Posts Tagged ‘hike’
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
We had a great second Monday in Eldorado Canyon–we began our day with some wonderful morning songs, including “Fred the Moose” and “Little Red Wagon.” After singing, we played a rousing game of Ship-Island–ask your campers about the different commands! Then, we split up into our different groups and had a quick snack, put on some sunscreen and filled up our water bottles, and then began our day!
The Electric Pinecone-Throwing Bunnies and the Campfire Camping Animals headed out together on a hike–we hiked all the way along Fowler Trail, and then headed out of the park and into the wild! It was very exciting to go into the wilderness; we crossed a stream, saw lots of wildflowers, and found a nice shady spot to eat lunch. Meanwhile, the Thundercats headed out on an epic bouldering/hiking trip–check out the amazing photos they took! (You can find them online at myaocamps.com.) Meanwhile, Counselor Leah’s group, the Swimming Jumping Dolphins, took a short trek over to the ranger’s station, where they saw a deer! After lunch, when everyone got back to our base camp up in the canyon, the Bunnies had free play while the Camping Animals made awesome clay creations. The Dolphins decorated their water bottles, and the Thundercats also made some very cool clay creations.
All of the groups ate some delicious smorgasgorp for snack–we all loved the yogurt-covered raisins! After snack, we packed up, because it looked like rain, and hopped on the bus to sing our afternoon songs. After some great songs, including “The Canoe Song” and our old standard, “On Top of Spaghetti,” we headed out the canyon, driven by our fabulous Bus Driver, Ed.
Tomorrow is our climbing day! We’ll see you there!
Tags: afternoon songs, Bouldering, bus, Clay, fowler trail, fred the moose, free play, Gorp, hike, lunch, morning songs, mountain day camp, snack, sunscreen, the canoe song, water bottles
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Friday, July 30th, 2010
The Eldorado Canyon program had an awesome, intense meadow day today–we drove all the way up to the Meadow, and then hopped out to start our day! We began with sunscreening, and then played with MDC’s giant parachute–it was tons of fun! We tossed our hats really high into the air. 
Then, we sang a fun morning song with Counselor Kaela, involving gum trees and waffle irons, before splitting into our cabin groups for the day. The Campfire Camping Animals and Purple Water Diamond Thundercats immediately set out on an epic trek–they hiked all the way down to the river on the Walker Ranch Trail! They spent the whole day away from camp, it was amazing! They made bookmarks and played 5 minute mysteries by the river, and had fun creating a new dam by throwing rocks into the river!
The Electric Pinecone Throwing Bunnies trekked across the meadow to do some animal tracking–although they found no animal tracks, they found lots of animal scat and a deer bed as well! In the afternoon, they did lanyards during some free play and also made kites and dissected owl pellets. They had tons of fun “chillaxing,” in one camper’s words, and generally having lots of fun with Counselor Kaela. We finished up our day with some delicious smorgasgorp mixed by Director Betsy, and some afternoon songs, including a special version of “Fred the Moose,” involving a Vermont Moose, sung by two of our returning campers! The Purple Water Diamond Thundercats did an amazing job helping pack up all the gear, and the campers did a great job finishing up their Friday!
The Meadow was an awesome day–expect your campers to be tired, we had lots of campers fall asleep on the bus on the way home! We drank tons of water, and the campers will probably want to drink even more when they get home!
Monday, we’re back in the Canyon, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Tags: 5 minute mysteries, afternoon songs, bookmarks, canyon, free play, Gorp, hike, Kites, meadow, morning songs, owl pellets, packing up, parachute, river, sunscreen, trek, walker ranch trail, water
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Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
We had an awesome day in Eldorado Canyon! We began our day by singing some fun morning songs, including “Tarzan” and “Peanut Butter Reeses Cup.” Then, we played a great all-camp game of “Evil-ution,” where the kids played rock-paper-scissors to eventually turn into Dr. Evil! (They start out as eggs, then turn into chickens, then turn into dinosaurs, then turn into Dr. Evil!) After our all-camp game, we split into our cabin groups–each group sunscreened and filled up their water bottles, and then began their day!
