Duck hunts and bullseyes

Session three kicked off with friends and cabinmates excitedly meeting and working together in the camp-wide event that kicks off the week, duck hunt. Each cabin split up into two groups to spread out and search for the ducks hiding across campus. Some ran up the steep hill to the lodge, grabbing the ducks that were hidden throughout the grass or above doorframes. Others sprinted towards the soccer field to score points by finding ducks in the goal nets.

There was not a spot on campus where a camper was not seen bending down to pick up small yellow ducks, reaching high to grab larger orange and red ducks, and searching for the wire duck statue worth the most points. Pine Mountain’s cabin may have won the duck hunt, jumping up and down in celebration, but the last place campers cheered loudly as their name was read out.

“We got fifth, and five is more than one, so fifth place is the best place, so, we won,” said one of the campers as his cabinmates cheered on in agreement.

As move in day came to an end, campers excitedly talked about what activities they looked forward to the most. As day one started, campers rushed to said activities, like tree climbing, where the bells at the tops of trees rang before campers rappelled to the ground.

In archery, campers harnessed their inner Robin Hood or Katniss Everdeen as they hit bullseye after bullseye. Thumps from the arrows hitting the target echoed throughout the range as one camper stuck seven arrows into the yellow bullseye, while a few others hit up to three bullseyes one after another.

The day came to a close with Riverfest, where campers spread out across the office field for a number of games, like gaga ball, 9-square, soccer, face paint, and a number of other activities. Laughter bounced off the hills and down the river, and smiles were bright enough to light up the mountains as the sun sank behind them.

• Authored by Orion Griffin