It's hard to believe, but our first week of camp has already come and gone! From new faces to old traditions, our campers dove headfirst (sometimes literally!) into everything Lincoln and Whippoorwill have to offer. Here's a look back at how it all began.

The morning after our campers arrived, it was time to get the lay of the land. Campers met the other kids and counselors in their sections and sat down with our activity and trip program coordinators, who walked them through how camp works, the activities on offer, and the wilderness trips still to come. Campers signed up for their first choices of morning activities for the week and shared their goals and interests for the trips ahead. It's always exciting to see campers start dreaming up their summer!

For campers hoping to get out on the water, the first order of business is the swim test. To earn boating privileges without a counselor, campers need to swim four laps in shorts and a t-shirt, tread water, and swim sixteen laps between the docks, among a few other challenges. Plenty of our campers knocked out their swim test in the very first days of camp, while others are still building their swimming skills and working toward it in the weeks ahead. Either way, we're proud of every camper who jumped in and gave it a try!

At Lincoln, our cubs and younger juniors spent Monday morning trying a little bit of everything in an activity round robin, sampling archery, riding, swim, and baseball to get a feel for what they might want to sign up for. Meanwhile, our returning older juniors, seniors, and Workgroup campers headed straight to the waterfront for the morning. Those tackling their swim tests checked in with the waterfront staff afterward to talk boat options, then spent the rest of the morning sailing, kayaking, and canoeing across the lake.

Over at Whip, campers had their pick of completing their swim tests, art, various boating activities, and field on their very first morning.

From Tuesday through Saturday, camp settled into its regular rhythm of morning activities at both camps. Based on their sign-ups, campers spent their mornings in Basketball, Tennis, Soccer, Archery, Kayak, Sail, Windsurf, Swim, Canoe, Art, Woodshop, Riding, Ropes, and Biking. This first week is all about skill building and exploration, giving campers a fun introduction to everything North Country Camps has to offer.

It was a scorcher of a week, which meant plenty of afternoons spent cooling off on the waterfront! This week, campers cooled off with canoe swamping (tipping and then paddling canoes filled with water), nutty craft, water volleyball and water baseball, paddle boarding, and at Lincoln they made a point to get every single canoe, kayak, sailboat and windsurfer out on the water to celebrate on the 4th. 

Speaking of the 4th of July, each camp put on its own (small!) fireworks display, and campers cheered, oohed, and aahed as the camp directors lit up the sky. It was a fun way to bring the whole camp together for a shared celebration.

Sunday brought one of our longest-running traditions: Pioneer Meet! Campers were split into two teams, Red and Blue, and competed in a day full of classic camp challenges just for the fun of it. Favorites included the bucket brigade, where campers race by handing off buckets of lake water up the hill to put out a "fire" set up by our staff MCs, along with the nail drive, cross-cut saw, fire building, egg toss, three-legged races, and more. The cheers could be heard across camp all day long as campers rallied behind their teams. Pioneer Meet is one of our favorite ways to build camp spirit and bring everyone together early in the summer.

It's amazing what a difference seven days can make. After just one week, camp already feels like it's been home forever! We can't wait for the weeks ahead, filled with trips, new activities, new camper arrivals, and all the friendships and skills still waiting to grow.

Here's to a great first week, and an even better summer ahead!