With the arrival of our staff, we spared no time and immediately began waking up camp from its two-year slumber. The brush has been cleared, the docks have been put in, and, most importantly, the heaters survived a summer without the boys and are re-installed - ready for that first dip in Trout Lake. But a lot still has to be done!
Counselors are continuing their training and are well on their way to receiving those vital certifications to make this summer the best it can be for the ninety-six boys coming down the driveway next week. The counselors will soon receive their cabin placements and depart for the counselor camping trip to refresh themselves on how we camp at Red Arrow. Everything's coming together nicely, and with every passing day, we grow more excited to see all those smiling faces once again.
Pre-Camp Prep | Photos By: McKenzie Beeby
Trout Lake is getting warmer and warmer with each new day, and the Northwoods sunshine is bathing the Quad and athletic field with hot, eighty-degree weather. The calls of the loons can be heard, and the mosquitoes are minimal. In their time working together, the staff is growing closer, and are taking ample time to break in the new basketball court or pick up a competitive game of ping-pong; or, if the mood hits just right, they’ll take a relaxing seat on the Cedars porch, looking forward to when the Quad will be full of bright, enthusiastic campers.
One of our favorite things about the Quad is its different moods throughout the day, and how the weather helps it transition between them. The crisp mornings will glisten with the sun’s rays cutting through the branches and needles; a light fog will roll in lazily from the lake. As camp wakes itself up alongside the campers and counselors, it may become bright and excited under a cloudless sky, or it may grow dark and restful under a thunderstorm approaching over the treeline. The pines overhead start to slowly sway back and forth, grabbing onto one another with their branches. On calmer days, those same trees are the ones that provide the necessary shade protecting us on those hot, sweaty afternoons before supper.
Many of our counselors, staff, campers, and alumni have spent the past two winters daydreaming of this beautiful dance of nature and man at Camp. When sitting in the Quad or looking out over the dock, it isn’t hard to believe that these daydreams will become, once again, reality.
