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Summer's Just Around the Corner!

You may think it's the middle of winter... but spring is almost here! Summer, and camp, are right behind. We've been getting ready for 2008 for months, and are really looking forward to having the place come alive again. It won't be long!

Here's some news...
Canoe/Kayak Clinic
Week of Trips
New sailboats... Optimus Prams!
June Camp is full; Financial Aid
Nominate partial scholarship recipient
Winter
Biking News
Cabin and Nature Lab Remodeling
Letters

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Canoe and Kayak Clinic
for the benefit of the Scholarship Fund

Join us for the Spring Canoe/Kayak Clinic! It's scheduled for the first weekend in May, the 2nd to the 4th. The clinic targets the "rusty" paddler, the beginner who's had some experience on flat water and is ready to try some whitewater, or the intermediate who wants to work on his or her river running and/or playing techniques. We'll use our local rivers, including the Green, French Broad, Nantahala, Chatooga, and others as appropriate to the skill level of the group. It's mainly aimed towards adults, but camper age folks are welcome (with an adult escort depending on age). Gordon Grant is our instructor. More info here.

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2008 Week of Trips
August 9 - 17

Back before the earth cooled (around 1960), there was just one session choice if you came to Mondamin or Green Cove: eight weeks. In those years we did trips like a three week canoe trip from just below Lake Summit to the Atlantic Ocean, or from just across the Continental divide (a couple of miles away) to the Mississippi River. We did three, four, and five way trips, gone for eight or ten days at a time.

About 1960, we added a session, called June Camp, to which you could come for only three weeks. Not long after, schools started running later in the spring and starting earlier in the fall, and the summer got squeezed. By the late '70s, school dates made it impossible to have three weeks and eight weeks of camp, and the Main Session got shortened. Now, it's five and a half weeks long. We still do most of what we did when it was eight weeks... but we just can't quite do it all, and some campers find that five and a half just isn't enough. They're ready for more.

So: we've worked out the idea of having an "extra" week as an option for campers who have developed a strong interest in an activity like paddling, biking, backpacking and/or climbing. They'll head out on closing day of the Main Session, going to places where we normally couldn't go during camp. They'll be gone for a full week, returning August 16, the day before closing day of August Camp. They'll be unpacked and ready to depart August 17. We'll plan for an intermediate level of skill, though if there are sufficient numbers with advanced skills we'll definitely keep them interested!

We'll accept a limited number of campers for each of three trips (paddling, climbing, and biking). It will be open to campers who attend the Main Session in 2008, and who anticipate being "ready for more" at the end of the session. For more information, email us; we'll have a web page up shortly with details regarding how to register, etc.

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Optimus Prams!!

Anyone who sailed as a kid at a sailing club probably knows about Optimus prams… little 8’, snub-nosed boats with a single sail (gaff rig). Wonderful boats for smaller humans (most adults would seriously overload one if they got in). We are getting six of them, to bolster opportunities for our younger sailors to learn basics like points of sail, tacking, docking, etc. without having to deal with a 19’ boat and all the more complicated rigging which goes along with it. We’re counting on them to jump start some beginning sailors!

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Summer's Comin'...

... and June Camp is full. There will probably be some cancellations as the March 1 deadline for refunds gets closer, so there’s hope for those on the wait list (though we’ll prefer age 11 and younger for those possible open spots). There’s room in the Main Session still, as well as in the short four and five day sessions in Early June and August.

There is a scholarship fund (the Frank and Calla Bell Scholarship Fund), which is intended to make camp possible for deserving campers who can’t quite make camp fit into the budget. We like to remind folks that a gift to the fund can make a huge difference in a young person’s life… more info is available here.

We also solicit nominations for financial aid. Most recipients are in the nine to twelve age range; if you know a potential camper between those ages who would benefit from camp, and who could not otherwise afford it, we’d be happy to send some info and try to help make it happen. Since June Camp is full, we can only offer spots in the Main Session now (with or without financial aid), or in one of the short intro sessions. Email us or call (800 688-5789) if you would like information on this for yourself or for a friend.

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Winter Finally Came!

We had about three inches of snow a couple of weeks ago… not enough to raise an eyebrow from any of our northern campers, but enough to get us thinking snow men, snow angels, snow balls, and sleds. It was fun! Then more recently we had an ice storm, which is much more destructive… though this one wasn’t bad.

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Biking News...

We use Trek bikes in our mountain biking program, and many of our biking counselors are year 'round bike addicts. That, plus the fact that a former GC counselor now works for Trek, has led to some of our staff doing some testing for some fancy new Trek bike wheels… the ones that cost upwards of $1,000 each! Can’t promise that we’ll have any of those wheels in camp this summer, but maybe there’ll be some tales to tell!

Some of these guys love to bike in the ice and snow... but all that should be gone by the time camp gets here!

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The one on the left is where you normally see snakes and lizards and fish and other critters... the Nature Lab. The building is being redone in a major way, which should make the critters happy.

And the other is a Junior cabin, Sleepy Hollow... or was several weeks ago, as we started remodeling the bathroom. As of this writing, it has a new floor, and will shortly have a new bathroom, much improved over the old one.

We do a lot of repair and remodeling over each winter, and this is the year for Junior Line at Mondamin to get a face-lift. It'll all be ready to move in before long!

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Letters!

We ask campers, especially those coming to camp for the first time, to write a letter about what they’re looking forward to. It’s often quite helpful in terms of figuring out what they’re thinking, but many of them can be fun to read as well. We’re including a few here (names deleted)… I think these kids are going to have a great time!

(If you'd like to be published in the camp e-newsletter, write (e- or snail), with a request to be included, and we'll try to put you in next time!