Camp Notes .04
Sleepover/sleep away camp
I just finished my time at Tripp Lake Camp, in Maine and here are my camp notes.
Tripp Lake is one big party and the campers are having a real good time! The best way I can describe it is a sleepover with your best friends that lasts 7 weeks. And bonus, cookies are served daily at 11:20 - yum! I definitely ate a cookie everyday but since their property is sprawling and it has been HOT this summer, I burned off each cookie I ate just by walking back up to the office, or at least that’s what I told myself.
There are deep traditions at Tripp Lake, for example Sing Song - where the girls get together at the end of the summer and compete to see which team sings and delivers the best collection of songs. I witnessed girls practicing multiple times a day for Sing Song, and it was so sweet to see girls bursting out in song as they walked to activities or while cleaning their cabin.
These kind of camp traditions are really what separates one camp from the next and through out this month, no two camps have overlapped in that department. Each one carries its own distinct rituals and ways of doing things
Tripp Lake has 230 girls spread across roughly 50 cabins, all arranged in a wide circle. In the evenings, before and after dinner, the girls gather in the centre to hang out, play games, do summersaults and cartwheels (a lot of that happening) and just be together. What stood out most to me was how tender and nurturing the older girls were with the younger ones. Even if many of them don’t have sisters of their own, the older girls seemed to step into that role so naturally.
I had a lovely couple days at Tripp Lake and this morning before I left they were kind enough to let me hop in a canoe and join the counselors for a morning swim/paddle across the lake. I really must take advantage of this more before my summer is over.
Thank you for having me Tripp Lake!
Thanks for sharing this. I'm a Wohelo girl and growing up, many of my friends went to Tripp Lake so this was fun to read.