Challenge Camp

This last week I was at Trout Lake Camps - a Christian Bible camp.  It was first year I went to this camp.  I did the challenge camp.  We drove 5 hours to camp.  My sister and her friend stayed at the main camp and then the next day I went another 5 hours farther north to a more rustic camp with the other Challenge Camp campers.

The big star is where the main Trout Lake Camps are and the 

little star is where I was at for the rustic camp.

Since getting to the Challenge Camp is a big trip to make, we stayed one night at the main camp.  The next morning we left for the more rustic camp at Mink Lake.  At Mink Lake, there is no electricity.  We had gas lights in the cabins and dining hall.  Solar energy was used to get running water in the kitchen and the little shed with sinks.  We had no flushing toilets and I think there was some sort of showers, but I don't even know where they were at... no one showers.

The back of the building where the kitchen/dining area/living space was at.

My cabin.

The camp was on a small, peaceful lake.  We were able to swim and canoe in there.

On camp, there was a sauna.  What was very refreshing to do, was to sit in the sauna for a while and then go running into the lake.  And, repeat.

On Tuesday, we went to the Kadunce River.  We hiked up the river... in the river.  We started at Lake Superior and had to climb up 1 waterfall.  It was about 10 feet tall and the first counselor up held onto a rope for us to to use to help us up.  God's creation along the river was beautiful, but I had a hard time enjoying it because I was always looking down, watching out where I was putting my feet.  I didn't want to slip and fall on the slippery rocks.  After our hike we were going to cook supper on the shore of Lake Superior, but it started to storm, so we had to go back to camp for supper.

At Mink Lake, there are a couple cooks that prepared all our food - there were 29 campers plus some counselors.  It was delicious, homemade, fresh, from scratch food.  We were very well feed.  We had a Thanksgiving dinner the night we got there, egg bake and biscuits, pancakes and sausage, French toast and ham, cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs, a Mexican meal, hamburgers, spaghetti, pulled pork, hobo dinners.  Every lunch and supper was served with sides and a dessert.  Then, on the last night we were there, they made us popcorn.  IT WAS SO GOOD!  Maybe the best I have ever had.  They made a salty kind (more plain) and a sweet kind (like kettle corn).  I had both.
My brother, John, is going to be up at Mink Lake for Challenge Camp this week, so I send a note along with him, to give to the cooks, asking for some of the recipes.

We stayed the first night and last night of camp down at the main Trout Lake Camps.  We ate in the dining hall there.  The food was fine, but it was more like cafeteria food and the food up at Mink was like home cooked food.

Look at Lake Superior at the edge of the line of trees!

On Wednesday, we went to Carlton's Peak (I think that is the name of it) to do some hiking.  I thought it was great hiking.. a great workout.  There were some great views.  We had packed a sack lunch to eat on our hike.  We spent a few hours there doing various activities.  We were planning to stay longer, but we left early because it started to rain.

At Carlton's Peak, we got to do rock climbing and repelling.  Like real rock climbing and repelling.

On Thursday, we stayed at camp.  We did the high ropes course and our challenge.  For the challenge we had to do mark's men ship (riffling), fire building,  and canoeing/portaging/orienteering.  The first couple days of camp, we all practiced each skill.  Us campers were split into 3 groups (on the very first day and for other activities).  For mark's men ship, we could pick up to 4 people in our group (the best during practice) to shoot at balloons.  For fire building, we had to build a fire, trying to use only 1 match, boil a pot of water, hard boil an egg, and have someone eat it.  The last skill was orienteering our way around the lake in canoes and to also portage our canoe.  All the skills were basically group effort.  We were timed separately at each skill and earned points.  The team with the fastest combined time and most points won... my group got second.

Camp was fun - nice people, fun activities, and great food.  Two of the nights we played outdoor games after dark.  Of course, there were campfires.  Every night we had chapel, and then we went to our cabins for discussion.  I learned a great way to study the Bible during Life Groups.
We had a lot of free time, which I wasn't too thrilled about.  I don't really like swimming and so there wasn't much to do then.  I survived not having electricity.
The weather was nice.  A couple storms did roll through a couple of the days. but they didn't last long and weren't bad.  I was surprised at how much cooler it is up there.
It was funny, when I was up there I didn't even feel like I was in Minnesota.  I felt like I was in a totally new place - in a different country or out of civilization.  But, once we got to Duluth, on our way back, I felt like I was back in civilization.
Oh, and of course, there were lots of BUGS at camp.
Early in the morning, on the day we were leaving Mink, the girls in my cabin woke up.  We heard a noise.  At first I thought it was one of the girls going through her belongings, but it lasted too long.  Finally, I asked if there was a person down there.  One girl got up to look in a box that was next to the garbage, that she had brought filled with snacks (it was empty now... besides maybe a few crumble).  THERE WAS A TINY MOUSE IN THERE!!  She simply put the box outside and let the mouse crawl out.  And, we went back to sleep.  Actually, this was an exciting way to start the day.
I found out that my counselor goes to Iowa State University - where I am going this fall!
-There.  There are a bunch of random things about camp.

P.S. My pictures are a lot of just the same thing.  I wasn't able to really take pictures of everything we did.  Most of our activities required using both hands and they weren't really on the ground.