FLYING CLOUD
BOYS AND GENDER NON-BINARY
AGES 11-14
Life in the Wilderness
Delve Deeper
I am a graduate of Warren Wilson College, and spent my first summer working at Flying Cloud almost 10 years ago.
I love that F&W’s values encourage us to honor the humanity in ourselves and each other. With no promises of success, 2021 was an unqualified win for our program. We made it all happen through reliance on the wealth of experience held by a small group of staff, as well asa mountain of good work and goodwill on the behalf of our greater staff and camper community.
In 2022 I look forward to bringing back some of our familiar programming – wilderness trips, all-camp events, and visits from our friends in the Abenaki community.
I’m glad to be a part of the staff team and get to work with all our amazing campers at Flying Cloud. You can learn more about me in my bio.
| Session 1 | June 30 - July 20 |
| Session 2 | July 23 - August 13 |
Flying Cloud camp is grounded in an immersive, living-off-the-grid experience in the Vermont wilderness.
Campers enjoy learning how to build debris shelters, carve spoons, identify small animal tracks, make music and cook meals.
Shelter: Flying Cloud campers are assigned to a canvas, with one staff member per four kids, based on age, interests, and prior experience. The campers make their own beds – literally! With the help of their lodge counselor, they make a frame and fill it with soft sawdust and leaves, along with a rollup mat. In this wilderness space, our youth learn from their surroundings and each other.
Facilities: Shared facilities are nearby for all their hygiene needs, including fresh water and hot showers.
WHAT OUR CAMPERS SAY
Explore Life at Flying Cloud
Every day there are new activities to challenge our campers as they explore the excitement and wonder living in the natural world without cell phones, social media and other modern day distractions.
Mornings begin with the sun shining through the trees, lighting up the clearing. Campers join in a circle, where a senior camper leads the community of voices in appreciation for the natural world around them. Before breakfast, campers collect firewood, bake bread, work in the garden and hand pump water from the well. Once breakfast is made, the cook crew summons everyone together with the treble of a conch shell. Warm oatmeal, fresh bread and other goodies are served in the sunshine or under the canopy of our open air roundhouse. After breakfast and Silent Meeting where they spend time in reflection, meditation and relaxation, campers enjoy morning activities in the beauty of nature.
Afternoons are filled with projects and learning special skills. After lunch and rest hour, which carry us through the hottest part of the day, campers dive into afternoon activities. From practicing a musical instrument, to improving tracking skills or starting a fire using friction, the wilderness provides the perfect setting for experiential learning. Campers and staff might venture further afield to pick blueberries on a nearby mountain top or go for a swim in Lake Ninevah. Other times, our youth work around camp building a shelter or clearing a trail. Whether diving into a new project or continuing to work on one, the days are filled with opportunities.
Evening is a time for gathering in community. Our campers enjoy a filling meal, such as stew and fresh bread made in our fire-stoked oven. After dinner, everyone enjoys an all-camp activity. This is a chance to burn off some energy with a Flying Cloud game of Sticks (our version of Capture the Flag) or Battle Ball (dodgeball) or inventing a new one! As the evening winds down, the group shares appreciation for each other to pull it all together before drifting off to blissful sleep.
EXPERIENCE LIFE IN THE OUTDOORS
Activities
Starting a fire with a bow drill, games of frisbee golf, playing drums – simple living rocks!
Simple Living
Flying Cloud campers learn to work together as they gather and cut firewood for cooking and light and hand pump water to drink. Everyone takes turns cooking delicious food over an open fire.
Earth Skills
Campers learn how to start fires with a bow drill. They may observe animal tracks in the woods and build a shelter with natural materials. Stalking without making a sound and gathering wild edibles are just a few of the ways our youth learn earth skills.
Crafts and Music
Campers collect materials from nature to create handmade crafts to take home. Most of our campers come away from camp having whittled some flatware! Music frequently enlivens camp with spontaneous jam sessions with drums, fiddles, guitars and more!
Games
Frisbee golf, Sticks, Kingdoms and Battle Blanket may seem unfathomable at first, but soon campers quickly learn these high-energy, non-competitive games. Fun and games are always a part of camp life!
Trips and Adventures
Flying Cloud campers swim in nearby Lake Ninevah, hike on the Catamount, Appalachian and Long Trail systems as well as other adventures! All campers participate in day and extended, overnight trips, enjoying simple living in the great outdoors.
HAVE QUESTIONS?
Latest Posts from Flying Cloud Camp
It’s a beautiful time in the session.
Campers have settled in and know each other’s names, everyone is getting excited as we bring in new games, new activities, new songs. We just held our second Honoring, so now every one of us has a Flying Cloud blanket. And right around now, in the third week of camp, our little group starts to really feel like a community.
