At the second Naming Ceremony of the summer we honored seven campers and a counselor by bestowing upon them Flying Cloud names. Please join me in holding the following young men in the light:
Rhythm Root
Travels the Song
North Born
Smoke Tracker
Magpie Waterfall
Summer Lights the Sky
Earth Roll Laughter and our counselor Vince, now known as
Redwood.
Receiving their Flying Cloud names is a difficult process involving a full day and night of fasting and sitting in the woods in reflection, after which the campers build a huge fire and we dance the night away. To put their experience in perspective I told a story about a father/son team overcoming amazing challenges through their love for one another. If you haven’t heard of Team Hoyt, I encourage you to read up on their truly inspiring journey. Thinking of them helps me be a better director and I would love to know how it affects you as a parent.

Last night we had another very important ceremony that I want to share with you. At the beginning and end of each session we hold a Friendship Fire. At the end of the session the camper leader known as the Speaker asks “who speaks for Flying Cloud” at which point campers and staff speak out about how this place has touched them. Here are just a few of the heartfelt and deeply touching things campers said:

“This place is like something out of a movie, except that I get to be one of the characters and it’s even more awesome!”

“This place is like a second home to me.”

“Flying Cloud feels like home, and you are all my family.”

“Yesterday I realized that after being at Flying Cloud I could run and not even think about it.” (A statement met with cheers for his newfound strength.)

“Flying Cloud names give us something to live up to, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll each grow into.”

I know I’ll see many of you tomorrow for pickup and visiting day, and if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. This summer has been one of joyful connections with parents for me and I’m so thankful for all of your openness and the trust you’ve put in me and the Flying Cloud staff to help raise your boy into a wonderful young man.

We had our first Naming Ceremony at camp this week, and it was a blast! While the staff planned for the coming week, the campers spent all day building a big fire under the leadership and guidance of our four Camper Leaders. After a hard day’s work, we wrapped up with a great big party with guests from Indian Brook, Timberlake and the Barn Day Camp!
Please join me now in honoring our newly named Flying Cloud Brothers:
Oak Heart
Orchid Path
Moon Song Chickadee
Winter Spring
Elk Shapes the Hearth
Red Buck Runs

As I write, campers are out on the last full day of their trips. We have a group tracking animals on the Montague Sand Plains in Massachusetts, a group hiking on the Long Trail, and a team testing their survival skills in the Arthur Davis Wildlife Management Area just across the valley. The last group canoed across Flagstaff Lake and is now hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail. I expect to hear a ton of great stories when we welcome them back into camp tomorrow night!

Also, if you want more photos, you can log into the “parents only” section of the site, which you’ll learn about in an email soon if you haven’t already.

Now, on to news of the week!
We’ve been diving right into camp for sure. After the orientation days, we moved into “Sacred Order” activities, which are the activities where we practice some of the core skills for someone learning to survive in the wilderness. My hope is that in addition to being able to chant the sacred order (“Shelter! Water! Fire! Food!”) the boys will come away from the summer with a basic understanding of how to build or find shelter, how to find and purify water, how to make a safe, sustainable fire and, of course,  how to get food from the land. We had a great time building a couple of shelters as a big group, and we’ll have people sleeping out in them soon. The nice thing about the ,shelter building projects is that the guys get a sense of just how much work it is, but they also get to have some fun. I think the results are pretty great, but we’ll see how they do once people are sleeping in them!

Since then, one of the most fun parts of the week (for me at least) was our Day Trips. We sent a group in each direction out of camp: One went north on the Catamount/Moosetrack trail to the top of Round Top; another bushwhacked West to the top of Saltash Mountain; a third went East down our stream towards Sliding Rocks (a cool natural water-slide nearby) and the fourth headed South towards Lake Ninevah and a pretty phenomenal Swamp Romp! I was lucky enough to tag along for the swamp romp, and I can tell you one thing: we got right into it! In addition to all the mud, we found places where deer had rested, moose tracks, cattails we could eat and a beautiful beaver lodge. Oh, yeah, and a bunch of leeches… but we dealt with them.
One of the real values from a day trip like this, in addition to having fun and building connection with each other and the land, is that we can push our edges a little bit. Usually, we’re not supposed to go into the deepest mud we can find and splash around. Usually, going waist-deep into cold water is a bad thing. For us, it’s not just okay, we actively encourage it! The goal is to help campers realize how much cool stuff is happening in nature, just off the beaten path. Sometimes that means you have to get a bit wet or dirty, but it’s always worth if for the amazing discoveries you can make!

I hope you’re all having a great summer, too, and for all of you out there praying that we get great weather, thanks! You’ve done a great job so far!

We’ve spent the last couple of days learning how things are done at Flying Cloud, and getting to know the landscape. Yesterday afternoon was a Flying Cloud scavenger hunt, and campers found all sorts of amazing things. They were tasked with finding something beautiful, something sharp, a chewed leaf and about two dozen other cool puzzles from around Flying Cloud.

Today, we’re down at Saltash Mountain camp doing swim tests, so we can all go dipping in the FC pond this summer, which will be great if it stays as sunny as it is today. We have a pretty amazing connection with our brothers and sisters at SAM Camp, and we’re really looking forward to swimming, canoeing and Contra Dancing with them this summer! Below is a photo from the walk down. Pretty lovely, eh?

