Gold Rush at Gwynn Valley!
Dear Parents and Friends,
Today was truly a golden day of summer! After the recent rain, we enjoyed every moment of gorgeous sunshine that we were lucky to receive at Gwynn Valley today. Aside from a few sprinkles this evening, we have had sunshine all day long. With Riverside still in camp preparing for their next trip and Day Camp in full swing, our entire camp community was on site today enjoying the multitude of golden opportunities to take advantage of all that camp has to offer! The golden day continued as we ended our day with a camp wide game of Gold Rush followed by some golden dessert… but I’m getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.
After a tasty breakfast of blueberry muffins, fruit, sausage, and cereal, we jumped into our last round of A Day discoveries. This means that campers were visiting their A day Discoveries for the 3rd time. The 3rd program Discovery visit is typically devoted to capping off the learning progression or finishing a longer term project. In pottery, campers glazed the pottery pieces that have been working on the last 2 sessions. In acting, camper were running through their lines and getting performance-ready. In climbing, campers moved on to their final climbing style in their progression (Arborist climbing). Bikers advanced their biking on some of the more challenging trails around camp. The weavers finished off their projects on the loom. It was a day where campers could leave morning activities with the knowledge that they had accomplished something.
For lunch today we had a real crowd-pleaser! Campers love quesedilla and tortilla chips with all the good toppings: guacamole, salsa, beans, sour cream, cheese, and fajita veggies. After lunch we went over to singing in the lodge and sign ups where campers watched skits of all the activities on offer for the afternoon. Lake fun, tubing, climbing, fishing at the mill, hemp bracelets, and thunderball were all big hits this afternoon. Pottery and Camping Skills and Nature organized a combination activity making leaf print medallions which campers really enjoyed. Campers at the horses went for a nice trail ride in search of shade around camp, which both campers and horses appreciated!
For dinner tonight we had roasted turkey, salad, roasted veggies, homemade sunflower & flax seed bread and gravy. It was a mini-Thanksgiving feast, which fit well with today’s thought for the day. “We cannot be grateful for everything, but in every moment we can find something to be grateful for.” – David Steindl-Rast
After dinner we had a camp wide Gold Rush game. This was a surprise for campers and they had a blast running around camp finding hundreds of rocks that were spray painted gold. There were many characters – some of whom helped them in their quest to collect the gold, and some of them slowed down the campers as they tried to reach the grand total goal of 200 lbs of ‘gold’. After all cabins had worked together to collect enough gold we celebrated with sun-butter cookies, which are gold in color. This was about 8:15pm so our younger Hilllside campers headed out for showers and an early night in bed while, which I think they really appreciated. Brooksiders went on to do cabin campfires and roasted marshmellows at a few fire rings around camp until the fire flies started to come out.
Mountainside, Riverside, and Young Leaders also continue to have great sessions! Mountainside finished up their mini-adventures today and are being sorted into their adventure groups this evening based on camper preferences. The adventure fairy will deliver their placements and campers will spend the day tomorrow preparing for their trips as well as doing a few sign up activities. Riverside did some service work this morning working on re-establishing an old and infrequently used trail on camp and then did the high ropes course this afternoon. They head out on Sunday morning for a 4 day backpacking trip on the Foothills trail. Young Leaders are really enjoying their time participating in main camp activities as they assist in morning discoveries. This evening they were able to try out blacksmithing, which has been a popular new activity this summer!
It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of another golden day at Gwynn Valley. All our campers are already fast asleep dreaming of what tomorrow will bring. Check back tomorrow for an update of all the fun that is sure to come!