The Camp Echo Lake Trail

It’s hard to believe we have been at camp for 5 weeks!  It feels like the campers just stepped off the bus yesterday.  At the same time it’s amazing to think about all the fun we have jam packed into 5 weeks and all of the friendships that have formed.  It is safe to say that the groups are fully operating as summer families.

Week 5 has brought a lot of excitement.  Events this week included Girls’ Camp Special Day, Putt-Putt, a Junior Intra-camp, Camp Echo Lake’s First Annual Dance Competition, and Apache Relay.  All of these events were a success and highlighted the bonds that have been formed within the groups and on Girls’ Camp.

Girls’ Camp Special Day

Girls’ Camp Special Day was based around the line-up theme of B.a.D Detectives.  In the morning the mysterious tiger character who stole our friend on the first day of line-up reappeared and dropped off a lock box with 5 locks on it.  All of Girls’ Camp was split up into 5 teams and rotated to 5 different activities where they were challenged to earn a digit for their combination to open their lock.  Some of these activities included slip n’ slides, shaving cream fights, scavenger hunts, game shows, and digging in the sand.  At the end of the day the girls assembled a puzzle in order to receive the last number to open the lock.  Inside the box they found a note from the tiger which lead to the discovery of the tiger’s location…the pool!  The girls found the tiger at the pool, but unfortunately the tiger escaped once again, so the girls settled for a pool party to wrap up the day instead!

Putt-Putt

On Monday evening all of the Junior Girls went off camp to play putt-putt.  The Upper Junior Girls went to The Fun Spot in Lake George while the Lower juniors and Frosh went to Pirate’s Cove, also in Lake George.  The girls enjoyed their night off camp and multiple holes in one were scored!  As always, the campers displayed excellent manners in public and represented Camp Echo Lake well!

Junior Intra Camp

Wednesday was jam packed with fun for the Junior Girls.  One event that took place was the Junior Girl Intra-camp.  In order to give more opportunities for healthy competition, the Junior Girls could opt into playing three different sporting events (softball, basketball, and soccer) against one another.  About 20 Junior Girls participated in the intra-camp whole-heartedly and had a ton of fun along the way.  I am always amazed at the balance of competitiveness and great sportsmanship our campers always display during all competitive opportunities.

Camp Echo Lake’s First Annual Dance Competition

On Wednesday about 20 Junior Girls also participated in Echo Lake’s first ever dance competition!  Four different camps competed in small group and large group divisions for juniors, inters, and seniors. Our ladies did an excellent job representing Camp Echo Lake and placed in multiple age categories.  I was most impressed by the way our campers cheered for the other camps equally to our own camp.  It showed me that they truly understand and live by the values of our camp.  It was great to see the Junior Girls show so much pride in their dances.  They had smiles on their face the entire time!  It was a truly great event for all!

Apache Relay

On Friday the Junior Girls participated in the Apache Relay Tribal event.  Apache Relay is a huge relay race that takes place all over camp.  Each Junior Girl had their own event in the race.  Some juniors were placed in events against campers who were a year or two older than them and it did not stop them!  They did a great job representing their Tribal team and did their very best.  In the end Iroquois won Tribal for the MV Apache race.  However,  all of camp cheered as the finishers from both teams went through the finish line!

Going into week 6 it seems we have one big event after another. It is hard to believe Carnival is tomorrow night and our big Junior Girls Trip to Waterslide world is sometime this week (but shhhh it’s a secret).  I am sure I will have plenty of exciting updates for you next week!