by Becca Bland, GRP Counselor
The saying goes, “it always rains on campout,” and rain it sure did. It had been raining almost non-stop for the past week, so we were at least mentally ready for the downpour. Our departure on Friday was delayed a few hours because of a thunderstorm, but after it began to let up, we were on our way. A couple of cabins stayed at Base Camp the first night due to the impending storms. In the early afternoon the weather was wonderful, allowing the groups to hike out and set up camp in a beautiful day. Around dinnertime it began to rain again, but because we had already had the time to set up the tarps, many of the groups stayed nice and dry through the evening and night.
The groups that stayed at Base Camp (All Tucked Inn and Little Tree) used the afternoon to get up to other adventures around camp. One of the counselors caught a trout that was cooked and eaten. Some of the other campers used the clear weather to make a “yummy apple thing.”
The second day of campout could not have been more different from the first. It was sunny and clear all day. All the cabins hiked to their next campsites and stayed out that night; it was clear enough to see the stars. When asked at lunch the next day (back at Base Camp), the campers reported various highlights from campout, including: seeing a total of 19 grand slam animals (4 copperheads and 15 turkeys), building and destroying rock cairns, sighting a double rainbow, finding a crayfish with eggs attached to it, a huge campfire, and going on a bear searching mission.
Clearly, campout was enjoyed by all, despite the rain. As we enter our second week of session 3 we are looking forward to Group Learning Projects, which start on Wednesday. We are also intensifying our efforts to sight that elusive bear. There has been lots of evidence of it found (bear fur, bear scat, and disappearing apples), so hopefully we can get that grand slam by the end of the week!