The Purple Water Diamond Thundercats headed down to the cave with Counselor Leah and Bus Driver Ed–they had such a great time at the cave that they decided to hike all the way down to the lower ranger station! Meanwhile, the Pinecone Throwing Bunnies headed over to the ranger station to make animal houses, while the Campfire Animals did some fun teambuilding challenges and caught some butterflies. After lunch, the Thundercats and the Bunnies did some cool marble painting, while the Campfire Animals created some groovy spongebugs. All the campers got their camp t-shirts today and took camp pictures–look online for your camper’s photo!
We got a little wet this afternoon, but we put up canopies and kept right on playing! We had an opportunity to help out the YMCA today–they weren’t prepared for the rain, so they hopped on our bus while we put up canopies, put on ponchos and rain gear, and continued with our awesome day! We finished up our day with some delicious gorp for snack, and then hopped on the bus to sing, because we saw lightning across the canyon. It was an exciting day!
Tomorrow, we’re headed to the pool! See you there!
Tags: afternoon songs, Animal Houses, bug houses, bus, butterfly catching, cave, free play, Gorp, hike, lunch, marble painting, morning songs, mountain day camp, pool, rain, ranger station, spongebugs, sunscreen
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Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Our Eldorado Canyon campers had a great day today–we began our day with lots of goofy wake-up songs, including “The Hippo Song,” “The Princess Pat,” and “One Hen Two Ducks.” Then, we played an awesome game of Evolution to get our blood moving (ask your camper how to play!). After sunscreening and filling up water bottles, the cabin groups headed out–the Dolphin Horses and the Mysterious Grubby Greens hiked down to the Cave, where they ate lunch and explored the recesses of the famous Eldorado Canyon cave. The Black Wolves of the Wild Diamonds headed up Fowler Trail–once above the canyon, they ate lunch and played some great trail games and completed some wonderful teambuilding challenges.
All three groups made sponge bugs today–ask to see your campers’ bug! This afternoon, each group had some great free play time, and also ate some delicious gorp (with M&Ms today!). After snack, we came together as a whole camp group to play Psychology–ask your camper how it’s played–and ended the day with some quieter afternoon songs. We finished the day with our camp standard, “On Top of Spaghetti.”
Tomorrow is POOL DAY! We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Tags: afternoon songs, all camp games, cave, evolution, fowler trail, free play, Gorp, hike, lunch, morning songs, On top of spaghetti, psychology, snack, Sponge Bugs, sunscreen, teambuilding, water bottles
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Monday, July 12th, 2010
The backpackers started off their day with some getting to know you games and a snack, and then headed out on a steep hike to the Old Crags Hotel site up Rattlesnake Gulch Trail. We ate lunch near the hotel and also learned about some essential “Leave No Trace” ethics to prepare for our trip into Rocky Mountain National Park! After heading back down to camp, we went over gear to bring and made our GORP order for our trip. We are looking forward to a distance hike out of Eldorado Canyon tomorrow and to pack up our packs in preparation for Wednesday!
Tags: Backpacking, camping gear, Gorp, hike, Leave No Trace
Posted in MDC Intro to Backpacking, What's Happening! | Comments Off
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Our Eldorado Canyon program began session 4 with some great morning songs, including “Tarzan” and “Little Red Wagon.” We also ate a morning snack and played a fun game of Ship-Island–ask your campers about the different commands they learned for this game!
After sunscreening and going over our camp rules, we split into our cabin groups for the session. Counselor Tim’s group is named The Black Wolves of the Wild Diamonds, Counselor Zach’s group is named The Dolphin Horses, and Counselor Aly’s group is named The Mysterious Grubby Greens. Each group had a great day coming up with their group name and group code, and also decorating their water bottles! Ask your camper to see their newly decorated water bottle.
Each group also took a hike today–The Black Wolves headed up Eldorado Canyon Trail, while the Mysterious Grubby Greens and the Dolphin Horses headed over to the Rangers’ Station. Each group enjoyed getting to know their fellow group members, and had fun doing some free play and eating delicious gorp for afternoon snack. Ask your camper about their favorite gorp ingredient! We ended the day as a whole group, singing some quieter afternoon songs, including “The Canoe Song,” and, of course, our camp staple, “On Top of Spaghetti.”
