Another Awesome Day at Camp

June 21, 2011 by Don Gentle

It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through the session.  Tomorrow is “bed switch” day so everybody that didn’t get a coveted top bunk on opening day will get their chance.  Tonight at dinner more than half the camp was away on some sort of event.  Pinnacle, Halfway, Lookout and Holiday Inn are all at Sliding Rock followed by Dolly’s Ice Cream.  About 25 campers are on an evening horseback ride that ends with a cookout at Townsend’s mom’s house (one of the camp founders- Jane Williams) and 10 campers are still out on a 3-day hike.  Tomorrow will be another active day with six trips out of camp.

My day has been a constant stream of campers and staff asking “How’s your eye”?  Yesterday I spent rest hour and the afternoon clearing a section of the lake between the cabin field and the bridge.  The area has been overgrown for years & I wanted to clear it out for hikes and fishing.  The area was covered in poison ivy, so I was prepared with gloves, long sleeves, and jeans.  Everything was going along well & I made good progress until I was on the mower going back & forth over a weedy area.  I felt a sting on my face then saw hornets all over me.  I took off across the pasture, threw off my sunglasses, and wiped hornets off as best I could until I was a safe distance away.  The total damage was minor.  I got two stings to my collarbone area, two on my arm, and one on the white of my eye.  The eye was quite the curiosity as I went around camp & said “want to see something cool?” Lots of oohs & ahhs & does it hurt??   Fortunately, there was minimal swelling & I’m back to normal now (mostly) -never a dull moment at camp.

I was planning on heading out to work on another trail project today, but I sent out my crew with Dan Noland instead so that my eye had another day to heal.  Trails are a constant process on 1100-acres of property.  We are opening an old section midway down the road that will be very helpful to horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bikers.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

We continue to have wonderful weather with an occasional afternoon shower.  Our one big storm earlier in the session hit us with a lot of wind & some hail.  No major damage here but I just found out that a nearby camp had softball size hailstones during the same storm!!

Enjoy today’s pictures and keep the cards and letters coming- the campers love to find something in the mailbox!!

Hank Birdsong
hank@highrocks.com