Neverwood

It's hard to sit and think of what to write about my time so far at Medicine Mountain Boyscout Ranch. Even though it's only been about a week and two days, it seems so much longer. This place sucks you in and stakes its claim right from the get-go. New fast friends, gorgeous scenery, new experiences and adventures abound. It's like...Neverland meets Sherwood Forest. Neverwood.

During the first week, which was staff orientation, I fell in right away with a group of people comprised mostly of the High Adventure directors and their junior staff. High Adventure includes climbing, caving, trek, and C.O.P.E. Mountain biking is also part of High Adventure, but sadly the mountain bike director this year doesn't actually mountain bike and doesn't really hang out with us.

We've formed the Finer Things Club, which entails things like getting up early to do yoga, buying and cooking our own food so as to save ourselves from a summer of camp food, brewing french press Bully Blends coffee, drinking tea, etc. etc.

Lost and his junior staff Chuck, the Trek guys. Yes, they really do wear those clothes on their overnight treks.

We all have nicknames we go by at camp. Mostly we don't even know one another's real names. I'm Gypsy, the business director.

During staff week we tried to make the most of being together and doing fun things before the scouts arrive and everyone gets busier. We climbed the climbing tower, did the zip line and the high wire (I sure wish I'd gotten pictures of those antics, but its a little awkward taking pictures of people you've only just me the day before), went mountain biking and hiking.

We also went caving. There's a small box we crawl through to ensure we'll be able to make it through the tighter spots in the caves. Some people have a harder time than others:

Lithe Cracker had an easier time of it than the burlier OffTask. Which is convenient, as Cracker's the caving director:

 We wore BDUs caving, to protect our clothing and skin, because they'd been donated to the camp.

The boys catching a nap on the drive to Bethlehem cave:

One night we climbed to the top of the 30 foot climbing tower, where we admired the stars and watched lightning flicker on the horizon, and talked as though we'd all been friends much longer than four days (which some of us have, but not all as a group).

Things aren't perfect in Neverwood. We tend to be perpetually a little sunburned, a little less hydrated than we ought to be, always with a few mosquito bites. Camp activities aren't always as organized as they might be, things don't always flow as smoothly as one might hope, or situations handled as well. But we end up looking at one another and smiling, as the fresh pine-laden breeze wafts by and the sky gleams blue above, and say Just another day in paradise. Because all else aside, we're together at camp doing things we love with people we love, and relatively speaking nothing at all is very bothersome.

For the weekend we headed up to Galena (which you'll remember from this post. It's really long but about halfway through all the pics is a bit about Galena), where we spent a day and two nights doing things like this:

(Haha, that cracks me up: "I already did...two!")
 

Hi, friend

In the evening when it rained we watched Hook on that TV

 

Staff week is over now, the scouts have arrived. Last week was beautiful - sunny and warm. First day of scout camp - cold, windy. Isn't that how it always is??

We call them the Three Beards.
For obvious reasons.
The scouts can't really tell them apart.

That's a glimpse of life at Neverwood right now.
Thanks for following along, and I hope your summer is magical as well.