Away All Boats!

Being a tent counselor, we never had our own batch of boys like the other counselors had since we had their cabins on their days off.  However, I used to enjoy watching the boat races between various cabins following the shoreline of League Lake as it was called in the 1960’s.  Skillful rowers always kept on course but those that chose to over row their boats either headed into the middle of the lake or toward shore.  The latter was the worse of the two especially so if they touched land for they would then have to push off and head back toward the course again.

I supervised one race aboard a dingy which was my boat of choice as it could be moved about quite easily.  I wonder if those types of boats are still available at camp today? 

The boys seemed to enjoy the races if not moreso for the fun they had splashing each other along the route.  Does the camp still have boat races today?  Let us know by way of a comment.

Bellywash

It’s belly wash time. The kids in the Hoffman Estates Boys Club thought it was time to wash their bellies. I got a chuckle out of that. I selected two of the boys to assist me while the others resumed fishing. Billy and Steve were the chosen ones. Billy was asked to fill a container with water from the lake and then add several water purification tablets to it. Steve got out the Kool-Aid and selected grape. This is belly wash? I had to chuckle again. It sure isn’t soap mixed with water. When the rest of the kids found out what belly wash was they were less reluctant to drink it. Why don’t you just call it Kool-Aid? Belly wash just sounds better. Besides if it tastes good, that’s what counts.

The 13 Days of Christmas

https://youtu.be/4vv9MTgVcCc this was held at the First Congregational Church Oak Park Illinois. Enjoying the music.

Loon Lake Magic

Loon Lake is just down a hill from Big Bass Lake yet this other lake has a magic all its own. For those that once lived on that lake in the 1950’s and 60’s, at night they were treated to the theatre organ music of the Loon Lake Pavilion. From almost anywhere on that lake you could make out the bright colors from that facility in the evening.

I’v always thought of Loon Lake as more of a fishing lake than a recreational lake. I’ve seen a lot of fishermen out there at almost any time of the day but precious few doing things like water skiing. Between it and Big Bass Lake it was the quieter of he two and that’s not all bad.

Without the constant flow of speedboats crusing around, Loon Lake residents can enjoy the peaceful serenity of their lake. For about half its length, a winding road follows its shoreline. For those that live on this lake, let us know a little something more about life on Loon Lake by way of a comment.

Grant’s Resort on Big Bass Lake

Grant’s Resort, located on the north side of Big Bass Lake, has been another allusive entity until only just recently for me.  There isn’t much about this facility on the Internet, let alone  photograph of the place, that is until Apryl supplied me with this picture and some information about this resort.  I have tried calling the phone number connected to this resort (231-266-5679) for a few days but all I have ever gotten was voice mail.  I had hoped to get the resorts history so maybe some reader f ours will supply that data for us by way of a comment.

Apryl informs us that this resort has 3 cottages, two have two bedrooms and the big cabin has two bedrooms, a fold out couch and a futon on the screened in porch. They do supply row boats for each cabin. And I believe they are open year round as the cabins have furnaces. No televisions or phones.  The owner is Audrey Grant however her son pretty much runs it now and he checks in every day.   When Apryl  first started going when there when she was little, there was no hot water or even a shower, so her family had to take baths in the lake!

And this info will have to suffice until some of our readers provide us with even more.  I’m glad that we have this to promote Grant’s Resort as several comments each year have asked about cottage rental on Big Bass Lake.  By the way, I like the nice touch of having a small tent situated just before one of those cottages. 

The Last Campfire

Eddie Crouch had just asked for another marshmallow while we were talking about the days events. I think I liked nightly campfires better than any other activity we did. It was at those times when you learned about the kids greatly. Jay talked about catching his fish while Allie mentioned about overcoming his fear of the dark. After a long day of fun each boy in turn told something about himself as it related to our camping trip. That is why campfires are so important because you also learn about what they need most in life. Some boys talked about unhappy family situations and they all listened. It is something about the darkness of the night added to the bright campfire that brought out the best of these boys. I also think the Boys Liked These Times best and they bonded together as one. Meal campfires were much different as the boys were much more hurried then. Plus the kids learned much more about me at those times too. The best campfire of all was the night before leaving the area as the kids really opened up about everything. After all it was there last night to do so.

Our Property Field and Forest

On some days during our camping trips I used the part of our field nearest Noreika Road for sports such as Frisbee Golf or Dodgeball. It depended on the day and weather. We usually did these kinds of activity in mid-day and followed that up with a swim in Big Bass Lake.

Within this portion of our forest was another field just across from where I parked my vehicle off Noreika Road.  However that field was not usable for sports as the grass was nearly waist-high.  That field was also adjacent to Lost Lake which nearly bordered our field being separated only by about twenty yards of forest.

Just to the north of that field by Noreika Road were our blackberry bushes where the boys spent time gathering berries for desserts.  But what you are observing in this photograph is the field adjacent to both Noreika and Big Bass Lake Road.  This field runs all the way to just short of the public landing.