Week 5 at North Country Camps brings a shift in the program that returning campers and staff look forward to all summer. Our trip program has been building all along, starting small with day hikes, paddles, cookouts, and overnights, and now Week 5 is when campers head into the real backcountry, out for two, three, even four nights deep in the heart of the Adirondacks. With so many campers out on trails and rivers, it's also the perfect week to shake up our activity program and offer daily choices for morning activities. After four weeks of week-long activities during first and second hour (with horseback riding and ropes as the exceptions, since those run two hours), Week 5 is all about getting specialized: fine-tuning skills and just having fun.

Campers could sign up for a morning or two of swim instead of committing the whole week, using the time to work on specialized skills for their level. Over at the climbing wall, our rock climbers turned trail blazers for the week, taping up their own custom routes onto the holds and testing them out on each other. Canoeing turned into a playground of paddling games designed to sharpen strokes. Our more experienced riders worked on jumping, which came with a bonus lesson: some of our newer horses were a bit more "opinionated" about hurdles than others, so campers got real practice building confidence, riding through hesitation, and coaching their horse (and themselves) over the jump. Even with a rainier week than usual, nothing kept our sailors, kayakers, and windsurfers off the water. They pulled on their jackets, leaned into the wind and the wet, and came back grinning and soaked, because as any camper will tell you, a little rain never once cancelled a good day on the lake.

And speaking of trips, with so many campers chasing their love of the peaks, we sent out another wave of overnights to the Heart Lake area, a wonderful entry point into the high peaks for our Cubs, Birdies, and Juniors. Some signed up for day trips, while others headed out on extendeds. We sent another Dix trip, where some of our most rugged hikers completed all five high peaks in a single day, soaking in the views with the pride of every mile under their feet. Other campers hiked into JBL, packing into a leanto before day-tripping out toward a goal of eight high peaks total; the summit of Big Slide offers an especially stunning payoff, where you can look back and take in every peak you just climbed. It's the kind of achievement campers feel in their hearts (and their tired feet), and their beds have never felt better than after a few days like that. All told, our campers climbed 11 of the 46 high peaks this week alone, plus 10 more toward their overall counts.

We also took our now third annual "haunted house" hike, open to any camper curious enough to sign up. This year it took two full vans to fit everyone, and the hike itself is a short, easy one through the woods, past patches of ripening raspberries, out to a rickety old structure tucked deep in the forest that our campers have long since dubbed "haunted." There's no road anywhere near it, no clear reason for it to be there, and no one is entirely sure how it ended up so far from everything else, which is exactly what makes it fun. We take our pictures, keep a respectful distance, let our imaginations run a little wild, and hike back out already looking forward to next year's trip. Some of our climbers also had the opportunity to take their skills from the ropes course out onto the rock face, with a trip to Notch Mountain in Wilmington, a spot we hadn't visited in more than fifteen years, chosen for how much faster it dries out than any other top-roping area around. When the group arrived, another party was already climbing, and the section next to them wasn't quite ideal, but they were wrapping up and cleared out before long. Of course, just as they packed up, a passing shower rolled through with only half the group having had a turn on that line. Rather than wait it out standing around, everyone broke for lunch and let the rain move on. Sure enough, the sun came back out, the wind picked up, and the rock dried in no time. With the rope shifted over, the whole group got their turn on the full climb and everyone had a blast!

Out on the water, campers spent an afternoon and evening paddling out to the sandy beaches of Lake Champlain, building fires in the sand and grilling burgers on the beach, while a group of intrepid sailors headed out on the Orion, letting their sails fill as they crested waves and felt the lake spray on their faces. Our paddlers also pushed further into the backcountry, with an Oswegatchie trip following the narrow river as it winds through marshland and pines, and a brand-new canoe trip fittingly named the Northwest Passage: six seniors paddling from Kushaqua Lake all the way to Buttermilk Falls below Long Lake, five days and roughly 70 miles of paddling and portaging through rain, sun, and wind. Along the way, our strongest paddlers camped on islands with leantos, spotted great blue herons and plenty of fish activity, and portaged around several beautiful waterfalls, making it the longest canoe trip of the year. They crossed lakes, ponds, and rivers spanning both sides of the Adirondack paddler's map, and by all accounts came home with a whole new repertoire of sea shanties.

Around camp, our Workgroup kept up construction on the new bike shed at Whippoorwill. Not every Workgrouper has to choose work over activities, but plenty do, eager to leave their mark for future campers who haven't even arrived yet. The steady sound of drills whirring and tape measures snapping shut is a good sign: the walls are studded up, and the rafters are officially in place. The Workgroup also finished several more trash sheds for Whippoorwill and are putting the finishing touches on a brand-new Gaga pit at Lincoln (no more walking all the way to Whip just to play!).

Over at Lincoln, campers began building their wooden cars for the pinewood derby coming in Week 7, a tradition older than most of us can remember and a very big deal for the campers building their racers (more on that in our final blog, two weeks from now!). And at Whip, the whole camp took part in something that will only fully make sense to Whippoorwill alumni: the junior section bathrooms finally got names! A bit of camp trivia for the uninitiated: all cabins at Lincoln are named after mountains, while at Whippoorwill they're named after bodies of water, and the bathrooms at both camps follow suit, named after rivers, bogs, and other waterways. Somehow, three bathrooms at Whippoorwill had slipped through the cracks over the years, known only as "the unisex bathroom," "the bathroom on the lane," and "Amperlanche Lake" (a mash-up of the cabins that use it: Ampersand, Avalanche, and Heart Lake). This summer, campers were sent on an afternoon mission to visit all three, "feel out the vibes," and then study the big wall map of the Adirondacks for naming inspiration. After a full camp vote, the three bathrooms officially have names for the ages: John's Brook, Pickwacket Pond (Peewee, for short), and Lily Pad Pond. Thank you, campers of 2026, for finally retiring those old placeholder names after all these years! 

Saturday brought Visiting Day, and it was such a treat to see so many of you! We felt lucky to have such gorgeous weather, and we hope you enjoyed the chance to see your campers in their element. Families watched their campers show off their activities, headed out for the day together, and returned for an optional family swim (we heard you loud and clear, and next year's swim will start earlier and last longer!) followed by a picnic on the field and an all-camp sing down on Birdie Beach. For our campers heading home after five weeks, we already miss you and can't wait to see you next summer!

The day after Visiting Day always feels a little different, saying goodbye to friends and family in the same 24 hours, so we make sure to give our remaining campers something to look forward to. Sunday morning, each camp gathered to pick the theme for their Final Banquet, held the last Saturday night of camp; in the coming weeks, each lodge will be transformed for the occasion (more on that in two weeks!). Lincoln's Sunday special event was a brand-new tradition, the Puppy Prowl, a twist on our classic Final 4 relay, where Team Rosie won against Teams Max, Milo, and Otis in the search for a missing pup named Apple. Teams raced on bikes, in boats, at setting tables, fired arrows, dunked hoops and more! If you were here for Visiting Day, you may have already met some of the mascots in question! Meanwhile at Whippoorwill, campers gathered at the Nest after rest hour only to discover that all of the counselors had gone completely mad, kicking off the "Mad Counselor Hunt." Campers chased down wildly dressed staff, snatched bandanas from their back pockets, and tried to rack up as many staff signatures as possible before getting doused with water in the process. It's an event both campers and counselors look forward to all summer long.

We closed out the week with Council Fire. Our camps may be a little smaller now with the departure of our shorter-session friends, but we know there is still so much more summer ahead!