may be looking in those scrapbooks to find a familiar name or face (your camper’s) who told them a story about an amazing moon they once saw at a summer camp in Colorado.