The Campers Have Arrived!

07/14/2014

Session 2 began with a whirlwind. Almost all the campers arrived within the first hour and a half. This was a fortunate because the skies opened up and it poured cats and dogs for most of the evening. Our protocols are to be in a lightning safe location if the strikes come within a concerning distance, so opening campfires were held inside. For adventure village this meant our communal mongolian yurt (pictures are on the way). For Adventure Trips this meant hanging out in Margettes Hall and finishing up pack-out. Once the rain started it became difficult to teach the campers about tents and stoves etc. We moved indoors and carried on. Eventually, instead of heading up to our lean-to village up on the hill we all crashed on the floor of Margettes Hall. The thunder and heavy downpour persisted through through the night, it didn’t make sense to hike up to the lean-to’s, get soaked, only to hike back out first thing in the morning. Everyone was asleep on the Hall’s floor by 10:30: dreaming about the friends we’ll make and the adventures we’ll take!

Adventure Village’s opening ceremony was also a hit! Each camper was presented the chance to take a step out of their comfort zone, to take a risk. We offered them the ceremonial warm raccoon poop (melted chocolate chips), and pine tea. The symbolism is to trust and to enjoy something you might not have thought you’d like. Once things died down and all songs were screamed, Adventure Village also headed to bed to enjoy their first amazing night under the clouds that hide the beautiful Catskills’ stars: a treasure for another night.

This morning at 5 AM Adventure Trips were up and gung-ho to hit the trail! All three Maine trips (Maine Trail Builders, Maine Coast 1, and Maine Coast 2) hit the road at the same time to caravan their way north. Successful departures across the board.

The Adirondacks trips (Rambler, and Boots and Boats) took a little more time to get out of bed. They’ll be doing Voyageur starts all session so one morning with a bit of shut-eye won’t hurt. They were all on their way by 8 AM. First with the Boots and Boats. Being a group of 4 campers and 2 trip leaders it was easy for the group to turn and burn on breakfast. Rambler on the other hand has a larger number and the learning curve for some of the campers was a little steeper. The leaders took their time making sure all the campers had their packs adjusted correctly and that they had everything they needed to be safe and have fun!

The trips are off successfully. We will do another post concerning the Adventure trips this coming weekend with an update. Then one final post when they return at the end of the 2 weeks.

Maine Trail Builder

Maine Coast 2

Maine Coast 1

Boots and Boats

DSCN4845
Adirondack Rambler

There are storms in the area these days. We take this very seriously and will keep you posted if we have concern for any reason. Though our trips are in the back country for portions of this session, they are always close to help if they need it, and all of our backcountry led trips have Spot devices so they can contact us immediately if they need our assistance.

Happy Trails,

Lincoln McLain
(845) 985 2291 x265
adventure@frostvalley.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zach eigenbrodt

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Zach couldn't keep himself out of the woods when growing up. He started working at a Northern Wisconsin YMCA Camp as a wilderness trip leader while in college and fell in love with getting kids into nature. The smiles on kids faces after returning from a once in a life time wilderness experience is why he is here today. Zach brought his talents to Frost Valley YMCA, in 2014, when he started as the Trips Coordinator and soon was promoted to Adventure Director. Zach loves all forms of Wilderness exploration, though some would say his heart lies most with canoeing.