Today, after a yummy breakfast, we separated into two groups again–the younger campers got a chance to go climbing on some real mountains, while the older campers headed back to the pond for a second day of kayaking. The kayakers all spent the morning together on the pond, practicing their paddle strokes and learning how to go in and out of eddies. Meanwhile, the younger campers headed to the mountains, where they got a chance to hike up to their climbing routes! (It was a short, but beautiful, hike!) The climbers got to choose between a few different routes, and several campers climbed three or four times! Although the climbers were interrupted by rain, they nevertheless had an awesome time ascending and descending some real Colorado rock faces.
After a delicious sack lunch, the oldest kayakers headed to the Arkansas River, where they floated through a class two rapid (PFDs, wet suits, and helmets were worn by all!) and got used to handling their kayaks in the moving river. They also practiced swimming in and out of the river eddies, so that they were totally comfortable in the river. The younger group of kayakers remained at the pond, and had a wonderful time playing kayak marco polo, kayak tag, and running races. They even formed a “rescue team” that was responsible for towing swimming campers back to shore! The climbers, meanwhile, after their sack lunch, headed back to camp for some rest time and swimming!
When the kayakers arrived back at camp, everyone met in the gym for some relaxing free play–campers had a chance to make lanyards, talk about their days, chill out away from the sun, and work more on their clay creations. At 5 pm, we had an early dinner–everyone agreed that the rosemary bread and salisbury steak was delicious! After dinner, we headed down to the camp fire pit for our evening campfire–we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores for dessert, which everyone enjoyed very much!
After chowing down on s’mores, we quieted down for our week-one closing campfire. Counselors Tom and Phil led us in singing some wonderful camp songs, Counselor Sarah read us a story about Star-Bellied and Plain-Bellied Sneetches, and Director Tommy led us in a key log ceremony. For the key log ceremony, each camper got a chance to place a small key log onto the fire in recognition of someone they appreciated at camp. It was awesome to hear all of the campers appreciating each other and being appreciated! We ended the day with a quiet rendition of “Taps,” and headed back to our cabins to shower and get some much-needed rest!
