One of the nice things about Tent City at ULBC Camp was that it was far enough away from the regular camp to provide it its own identity. Gordie, Bob, and I, as tent counselors, had four large tents atop a cement foundation. A few feet away was our campfire area and we had campfires every night as part of our program. At the regular camp, those were far and few between but not at Ten City.
Since we never had our own group of kids we wanted to provide the boys with the best experiences possible when we had them. On each regular camp counselors days off, we took their boys for that two day period. Every camp day we had at least two cabin groups from the main camp.
Nightly campfires for singing, ghost stories, or roasting marshmallows was the order of the evening. Even during the day that area was kept busy as we taught the boys how to build fires and how to cook over them. Proper use of the hatchet was also taught. Tent City gave the boys a real camping experience apart from their regular cabin life.
We also had a picnic table, that is, until Swamp Man from the lagoon once visited us and broke it. But that’s another story for another time. Suffice it to say, that was a most spooky night for many of the boys as I believe that was the farthest that Swamp Man ever strayed from his lagoon.
In retrospect, I believe Tent City would have been even more effective had it been placed in the forest surrounding League Lake. Now, I understand Tent City is no longer used by the camp by the youngsters which is a shame.
Guest Post
Mike Reynolds
Darlene Reynolds
