With Summer 2017 now all wrapped up we wanted to go over a few highlights and unique events we embarked on throughout the summer.
2017 was a year of many firsts and brand new ideas, largely provided by our wonderful staff and even the campers themselves! One of the most significant things we did this summer was getting the 1929 Ford T-Bucket built and fired up by the end of 3rd session. We began work on the Hot Rod in summer 2016 when all of the parts finally arrived at camp. We worked continuously across all 3 sessions of the summer starting entirely from scratch with just the frame of the vehicle. Below is a time-lapse video of the Hot Rods construction:
Campers came to work on the construction of this project as much or as little as they wanted to and of course we had our regular gearheads in there most of the day! Finally, during 3rd session, it was time to bring this beast to life and it was a monumental moment. The car starting could be heard over at the Arts camp and we even had reports of it being heard in the local town! The mountains shook with the power from this engine and our campers and staff alike felt an immense sense of pride in what they had acomplished. Here is that incredible moment:
Elsewhere on camp, away from the thunderous sounds of the automotive workshop, campers had the opportunity to get involved in some exciting culinary practices with our Arkham Comics and fencing counselor, John and wilderness and high-ropes counselor Josh. John introduced some fancy outdoor cooking and recipes to the campers and Josh introduced the kids to the wonders of creating their own beef jerky including sauces and flavors. The “Fancy Cooking” with John showed campers how to prepare simple but delicious campfire food to be enjoyed in the great outdoors. He also helped the campers create their own deserts which we cooked up in the brick pizza oven. Here are some photos of the cooking classes at camp this summer:
Shelter building has been a long-standing tradition at Adventure Camp since the very beginning but this year the AC2 boys took the class to the next level! Working with our outdoor counselors Josh and Will, they tore into old partial shelters in the woods made by campers from long ago, salvaging the useable parts of these structures. They took these logs, sticks, branches, bushes and foliage and strapped them together into a new huge mega-shelter that ended up being AT LEAST half the size of their actual cabin. The boys upon completion of the new structure asked if they could try it out by staying in it overnight with their counselors and it held up nicely throughout the night! There was enough space inside to stand up and move around and sleep in their sleeping bags. Well done guys were very proud of this!
This summer we added 4 exciting new elements to our ropes course, giving the campers even more challenges to overcome 30 feet up in the trees! Next summer we are adding the final 4 elements to complete our high ropes challenge course. The course will now stretch all the way through the woods, connecting both the Performing Arts camp next door and Adventure Camp. The ropes course has been growing every year since we opened with the eventual plan that campers could start and enter the course at the Arts Camp and finally finish and come back down to the ground at Adventure Camp or vice versa. Here are some shots of the kids this summer enjoying the ropes course:
