Over spring break, Camas Meadows offers our only day camp. A chance for children, grades 3rd through 8th, to get out of the house and test their mettle against the great outdoors.
Every morning at 7:30 AM, the camp van meets families at the Park-N-Ride on Blewett Pass to pick up campers for their day-long adventure.
After breakfast with friends and a Bible lesson courtesy of Bald Eagle, the campers practice knot-tying with Choco and learn about the survival skill of the day.
Shelter building, food preparation, making water safe to drink, finding edible plants, setting snares, navigation, and safely building a campfire are some of the many skills covered during the morning lecture.
Then comes the best part.
Getting outside to practice all of those fabulous new skills!
Navigating through a scavenger hunt around the lodge with a compass … .
No Problem!
Melting snow over a campfire to make clean drinking water …
or even hot fir needle tea …
got it covered!
Setting up snares without accidentally catching the camp dog …
… harder than it looks, but still possible!
The campers learned how to make survival bracelets which contained a massive amount of useful para-cord as well as a flint striker, small compass, and handy wilderness whistle.
Princess Leia Freyja was of course interested in the constant music of tweeting whistles.
The campers were so fun and delightful as they concentrated fiercely on each lesson and then poured out into the forest to practice every skill.
From shouted queries during the Bible lesson to breaking into their personal piggy banks or even pursuing a lightning fast career as a young entrepreneur in order to gain an extra day in the outdoors, the campers tackled every day with grit and enthusiasm.
Thank you, Choco and friends, for the informative lessons and making it possible for these 20 enthusiastic outdoors-men and women to enjoy God’s lovely creation.
A week in the outdoors is always week well spent.
Especially when there is whittling, fire-craft, and shelter building involved!
Boo Boo