And there’s just enough time left in the session to savor that feeling. Looking ahead, we have a few more days of activities, followed up by our senior camper capstone overnight (a night awareness / scouting experience), and then our second session will be a wrap. We like our last evening at camp to pack a punch, too: Banquet (We’re reprising our menu from our first session: Birria de Res – a stew made with goat meat from our farm), a variety show, and then Closing Friendship Fire, where our community members speak to their Flying Cloud experience as it comes to a close.
Some highlights from last week:
Our trips went out and came back, each a two-night experience of exploring our varied and interesting local areas of Mount Holly and Lake Ninevah. Our campers set eyes on an old mill site, the Tyson waterfalls, the secluded Spruce Point near SAM camp, and one group hiked almost 10 miles to Calvin Coolidge State Park.
Friction fire is back at Flying Cloud! A number of our campers, both new and senior, have been practicing bow-drill in camp, showing spirit and growth in the face of the challenge of creating fire from scratch.
At our Honoring last evening, the final contingent of our group was honored and received their FC Words:
Max T.
Through winter’s birchen glade
of glittering trunks in golden sun
The Lynx weaves silent tracks
Duncan S.
Silhouetted by the sun’s last rays
the Osprey dances on evening’s breeze
Flying towards distant, nested kin
Alex R.
Sitting amidst the chorus
the Coyote watches the dawn.
Melodies weaving together
lift the sun through the sky
Simon K.
Guided by the rising moon
the Bear leads forest life
On twilit paths now set aglow
to still pond’s clear reflection
Sebi F.
From cairn to cairn the Jay calls
venturing forth
through summer meadow’s chorus
Gus M.
Cradled by roots of Maple and Cedar
The Elk again greets the day
Edgar S.
Owl eyes in the embrace of Oak
Sharing grace with the growing dusk
Wesley S.
Born of Robin’s song and golden leaves
A kindled flame in Beech tree’s glade
That’s all for now. See you Saturday!
Take care,
Elliott
Honoring is our way of bringing a rite of passage experience into the lives of our campers. Each new Flying Clouder, staff and camper alike, spends a whole day in silent reflection, sitting up on the mountain above Flying Cloud. During this day pondering who they are, who they have been, and who they want to become. After this day of reflection each person is “spoken for,” or publicly affirmed the next day in a celebratory evening of gravity and merriment.
Finally, each newly honored Flying Clouder is given an FC blanket and Flying Cloud words, which speak to some of the best and most prominent qualities we see in them in camp. The Words are touchstones for growth and personal anchors to the natural world, encouraging each of us to live up to the “best selves” that the community sees in us. Yesterday, 9 of our group were honored after a day of reflection on the mountain, and here are their Flying Cloud words:
Jack T.
Kingfisher and Lark
Meeting at dawn
The glittering spring
Cradles their dance
John W.
Clouds part before constellations
as foxes bow their heads to the stars
Wesley K.
Bounding hares shake the ground
To praise the fruits of autumn
Eren K.
Among the striped maple’s roots
The mink speaks the spring to life
Wyatt R.
As the rain softens
The sun’s rays fill with golden drops
Illuminating the forest floor
Ethan O.
Each footfall with care
The moose lifts its gaze
Towards the mountain
Lorenzo P.
Weaving with grace as his pack runs
The wolf’s heart lights aflame;
A song of the hearth
Arlo K.
In the hearth of the moonlit eyrie
The eagle welcomes thunder home
embracing an old friend
Pluto E.
From noble heights of white pine’s nest
The osprey knows a turning world
A moonlit hour deepens to rest
That’s all for now. Our group is leaving on trips soon – stay tuned for more!
Take care,
Elliott
What would you like to bring to Flying Cloud this summer?
What would you like to take home from Flying Cloud when you leave?
What would you like to “leave at the door,” and let go of as you join our community?
These three questions guide Flying Cloud Friendship fire. It is one of the first events of the session – an early landmark in the orientation days of camp, and long before everyone has learned everyone’s names. At Friendship fire, each Flying Clouder forms an intention for the session and has a chance to share it with the whole community.
Having been through a number of Friendship fires, I am always impressed by the clarity with which our campers speak to the meaningful things they want, and what they know that they have to offer. As campers (and staff!) speak their intentions, they each place a stick into the fire – a symbolic act of unity. Our community is all in, together!
Here are a few snippets from this session’s Friendship fire:
“I’d like to bring an open mindset”
“I want to to take home new stories and new adventures”
“I want to leave behind stress, and stressful expectations of myself”
“I want to take away a better understanding of myself”
“I want to leave behind anxiety around social media”
“I want to bring unconditional love and support”
“I want to leave behind anger”
“I want to bring a personality that lifts people up”
After a few days of settling in, today is our first day of activities; the meat and bones of our Flying Cloud programming. Today we packed ice into the ice house (the old fashioned way!) to use to keep our refrigerated food cold this summer. Some other activities on offer? Deer hide tanning, knife sharpening, and natural woods camouflage from mud and charcoal.
There’s plenty more to come, and we’ve got an exciting session ahead of us. Stay tuned for more updates!
Elliott (he, him)