Fridays are the Best

It is pretty universal that Fridays are going to be a good day. Fridays at camp, however, are a step up in that you have a whole day of activities and trips, you are surrounded by people you know well, and you are heading into the weekend where the schedule changes up with dances, campfire, Upper Senior Challenges and more.

My Friday was destined to be rather exceptional. From days of yore when I worked on the paddling docks, every now and again I’m able to step back into that role and head out on a river trip, this time to Section 3 of the Chattooga. It helps having that camp skill set in my back pocket that lets me hang with our excellent boaters, it is even more helpful that I can drive a trailer!

We had a big group of guys for today’s run and they gathered in a timely fashion for an early breakfast. The better to spend more time on a river knowing the drive is significant. While we were early, we were not the first people up in camp engaged in activity. One of our pottery instructors is also a yoga instructor and had offered sunrise paddleboard yoga classes for anyone interested. With plenty of interest expressed, we ended up having three consecutive classes this morning. The curiosity and open-mindedness of our campers at this stage of the session is notable as they are willing to explore any/all of the opportunities in front of them, even those beginning at 6:30am!

Part of the fun of heading out on a trip is having your focus narrow to a small group of people all bent on the same mission. There is certainly a freedom to the experience; changing scenery up that you have grown familiar with for the last three weeks, listening to a wide variety of music as requests flood in from the back of the van, and not knowing what the day will hold. Our drive was smooth and the campers sprang into action (with some theatrical groans) to unload the boats and get geared up for the river.

It was a cloudy day and the water level was on the lower side of the scale. That made for paddling focused on reading water and finding the deeper channels. It also made for a lot of communication amongst the boaters as they found promising lines, talked over what looked good during a scout, or just hung out floating through pools of water.

The Chattooga is a Wild and Scenic river meaning it is feels like you are in the middle of nowhere and typically see no one else. Clearly our fellas felt like the river was theirs today. We launched off big rock jumps, saw an osprey and baby bobcats, hit rock slides, and explored the cool rock formations all the way down the river. It rained on us at times, shallow sections ground us to an occasional halt, the walks in and out of the river were long and challenging, and I think they could have eaten three times the amount of sandwich meat. None of it seemed to matter, their spirits were not dimmed in the slightest!

The chatter and action on the river was nearly nonstop. Once we had everyone changed and loaded back into the van, things became a bit more mellow. Though the songs were just as well curated coming home, one at a time you could see heads nod off in the back of the van as the day caught up with them. The sign of a good time on the water for sure!

This evening saw camp split in half for a rainy and cool end of the week. The older half of our campers were practicing square and line dance moves in anticipation of Keystone Camp’s visit to High Rocks tomorrow night. Our younger guys settled in to a well deserved movie of Madagascar as they snuggled down in their PJs. A good end to a good week.