Happy Opening Day! 

Today was our final opening day of the summer as our 3B campers arrived and we got started on what is sure to be an incredible final two weeks of camp. This morning the roughly 40 campers who were already here and our staff enjoyed a yummy breakfast of blueberry and chocolate muffins, grit bar and baked oatmeal. I, personally, treated myself to some delicious cinnamon toast crunch cereal to kick off the day. Hard to beat!

The gates opened at 9:00 am sharp and property was soon full of cars honking happily, kids hanging out of windows waving to familiar counselors and shots of ‘welcome to camp’ echoing across the hills. It is always such a treat for Catherine and me to get to see so many of our amazing families on opening day, and we especially enjoyed meeting some new folks this morning. After check in closed each of the cabins enjoyed a picnic lunch together out on property. We then headed to beautiful Lake Newcomb for a dip in the water and our swim check. 

Later on this afternoon we headed up to the council ring for our tribal initiation ceremony. Here at camp we have two tribes, the mighty black bears and the powerful golden eagles. Our tribal system allows us to build a sense of belonging and unity extremely quickly. It also gives us a chance to teach and model healthy competition, as friend competes against friend each night in our tribal competitions. The two tribes battle it out all session long for the ultimate prize at camp, THE BANNER. The banner has been fought over for many years and the third session competition has been a tight and back and forth affair for the first two weeks of the session. I know our 3B boys will fight hard and that the race will be a close one. Both tribes were excited to welcome a new group of warriors, faithful to their tribe. 

Our new black bears are: Benjamin R, Cole E, Andre D, Wyatt B, James E, Banks D, Gus F, Grant B, Charlie C, George C, Hamilton M, Knox P, Owen C and Drew G

Our new golden eagles are: Valentino D, Phoenix U, Cole T, Christian M, Alden S, Connor B, Mason L, Maddox H, Mason B, Cal T, Jack H, John F, and Wesley B

After tribal initiation we all piled into our dining hall for a delicious dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and dinner rolls, topped off with a delicious dessert of cookie ice cream sandwiches.Each night at the end of dinner, the Sultan of fun announces what big game we will be playing that night and tonight there was a huge roar of approval when it was announced that tonight’s competition would be SOCK WAR!. The oldest and most famous tribal game in camp history, Sock War is essentially a large scale capture the flag game where you throw a balled up sock at your opponent to tag them out. The game was fun and fast and furious and altogether too close to call. We’ll have to wait until lunchtime tomorrow to find out which tribe emerged victorious. 

As the boys settle down for a good night’s rest I am so thankful to have this great group here for Session 3B. There is a ton of adventure and friendship and fun ahead of us these two weeks. Be sure to check back in each night to stay up to date on all the action!

Until next time, 

John

Director, Camp Timberlake

Former Rock Climbing instructor

Former Big Piney Counselor

Proud Golden Eagle