I’ve already had a handful of boys who are signed up for first session asking me about staying all summer so if you think your son might be interested I’d encourage you to talk with him about that and get in touch with me. There are still some spaces in Second Half and of course we’d love for your son to spend more time in nature with us!

FC July 2010 heading down to SAM for swim tests

Our solid Support Staff, also know as the “Funkies”

Striding Ash (Sensible Health Person / Maintenance) a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR)
Sun Panther Gives (Program Director / Trips Coordinator) a certified Lifegaurd (LGT)
Forest Flame (Assistant Director) (WFR)
Tends the Grove (Food Coordinator)

and where would we be without a well rounded group of Lodge Staff?

River Sways (Waterfront head, WFR, and LGT)
Kodiak Weaves the Thunder (LGT)
Forge Song (WFR and certified EMT)
Badger Pool (certified as a Wilderness EMT)
Loon Dreamer (WFR)
Elk Sound
Twilight Cub
and two all new Staff Members Vince and Rafe!

Hopefully your excitement for the summer is ramping up and we look forward to seeing you all walk into the clearing in just a couple weeks.

Spring Rhythm, Tundra Warrior Sings and Forest Flame all helped me keep twenty rowdy and wonderful FC campers in line, and helped welcome a crew of new and prospective campers into the fold. The bunk room in the Tamarack Farm basement may have been smelly, but it was sure filled with a lot of laughter and love too.

On saturday, we woke up to perfect weather and a great big breakfast. We hiked up to FC and got right to work opening up the Ice Mines, setting up the Food Shelter and sawing away at the ice. Thanks to a couple of weeks of good cold weather, the pond was frozen up solid and we were getting good blocks out within an hour, which is great. While some people sawed, others chipped and a few brave individuals wrestled the blocks out of the water and into sleds for the ride up the hill.

In perhaps the most energetic and funniest part of the process, teams of six people ran down the hill shouting and panting, pulling on the rope that was attached to the ice sleds. Running down towards the pond, the sleds would come zooming by and arrive at the Ice Mines chock full and ready to be unloaded. Next a crew dumped the sleds, slid the blocks up a ramp and packed them carefully in sawdust. After all that they’ll stay frozen all the way through the winter and spring until we dig them out in June to refrigerate our food.

Though this event is about taking care of FC, we were supported this weekend by a ton of F&W families who just love the community and wanted to come help. When we’re up at the Cloud this year enjoying great meals, I’m sure going to appreciate all the work those folks did for us. If you were at Ice Cutting this year, every FCer from the summer of 2010 is thankful for the great work you did, and I’m really glad you got to have so much fun while you were at it!

If you want to see pictures, you can check out our website, or check out the album we posted on Facebook. Feel free to join the F&W fan page while you’re there!

I wanted to let you know about a couple of important upcoming events on the F&W calendar:

First, the application deadline for campership is January 15th! That means you’ve got to get your application in really soon if you need financial help for this coming summer. We don’t ever want to turn someone away for financial reasons, but we can’t help you if you don’t ask. If you haven’t asked in years past, you can still ask this year. The application is here. Of course, if you’re applying for campership, that must mean you’re applying for camp as well, and you can get your 2010 Camper Registration form off our website.

Second, Ice Cutting Weekend is coming up on February 12th-14th and I’d love to see you there. It’s a great time to show your support for Flying Cloud by harvesting all the ice we need to keep our food cold all summer, and it’s also just a blast! The event is open to everyone and always fills up fast so if you want to come, get your application in soon! Also, if you have friends who are interested in camp this is an easy way for them to join our community and will help them feel more at home when they come to camp with you this summer.

Finally, to send you on your way with some FC love, here’s one of my favorite photos from the summer.

In preparation for next summer, Forest Flame, Hawk Shadow and I, along with a few friends spent the weekend practicing our hide-tanning skills. We had a coyote, a raccoon and a few deer hides to work with. The process took more than two days, but in the end we created soft, supple leather, and a few beautiful, furry hides. Though it’s a lot of work, this might just be the sort of project we’ll complete this summer with a few dedicated campers up at FC. How cool would it be to have your own, totally homemade shirt, or pouch, or knife sheath?
Here’s a photo from early on, and another from near the end:

For those of you who came and helped Harvest, thank you so much! The gardens look great, and we got IB, TL and SAM closed down and ready for the coming snow. You can check out pictures in the Photo Gallery on the website. They’re not up as I write this, but they will be soon!  There’s also one more way you can help if you were at camp this summer: we’d love to get your feedback, whatever it may be, on the parent or camper survey.

In other news, I’m sad to say that Flying Cloud is losing a very important race that started last week. So far Indian Brook has two campers for next summer, and we don’t even have one! If you’d like to make my day (and help stop IB from gloating), get your application finished ASAP and send it in. You can learn everything you need to know about applying on the “How to Register” page or you can wait just a few days and you’ll receive your very own application packet in the mail.

I hope you’re all settling comfortably into fall, and that if you have any great nature moments you won’t hesitate to tell me all about them!