We’re off to the races. The 2017 summer camp season is now underway with our first week of our popular Rocks, Ropes & Boats camp starting this week. The 5 day summer day camp is for adventure seekers from age 7 to 13 and includes ropes course activities, rock climbing, hiking and a day of boat building on Lake Tahoe.
Monday
Our big focus for today was all about making new friends and bonding as a team, hereafter known as the Purple Marshmallows. We did a lot of variations of different ground games that let us see who were the rule followers and who were our loose cannons. As the team began to understand the meaning of truly working together we moved into some simple challenges in the low course. By the end of the day we did belay school and challenged our first high element. Our biggest lesson learned today is that every second counts. It does no good to keep arguing over who is going first, second, third, fourth,,,,right on down to fourteenth. Hopefully that lesson “sticks” for tomorrow! Here’s the “best of” pictures from Mark’s camera today. We hope to add Phoebe’s soon!
Tuesday
We completed our second day at the ropes course for the week, and the progression of Team Purple Marshmallows is beginning to solidify. Our operative tool of the day was to “notice, choose, and act.” That powerful set of words turned our campers into super heroes today. We hope that they can bring it to the rock tomorrow! Here’s our “best of” selection for the day:
Wednesday
All of that work at the Project Discovery ropes course certainly paid off today for our campers. We saw some awesome performances right down to our youngest kids. We watched our campers keep working their way to more difficult climbs, or they kept coming back to the same climb several times to make it to the top. We ended the day with a 75 foot rappel option, which seems like a mile high when you’re 8 years old. Here’s our “best of” photos for the day.
Thursday
We’re betting that campers will sleep well tonight. Today’s hike to Rock Lake ended up somewhere just north of 8 miles round trip with more than 2000 feet of elevation gain. It also included some brutally hot uphill sections and 5 stream crossings. Every camper rose to the challenge though, and when Rock Lake finally appeared in their sights, the swimsuits went on and the relaxation began. Fortunately, tomorrow will require much less physical energy….see you at the beach for boat building tomorrow morning!
Friday
That’s a wrap! The first week of three Rocks, Ropes & Boats Summer camps is now complete. It was an absolutely perfect day for hanging out at a beach in North Lake Tahoe today. The weather was warm, but not too hot – and the water in the shallow shores of Tahoe Vista were warm enough for hours of water play. The boat races were spectacular, after a 90 minute build session for the two teams. In the end, it was the Fluffy Ducks that made four complete circuits of the course, allowing all team members to get a chance to ride in the outrigger styled boat. The Black Ostriches had a bit to learn about the principles of buoyancy. Although they sunk before even reaching the outer buoy, they made a valiant attempt to reduce drag on their boat and still go through the motions of completing 4 laps of the circuit. In the end, everyone was rewarded with ice cream cones, across the street from the beach. We hope to see some of these campers join us for week 3 of camp…or next season.
