The Final Blog of 2024!

Keeping It Campy

Wow, our last full day at Mountain Camp for 2024 is here, and what better way to start the day than a polar bear plunge! After sleeping in yesterday we decided this morning we would wake up before 7am, get our swimsuits on, and head down to the lake for a morning dip. Polar plunges can positively influence our mood by increasing dopamine and endorphins, so we have 138 extra happy campers this morning! Once they head up to camp they get a warm welcome back with a cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows. At evening program tonight one lucky polar bear (out of 138 polar bears) who’s name is randomly drawn from a (very big) hat wins a paulie the polar bear stuffie (it’s limited edition, bigger than our usual stuffies, and highly sought after)!

Breakfast has increased that number up to ~250 extra super duper happy campers (which is everyone) because we are having sugar cereal for breakfast! We have the choice between lucky charms and cinnamon toast crunch! Additionally there is a hot breakfast also provided, which includes scrambled eggs, crunchy tater tots, and breakfast sausages. So many options to choose from… why not try it all!

For cabin activity this morning the Lakeside Blazer cabins plus Tam and Lassen are at the lake for their final tubing period! Hood, Granite, and Fuji are at arts and crafts finishing up their friendship bracelets. Pyramid have the water trampoline to themselves this morning for some launching time! Lassen and Ponderosa are getting some extra relaxation time chilling in the hammocks this morning. Tahoe and Tallac are down at the ropes course challenging themselves on all the components. Teton and Whitney are playing basketball at court sports. Everest are hosting their very own pontoon party on the pontoon boat with tunes playing and the slide set up, what an awesome party! Cedar and Redwood have the court sports to themselves for some games of name drop and volleyball. Aspen are at the mini tramp this morning, bouncing super high. Shasta and Sierra are at outdoor cooking making sweet treats over the campfire. 

Today is a bittersweet day full of lasts… last polar plunge of the summer, last full day of camp, last signup activities, last dinner at camp, last campfire, last everything. With last comes excitement and passion, everyone is giving everything their absolute all and more because we don’t know when we will get to do this all again. What an awesome end to the summer we have had this year. I want to talk a little more about the special things that happen at camp that make it such a memorable and unique experience. 

What better thing to start with than our energetic mealtimes. Each morning after announcements tunes are playing across the dining area, lifting the mood up for the day, and getting everyone into a happy groove. The campers can request songs and it often results in a singalong dance-a-thon. This is a bit unconventional of course, compared to meal times away from camp, but our loud goofy mealtimes are something that make camp so fun! At lunchtime and dinner we have no music playing, in order for the chants to take the reins, and they sure do! By this point in camp the chants go wild. Multiple at once, sometimes they change up the pace and do their age group chants in x2 speed, or they slow it down! Sometimes they sing it back to back to ensure no other age group can steal their thunder. We also have campers and counselors riding around on an imaginary pony EVERY mealtime! “Here comes ___ riding on a pony, riding around on a big ol pony” whilst they give us their best horseback impression to find their next rider. 

Speaking of mealtimes tonight for dinner we got to order our very own pizza, with toppings of our choice! The campers changed the pony chant to “P.I.Z.Z.A PIZZA PIZZA EVERYDAY, WHERE IS THE PIZZA AT,  THE PIZZAS OVER HERE!”, you’ll have to ask them to perform it for you tomorrow so it’s in key!

Community at camp is another huge factor that makes camp so special. There is so much space for campers to grow and be authentically themselves, they feel comfortable letting their goofiness run free because their counselors are the goofiest of all. It creates a fun and safe environment for everybody to have the most fun possible.

Evening program is another super special part of camp, which is funny because mealtimes and EP are the only times that the whole camp is together in the same place. Which means extremely high energy! Tonight for evening program it’s closing campfire. After dinner we headed off to the closing campfire, the campers had the opportunity to showcase anything they learned over the session or random talents/dances they wanted to highlight for the rest of the camp. Tonight we saw performances of Taylor Swift songs, to cabin directed skits to original choreographed dances, and a magic show! You can hear the cheers from all around camp when the slide show comes on, it’s such a nice way to reminisce on all the amazing things we have accomplished whilst we have been at camp, plus it’s pretty fun to see ourselves on the big screen too! 

To end the night the counselor visit every cabin to sing farewell serenades, the campers can choose any song from the songbook and we will sing it in harmony (we hope) to them before they are off for their final sleep on the mountain. This session has been so amazing. The campers are sad to say goodbye tomorrow but they are also so excited to see all of you again.

Until next time, thank you again for choosing Mountain Camp, and best wishes.

Signing out until next year.
-The Mountain Blogger.