I survived Nancy Lakes where mosquitos thrive and loons sing. Luckily we stayed on an island this year and the bugs stayed away from us. I really enjoyed having the set boundaries of this small island that was probably a quarter acre in size. We got to play "Man Hunt" together without me worrying about losing children anywehere. I promised the kids from last week that I would take it easy on them this week and this canoeing trip was just that.
We hiked in three miles over a small hill from Nancy Lake to Red shirt Lake where our rental canoes were locked up. Although the packs were heavy it was nothing compared to the week previous. Some of the new kids complained a little, but my veteran campers just looked at them funny. It was hard on them sometimes because they already knew the general outline of what was happening and got bored. It is a hard thing when they get bored and act out. There isn't much that I can do about it because they are too young to be on their own and too hyper to sit still. Luckily one of my campers, Hally Ford, is great and always willing to help out with all the work that needs to get done.
I taught Geoff how to do the loon call on the last trip and watched him call a loon in to us on Thursday morning. It was cool to see that tradition being past on to the next generation. After you call a loon you will never forget how to use the hand whistle.
We went for a canoe ride on Thursday morning after making pancakes for two hours, I hate pancakes from an MSR stove. There was a strong headwind going up the lake that made it very dificult for the beginners to paddle. We had a group melt down when none of the good paddlers were willing to switch boats with the kids learning. This group of kids is obsessed with the need for speed, and there is some clickiness with the returning capers too. And, we have two sets of brother and sister pairs that fight constantly when they are in a boat together. Goodness, talk about troubles pairing up the kids for canoeing. We obviously did not make it very far this day. Actually, we got to the next island over about a hundred yards away and then returned for lunch.
After lunch I just assigned partners and split up the click. We made it half way up Red Shirt Lake without much of a hassle. For the return trip we gunnied up and sailed back using a tarp. That was good fun, but some of the kids wanted to canoe freely. So I let the four speed demons paddle ahead for fun.
After dinner we played more Manhunt and played other camp games like King Elephant and Chess. Roxanne beat me in chess again!!!!! I can't believe it. I didn't let her win either. Last week I took it easy on her and she won at the end, but this week I wanted to put her in her place and she schooled me. Kids are amazing people.
This is Christophe signing off, be well and live fully.