Each group also planned their activities for tomorrow–ask your camper what their group is doing tomorrow! Some groups are going hiking, some are making spongebugs, some are going climber watching, and much more! We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Tags: afternoon snack, climber watching, eldorado canyon, free play, Gorp, group code, group names, hike, little red wagon, morning snack, morning songs, planning, ship island, spongebugs, sunscreen, water bottles
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Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
We began our second day of this week’s Junior session with some energetic morning songs, including “The Princess Pat” and “The Hippo Song.” After putting on some sunscreen, we headed to the mini-meadow for a fun game of “What Time is It, Mr. Fox?” Everyone was running around everywhere–it was really awesome! Then, we headed back to base camp to make our group codes–each group picked 5 or 6 positive rules that they want to follow at camp. Ask your camper about the rules on their group code!
After our cabin group time, we got all packed up and headed out to Marshall Mesa on MDC’s big yellow bus! It was very exciting to meet Ed, our bus driver. Once at Marshall Mesa, we had some delicious lunch, re-filled our water bottles, and headed out on our adventure. We talked about how Marshall Mesa used to be an ocean, and even saw some fossils embedded in the rocks! It was pretty exciting, even though it was pretty hot today.
In the afternoon, we headed back to base camp for some quiet time–the campers took off their shoes and socks to cool off, and we read some stories to relax. After quiet time, we put our shoes back on and began work on our dinosaur hats–they’ll be finished tomorrow! Then, we headed outside to eat some delicious gorp, mixed by Director Betsy. Yum! To end the day, we drained our water bottles and sang our camp rendition of “On Top of Spaghetti.”
Tomorrow, we’re headed to NCAR to check out their weather walk and see where dinosaurs used to live. See you tomorrow!
Tags: adventure, cabin codes, cabin group time, dinosaur hats, fossils, free play, Gorp, hike, lunch, marshall mesa, morning songs, On top of spaghetti, quiet time, water bottles, what time is it mr fox
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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
We had a great Tuesday in Junior today–we began our day by singing “Fred the Moose” and “The Princess Pat.” After singing and doing our weather reports (each camper said how they were feeling using weather terms), we headed outside to put on some sunscreen, and then headed to the mini-meadow to play a rousing game of “Ship -Island!” We trotted back to base camp to make a camp sign–everyone drew their favorite flower on the sign–and then learned about flowers from a special friend from the Enchanted Forest (Counselor Aly).
After learning about flowers, we went outside to make pipecleaner flower creations; the kids really enjoyed how the pipecleaners felt on their hands. Then, we headed back to the mini-meadow to have some lunch and play some teambuilding games. After eating, we tried to pass the tossable from person to person using on our feet!
After lunch, we put on more sunscreen and then headed to Eldorado Canyon in the van. We got a chance to see the big kids climb, which was exciting, and we got to see our older siblings who are at the Eldorado Canyon camp location! We took a hike in the beautiful, wildflower-filled canyon, and had some free play up in the canyon. We also ate our delicious gorp–mixed by Program Director Jen–before heading back down to base camp. We finished off the day with rose and thorn–each camper said their favorite and least favorite part of the day–and with some quieter afternoon songs, including, of course, that old camp favorite, “On Top of Spaghetti.”
Tomorrow, we’re heading to Chautuaqua Park to hike and to discuss wildflowers with a naturalist. See you there!
Tags: eldorado canyon state park, flowers, fred the moose, free play, Gorp, hike, On top of spaghetti, pipecleaners, princess pat, rose and thorn, ship island, sunscreen, water, weather report, wildflowers
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Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
The junior campers’ day began with some fun, high-energy songs–we sang “The Fishing Song” and “The Swimming Song.” It was really fun to see how fast we could sing! After songs, we played some fun games with the webbing, including working together as a team to pull everyone to their feet using the webbing. Then, we headed outside to climb on MDC/AO’s mobile climbing tower! The tower has fossils embedded in it, so we got a chance to discuss fossils while climbing. Each camper got a chance to climb some different routes, and the Junior Leaders also got in some good climbing time!
