The good times keep on rolling here at Camp Stevens. Today was the conclusion of another week-long outdoor education group consisting entirely of 12-year old boys and girls. As they packed and cleaned out the yurts in which we normally live, and we moved down from the aptly-named Bishop’s Lodge, I witnessed an argument that I found equally infuriating, hilarious, and reminiscent of certain interactions that I’ve had with my siblings (Sarah and Eric will agree). As we moved our things into the yurts, two boys were going back and forth at each other in the middle of a room with 5 or 6 of their classmates half packing, half watching the action. One had been brandishing a squirt bottle full of glass cleaner at the other, playfully (or not?) threatening to spray him with it. When the other boy had enough of it, he lunged forward to grab at the squirt bottle, squeezing it and spraying himself in the face. Over the next 15 minutes, as I moved back and forth from the lodge to the yurts with my possessions, I caught essentially the same accusation of “he sprayed me on purpose” and the requisite defense of “I wasn’t going to do it, he only thought that I was going to.” Although I was pissed off at the banality of their argument, and the fact that the debate has remained essentially unchanged over the course of 15 minutes, I couldn’t help but realize that I have had many of those same kinds of arguments with many different people. That is, arguments in which I’m absolutely certain that I’m right, and rather than admitting fault (if only for the sake of ending the damn argument) have continued to proclaim my innocence and to vilify my opponent. It was a little weird to see little 12-year old versions of myself, and to see how annoying their behavior was. Sorry Mom and Dad.
In other news, we’ll be having a guest team in camp this week. Silver 4 is working at a camp about 2 miles from Camp Stevens, and has been kicked out for about 5 days. Well, not exactly “kicked out.” They have a group coming that has asked for the entire camp, and the team has to leave and won’t be able to work there at all. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if they had mentioned anything about it prior to, say, 2 weeks ago. They’ll be coming over on Wednesday afternoon and staying until Sunday afternoon. I’m actually very excited about it, because I enjoy the team leader’s company and we can always use extra hands to move brush and work on trailbuilding. Oh, and we’ll get to show off the sweet digs that we’ve got going here. Honestly, I’ve almost forgotten how to cook. The most cooking that I’ve had to do in the last 4 weeks is to roast hotdogs, toast bread, and occasionally microwave leftovers. Today’s lunch was grilled cheese (focaccia bread and some magically concoction of cheeses) with ginger tomato soup, green salad, and my standard mix of banana and chocolate chips. This place is great.
On top of that, over the last two days I’ve cut down about 15 trees, stacked the brush and piled the logs by the road. Over the last month we’ve made a huge impact in the landscape around the boys and girls camping areas, removing many of the trees and much of the brush that presented a fire hazard to the buildings there. It’s great to know that the work we’re doing will have a real long-term impact on the safety of the buildings and people at camp. I’ve also selected a number of hikes that I’m looking to do over the next month while we’re in San Diego County. I’m looking at doing Granite Peak, which is about 11 miles and 3000’ feet of elevation including some bushwhacking and bouldering. Should be a blast!
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