Friday, July 24, 2009

Camper thoughts on camp and activities

By Quin Davis
Wake up time:

"Wake up, kids!" yells my counselor.
"5 more minutes," I moan tardily.
"No! Get up now!"
"But...fine." I slowly roll out of my covers and onto the floor. I stand up, grab my towel, and drag myself into the shower. I get out, dry off, and yell at my roommate to get out of bed. He moans and pulls his sleeping bag over his head. I sigh and change into my new clothes for the day. After a few minutes, my roommate sits himself up on the top bunk and lowers to the ground. Suddenly, I'm alone in my room. I pick up my covers, then hop back into bed. I close my eyes and rest. I hear the door open and my roommate saying, "Get out so I can change". I pull off my covers and tell him that he interrupted my beauty sleep. He shrugs and I close the door behind me.


By Jolius Boon

Durango Mountain Camp is a blast. You have the choice of scuba, rock climbing, kayaking, horseback riding, and wild Colorado for outdoor pursuits. My favorite is scuba; although all of them are fun. Before we got to activities, we have lunch. The food is great. In addition to good food and great activities, the counselors are fun.


By Jared Bridwell
Outdoor Pursuits:

All the outdoor pursuits are fun, but I like SCUBA the best because it is fun to breathe under water. Kayaking is fun too, for the two weeks we went down Smelter rapids. I did not go horseback riding or rock climbing. So I don't know how those are. They sound fun.


By Emily Robinson:

One of the activities that I've been involved with this summer is scuba. During the first week of scuba, we took a scuba class. We learned about maintaining buoyancy in the water, practiced swimming laps in the pool, and learned how to snorkel. We also had "pool sessions" during the first week. During the second week of scuba, we learned how to use the equipment including the oxygen tanks, respirators, and masks. We learned how to get water out of our masks and how to use our secondary respirators. We also learned how to use a free-flow regulator. Other important skills we practiced were how to do long stride entrances into the water as well as emergency exits. Once we became familiar with many of the scuba skills, we played games in the pool. This allowed us to practice some of the things we learned. I'm looking forward to becoming a certified scuba diver!


By Liam Panero
Scuba:

Today we're going scuba diving in a lake for the first time. If we do this correctly, we get certified for open water diving. We don't know which lake we're going to, but the instructor said we're probably going to Lake Navajo. The reason why is because he said that the visibility there is better than most of the other options. For the last two weeks, PADI has been teaching us how to scuba dive and has been teaching us well. I'm feeling very good about diving today.

By David Blake-Cownie
Cardboard Boat Races:

At DMC, there are cardboard boat races. We go up to Haviland Lake and race. First you have to make the model of your boat. Then you build your actual cardboard boat. After that, you can paint it and add more. Then you're ready to race. So off to Haviland Lake! Last year, I sunk fast. This year, I will sink last!


By Nick Monnheimer

I have been having a good time in our outdoor activities. I really like kayaking! We learned all about how to wet exit, how to do a rescue, and how to catch an eddy. I really wish I could keep kayaking, but it is over now. I'm in climbing now, and that's fun too!


By Caleb Mesh
Evening Activities:

Evening activities here at DMC are incredibly fun. We do a variety of activities before we have dessert. One popular activity is soccer. There are some great soccer players here, and there are also those of us who have never played before. Therefore, we get a variety of outcomes. Sometimes for evening activities we have a "cool" thing called "River Play". This is when we go down to the river and build dams, swim in little pools, and we even hike jump the river a little bit and then float down. The Animas River is exceedingly refreshing.

On Thursdays, we have a special activity. It's called "Mountain Madness". We do the strangest things. We have obstacle courses and are timed. The winner gets a prize. One time, we sat in circles and different teams would try to get water balloons in our circle using huge slingshots! Another great activity is going to Baker's Bridge, which has big rocks under it. We jump off of these rocks into the river over and over again. It is so much fun. Now that's only a couple of the activities we do. I always look forward to it at the end of the day.