Today was an exciting day–directly after our delectable breakfast, the entire camp headed out to go rock climbing! We stopped at the RMOC to get fitted for helmets and harnesses, and then headed out to our climbing site. Although the drive to the site was a bit long, the campers agreed that it was worth it when we got to the site. It was so beautiful! Our climbing guide set up four top ropes, so every camper got a chance to climb several times. Thanks to our wonderful counselors, who are all certified belayers, we climbed all day long! Everyone made sure to put on lots of sunscreen and drink lots of water, because it was a pretty hot day up in the alpine desert. We all climbed once, then took a break for lunch–campers enjoyed sitting in the shade of the rock and chowing down on our delicious sack lunches.
After lunch, campers re-filled their water bottles and headed back to the rock faces–campers cheered on their friends, did some “mining” projects while waiting to climb, and just generally enjoyed being climbers for the day. Check out our camp Photos–the climbs were pretty epic today! After everyone had climbed as much as they wanted to, we hopped back in the vans and headed back to camp to relax and have a break from the sun.
Back at camp, campers had a chance to chill in their cabins for a bit, and when they were ready, they headed to the camp gym and game room for some snack and free play. Campers ordered their own personal GORP–we got to pick exactly what we wanted from a list of yummy ingredients! During free play, campers worked on their lanyards and hemp bracelets–several campers are up to doing multiple string lanyards, bracelets, necklaces, and more! There were also some good games of soccer and basketball going on, as well as some fierce games of foose-ball. At the end of free play, we all washed our hands, and then headed to Grizzly Jack (the camp dining hall) for some delicious dinner.
After dinner, we once again headed to our cabins to change into our swimsuits and then went to the pool for a relaxing night swim. Campers had a lot of fun treating some of the counselors as water jungle gyms! Everyone practiced their best dives, and had a great time exploring around the edges and bottom of the pool. Some campers even created a cool game of “underwater talking,” where one person says something underwater, and then everyone else tries to guess what that person said! We finished our night swim by first identifying some of the constellations, and then singing a lovely version of “Taps” to close our day. Campers then headed to their cabins to shower, brush their teeth, and jump into bed so as to be ready for an exciting day tomorrow. It’s the second week of sleep away camp, and we’re having a blast!