Ask me for a list of camp activities and off the top of my head I’d throw out stuff like soccer, or arts & crafts, or high ropes, or waterskiing, or (soon) the new pickleball court we’re putting in, or sitting on front porches, or playing ping pong.

Probably you or your kids would have a similar list. That’s just basically describing camp.

But at Winter Weekend a couple of weeks ago, there was a reminder of another kind of camp activity that doesn’t always show up in a brochure or when kids are telling the story of a weekend.

We’d plowed a big circle onto the frozen lake. Geoff literally drives a tractor onto frozen ice to plow it, which is awesome. Kids could walk it whenever they wanted during outdoor time.

And they did. A lot.

We would see these little groups walking slowly around that circle. Two or three kids together, all bundled up. Not rushing. Just walking and talking.

From a distance, they looked like little colorful blobs with hats on against all that white snow. Blue sky + the sparkling lake was kind of perfect. And that’s at the risk of sounding all poem-y, which I’m definitely not.

You could see how close their heads were together. How slowly they were moving. How long they stayed out there even when it got really cold.

They weren’t trying to get somewhere. They were just walking in circles. Checking back in at the fire. Having a s’more. Back around the circle.

Geof plows that circle on the lake because we know kids like to walk and talk.

That’s it.

It’s not about creating a pathway between activities. It’s not infrastructure we’re repurposing for something else. It’s built specifically for this. So kids have a place to move, think, and be with their friends.

We have the best activities, and kids just wanna walk

Camp is packed full of the most fun activities you’ve ever seen. But really, everything we do is designed around building friendships. So all 15 kids leave with their future bridesmaids & groomsmen.

And at camp, so much of what happens is in the in-betweens

Friendships happen at either at 10% pace or 110% pace.

The 10% is walking and talking. Getting to know each other. Sitting on a front porch. Playing ping pong. Chilling with friends.

The 110% is Color War breakout. Whitewater rafting. Climbing Mount Washington. The insane memories. And at Winter Weekend, same thing. Sledding, tackle football in the snow, fireworks on the frozen lake.

What I love about camp is the back and forth between those two speeds. And looking back at Winter Weekend, it’s like a smushed microcosm of all of that.

We don’t know what the kids were talking about specifically when they were out there. When we joined them we just made jokes and talked about nothing important. But we could see it mattered.

The way they stayed out there even when it got colder. The way they kept circling. And the way their heads leaned in close.

A track on a frozen lake that doesn’t lead anywhere isn’t a “real activity.” You can’t measure it. You can’t put it on a schedule and it doesn’t produce anything.

Except that walking in circles with your friends IS the activity.

Camp kids care about each other. They care about the place. They show up for each other in ways that honestly feel rare for teenagers.

That kind of connection doesn’t always live on a schedule. You can’t program it into an activity block. It happens because they have time and space and people they actually want to be with.

Because there’s a circle on a frozen lake to walk around. That’s a good 10% time.

We got this,

Jack

PS - Let’s talk camp.

My favorite thing in the world, besides running camp, is talking to families about what camp will look like for your kids.

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114 Eagle Pond Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287
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