Weekly Update: August 6, 2023

This is the part of the summer that begins to feel surreal. This morning, we woke up to cold temperatures and a crisp edge of fall in the air. When we think back to staff training, it seems like just yesterday that we were planting tiny flowers in pots on lodge porches, seeing new faces in the lodges, learning the difference between A-Bluff, B-Bluff & C-Bluff and otherwise anticipating–as staff members, campers, and parents–the hope and possibility of summer.

At High Trails, one of the spontaneous lunchtime chants is the “Theme Song” of Phineas & Ferb–a Disney channel cartoon that (as far as we know) continues to be popular for the ongoing adventures of the creative/genius/adventurous/problem-solving sibling duo of Phineas & Ferb and the hilarious subplot of their unassuming (but always snickering) platypus named Perry. The theme song begins with: “There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation,’Til school comes along just to end it, So the annual problem for our generation, Is finding a good way to spend it…” For the campers, there is resonance in the recognition that summer IS finite and they ARE finding a good way to spend it: at camp.

Campers might not be “climbing up the Eifel Tower’’ or “surfing a tidal wave,” but they are doing things that are unique, creative and help them learn about the world and their place in it. This last week, campers and staff at Big Spring and High Trails spent most of their week on trips in the backcountry. They only had what they could carry on their backs or in their saddlebags and panniers. They had to support each other, encourage each other, help each other and rely on each other. As campers and staff from High Trails left on their long trips, they said (and thought) things like, “I hope it will be fun;” “we hope we will summit!”; “I hope I like my tentmates”; “I hope I am not too scared”; “we hope it doesn’t rain”; “I hope I can do this.”

“Hope,” says John Hamilton the former National Director of Camp Hope America, “is believing in yourself, believing in others, and believing in your dreams.” Hope is not blind positivity or ignoring a challenge—hope is believing that anything is possible and you have the power to get there. It is leaning on other people when going it alone is too much, and it is knowing that you have both agency and support if you’re working independently. Hope is what helps us be resilient and grow in the face of challenge and in the moment of triumph. The spirit of camp, in so many ways, embodies this definition of hope.

There were moments, during thunderstorms or during windstorms or during long hours “hawking” horses, that people were nervous, wet, cold, or didn’t quite make it to the summit–but those challenges or disappointments were overwhelmed by the sense, at the end of the trip, that “I did this!” and, maybe more importantly, “WE did this!” Because we do hard things at camp and we do them together.

During lunch at High Trails today, the campers sang their own trip “theme songs” they had made up about their long trip adventures. They celebrated the high points and the low points of the experience (“Sherman made us feel strong…even though it was freezing..”) and told the story of the shared experience. Similarly, at Big Spring Vespers tonight, Oliver talked about the Princeton climb he had done with campers this week. He shared that it was long and hard, yet the collected fortitude of the group was what helped all of them summit together.

All of these trip moments over the last week have given Big Spring, High Trails and Sanborn Junior campers ample opportunities to deepen their wells of resilience and provide them with even more hope to build on in the future. Sanborn Junior campers, some of whom have had moments of homesickness over the last week, are realizing they are already halfway through the camp experience–and they are excited for another overnight trip plus the Fossil Beds, River and Horse All Days this week. High Trails campers are looking forward to the JC Dinner tomorrow night and to their Cabinside All Day, where they will reflect on all of the connection, support and growth they have shared over the last three weeks. They will also embark on final overnights and all-day trips–which will give them additional “peak” moments to hold onto as summer ends and school begins. Big Spring campers end their summer with their 3, 4 or 5 day “long trip” experience, many of which will begin before 8:30am on Monday. Ironically enough, our newest 5 day long trip is called “Hope Pass” which includes backpacking up and over 12,600’ Hope Pass, lots of backpacking on the Continental Divide Trail, and a climb of Mount Huron.

Hope allows us to “believe anything is possible” and reminds us that we (as individuals and as a group) “have the power to get there.” The last line of the TV version of the Phineas and Ferb theme song is, “Just stick with us cause Phineas and Ferb are gonna do it all!” In the long version of the song (which is titled “Today is Gonna Be a Great Day” by Bowling for Soup) the chorus actually says,

This could possibly be the best day ever,
(This could possibly be the best day ever)
And the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better.
So make every minute count, jump up, jump in, and seize the day,
And let’s make sure that in every single possible way,
Today is gonna be a great day!

And that is JUST what we are “gonna” do during this final week of our 75th summer!

We all hope you have a truly great week!