Phew! After a great summer, camp has seen a busy fall! 

We had the first ever fall Father-Son weekend in October. While the leaves started changing color on property, twenty-five father/son duos and trios got to experience camp together. Twelve of our most popular activities were open throughout the weekend for everyone to enjoy plus two of our favorite evening activities – sock war and battle ball! Campfires were surrounded by lots of hot chocolate and new friends. For many of these father/sons, it was their first experience with Timberlake and we’re excited to see them again as campers in Summer 2024! 

Staff applications are open for Summer 2024 and our hiring team has hit the ground running! Elizabeth, Kepke, Caleb, Morgan (MoMo) and I have all started visiting campuses to find the best staff for Summer 2024. Keep an eye on our social media to see recent hires and where we’ll be traveling next! 

Black Mountain Expeditions hosted nine different school groups on both Merri-Mac and Timberlake properties. These groups consisted of sixth graders all the way to college students and varied in size. Many of these programs included activity rotations that are familiar to our campers – time in the lake, climbing wall, archery, pickle ball, backpacking, hiking and even some overnight backpacking trips. Let’s not forget about the evening activities! Battle Ball, Trivia Night, and Sock War were popular among the groups. 

In addition to running fall programming, Black Mountain Expeditions also launched several different open-enrollment trips! These trips are geared towards campers, parents and counselors, finding adventure in some pretty cool places. 

  • Costa Rica: For Merri-Mac 9th-11th grade girls; experience adventure and culture in a beautiful place with amazing friends; Dec 29, 2023 – Jan 4, 2024
  • Slovenia: For Merri-Mac and Timberlake dads; experience hut to hut hiking in the Julian Alps while also exploring how our faith intersects with our lives and parenting; July 21-27, 2024
  • Everglades: For 18-25 year olds who might be wondering what’s next in life and how to figure that out; we’ll explore that question as we kayak in the Everglades and see what learning how to navigate this in-between place might have to teach us about how to navigate the big questions of life; Jan 2-8, 2024

In the midst of all the busy things happening around camp, our year-round team has been celebrating our growing camp family!

Timberlake Directors, John and Catherine, welcomed Frances Becker Menendez to the world on October 10th. She is the perfect addition to their family and a future Merri-Mac camper! Catherine and Frances are both doing well at home. Check out their first photo as a family of six!

Nearly all of our year-around team (plus some senior staff, former counselors and interns) gathered together to celebrate Karl and I’s marriage on September 16th. It is extremely rare to love so many of the people you work with and we’re thankful for this community! Check out the crew dressed to the nines. 

 

Happy camping, 

Andrea Young (Pelham)
Associate Director