Big Camp, Small Camp, Big Camp!

This week has seen the departure and return of Quarter Deck, Binnacle, Jungle, South Hall, and Juniper for their cabin wilderness trips. Additionally, all of the Osprey cabins with the exception of Shang-Tu are currently out on their wilderness trips, with Shang-Tu departing tomorrow. On Tuesday we also saw the departure of our five-week cabin F0'c's'le and our ten-day cabin Stockade. Throw in a few cabin overnights during the week, and it was a very small camp on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Now at the end of the week we are starting to see camp return to a relatively normal size, especially with the arrival our the ten-day cabins Fo'c's'le and Stockade today.
The reports from the cabin trips have been overwhelmingly positive. I am always jealous of the opportunities our campers and counselors have on their cabin trips, especially when I am stuck in the office! Some of my best memories from my years as a participant and counselor come from the time I was on my cabin wilderness trips. Of course, there are always inherent challenges on a wilderness trip such as inclement weather and adapting to the camping way of life and travel, but on the whole our campers really take to the trip experience. Here is a brief write up from counselor Evan Feinberg from Juniper regarding their trip to the Bigelow range on the Appalachian Trail:
"After 4 days of fierce hiking on the Appalachian Trail, Juniper has returned to Chewonki mentally and physically stronger from our brush with the back-country. Our second day on the trail was particularly difficult with low spirits but we made it to our campsite after a rigorous 5.6 miles. We established a base camp at Stafford Pond and set out early on a day-hike of Avery Peak with high spirits. Our amazing attitude allowed Juniper to conquer the steep terrain of Avery Peak. At 4,080 ft. we had lunch with an incredible view for miles in every direction of the entire valley. Every night we played great games and worked together to purify water and prepare dinner for the cabin with a new appreciation of what it takes to make our own food over the fire. At the end Jack, Henry, Louis, Walter, Davis, and Isaac triumphed over the Bigelow Mountain range with over 30 pounds on their backs in only 4 days ... of course with the help of their fearless counselors and trip leader!
Cheers, Evan, Kyle, and Ted"

I hope you will be able to hear more stories firsthand in the weeks ahead about your son's time with us, be it his cabin wilderness trip, his success at the archery range, the birds he has learned to identify, or the new friends he has made.

Sincerely,

Garth Altenburg