After climbing, we drank some water, put on some sunscreen, and headed into base camp for a little cabin group time. Today, the E.M.D.D.’s made a group sign–it shows everything the group has done this week, and each section was created by a different member of the group. After finishing up that project, we headed over to the Mini-Meadow to eat some lunch.
We ate lunch while discussing pool rules, and then headed up to Spruce Pool. Unfortunately, the pool turned out to be closed! But everyone at camp did a great job at being flexible, and the campers decided that they would be okay going and playing at Greenleaf Park instead. So we headed to Greenleaf Park, and had some fun free play time on the child-safe play structure there, next to the Nature Conservancy. After putting on still more sunscreen, we headed back to base camp.
The trek back to base camp wore us out a little bit, so we headed inside to have a bit of rest time and to learn some more about dinosaurs. We learned that the biggest dinosaur was named Ultrasaurus, and that it was found in Colorado! We also learned that the smallest dinosaur was about the size of a chicken, which was exciting to learn. After having some quiet time, the E.M.D.D.’s headed outside to order the ingredients for their own mixture of gorp, which they’ll mix and eat tomorrow! After completing their gorp order, we had some delicious, pre-made gorp for snack, and finished up the day with the “Little Canoe” song and a quiet version of “On Top of Spaghetti.”
For our final day of Big-Toothed Dinos, we’re planning to make our own dinosaur fossils out of playdoh, and are also planning to trek down to Boulder Creek to have lunch and look for more animals (seeing squirrels today was a highlight of our hike!). We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!
Tags: camp sign, climbing, dinosaurs, free play, Gorp, greenleaf park, hike, junior, MDC, mobile climbing tower, quiet time, rock wall, songs, Spruce Pool, trek, webbing
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Thursday, August 6th, 2009
We began our Pool Day with some free play, and transitioned into some great songs and a water relay. We sang the “Swimming Song” and “Little Green Frog,” and then split into two teams for our water relay. Each team had a basin full of water and a sponge, and an empty basin positioned across the yard. Each team, using the sponge, had to transfer their water from the full basin to the empty one! It was very exciting, and needless to say, the relay ended in a total and complete tie!
After our game, we headed inside to drink some water and make some pipe cleaner fish sculptures. Everyone was really pumped to make all sorts of different pipe cleaner creations–ask to see your camper’s! After our group time, we got all packed up and headed to Spruce Pool for our pool day. Directors Tim and Tommy were nice enough to drive our stuff to the pool, so we got to walk to the pool carrying only our water bottles! Once at the pool, we ate lunch, got all sunscreened, and jumped right in! Everyone had an awesome time playing at the pool–the ducky slide was a hit, as was the long ramp into the main kids pool.
After swimming, we changed into our regular clothes, gave our bags to Director Tim, and headed back to Base Camp. Walking with just our water bottles was pretty fun–we got to stop and take some drinks in lots of different shady spots. Once back at Base Camp, we headed inside for some quiet time. We read some stories and rested a bit before heading back outside for our surprise snack. It was nice cold apple slices! Delicious! All of the kids enjoyed the special pool day snack, and after snack we had some free play. Everyone was pretty tired, so there were more tears than usual, although they all dried up pretty quickly. We had a good time playing with our pipe cleaners, though!
We closed the day with some circle time–we did our rose and thorn for the day and then said goodbye to those members of our group who won’t be joining us tomorrow. We finished up with some fun afternoon songs, including the “Shark Song,” “Bumblebee Tuna,” the “Canoe Song,” and, of course, “On Top of Spaghetti.” We had a pretty great day at the pool–for our last day of camp, we’re heading to the fish observatory to see the fish and we’ll also be making crawdad masks! Get ready for an awesome last day of the session!
Tags: crawdad masks, fish observatory, free play, hike, MDC, mountain day camp, pipe cleaners, pool day, quiet time, songs, Spruce Pool, teambuilding, water bottles, Water Relay
Posted in MDC Junior 2009 | Comments Off