Mt. Massive 2009: Sanborn Western Camps
Sanborn Western Camps
Mt. Massive 2009: Sanborn Western Camps
Our first group of the season met us on Monday at 10am at the Mt. Massive trailhead. We are working with Sanborn Western Camps (a boy’s and a girl’s camp) who have a leadership program that includes doing trail work with us.
We hiked in the 3.5 miles to camp in 2.5 hours, let them set up camp, went over base camp rules, groover rules (no peeing in the groover) and some other important information. We hiked up to the first restoration area (resto area) so the kids could see where they would be working and there would not be as much nervous anticipation in the morning, no kids worried about how far we had to hike.
There were quite a few firsts going on here. First, it was the first group of the season. Second, it was the first time Joe and I had lead together. Third, it was the first time I was leading a group who I had worked with in a previous year. Fourth, it was this kids’ first time doing trail work.
Kids are interesting, they are hard to read at times, they seem tired, then they seem to have boundless energy, they need to be reassured but they need to be left to work things out on their own. They want to assert their independence but they constantly want your approval. I know I was the same way at 14 or 15 years old. The kids were an interesting juxtaposition on their own.
I do give them credit, for some of them, this was way out of their comfort zone and some of them did very well and worked really hard. One young man, Zach was an incredibly well-natured gentleman who was ready, willing and able to accomplish any task we asked. Others worked hard but offered comic relief like Max. Still others like a young lady named Blayne seemed to redefine how I would come to see them. Blayne brought make-up with her. I didn’t wear make-up at 14 so I think I had a perception of 14 year olds wearing make-up, but when she was digging in the dirt and mud, planting transplants, digging up plugs of grass, she worked hard. The highest compliment that I think I can pay someone is to tell them that they made me rethink or re-perceive a previous perception, thought or view point and she did that.
Now the other kids that I didn’t mention from the group we also good kids, Ben, Jacob, Elliot, Annie, Gracie and Shannon, their counselors: Collette, Kevin and Bea. It’s just that a few things stick out when you are with a group. Annie and Shannon did do a great job getting the plugs going that first day and Elliot was really inquisitive and wanted to gain a working knowledge of everything we were doing and had a great sense of humor, Ben was great at digging holes for planting plugs, Jacob….well, Jacob was surely doing his share of the work because at the end of each day he had the most dirt on his face, and on and on with stories of things the kids did.
Over all, it was good to get a group under our belts and they were a good group to start with. I think I have a bit of a better idea of what I need to do as leader to get the most of our groups, to be that crazy mix of what is needed.
