Excitement is not in short supply here at Camp Timberlake, and the outflow of it truly starts early. After a refreshing Sunday at Timberlake, the morning reveille blared, waking up the well-rested campers on this wonderful Monday morning. Ready to get their week truly started, campers bounded to breakfast to be greeted by the ever-awaited blueberry muffins. After breakfast as always, the morning yell brightened spirits for miles and jump-started the day. Chapel continued the excitement as we danced and sang worship songs and Austin S. gave a wonderful chapel talk. From there the campers went on to clean their cabins in a surprisingly competitive cabin cleanup competition.

Upon leaving the ever so clean cabins, campers went on to their activities for the day. Lake Doris was full of characters working on all sorts of aquatic escapades. Drew S. and Sam H. did a great job practicing deep-water rescues in canoeing class. As the sun rose, it got hot so the lake was a great place to be. In Kayaking class, Dash V. and Jake T. got their wet exit. Hunter S. also got his hand roll. Swimming class persisted on as well even when the rain started to fall later in the afternoon! Talk about wet!

After that campers went on to more and more activities. Rocketry class began painting their rockets today! Hays L.’s looked totally tubular! In Backpacking, campers got to hang out on the low ropes course today. Tom S. succeeded in passing with flying colors in a 17 second time trial! Team Sports took to the basketball courts where they learned dribbling, chest passes, bounce passes, over the head passes, and basic shooting. What a busy class!They finished off with a 3 v 3 tournament.

From there, lunch brought the whole camp back together again. Another camp favorite, Stromboli filled the stomachs of the happy campers. Campers learned who won cabin cleanup for the day– Little Slaty. Then they learned who won the evening activity the day before- The Seminoles (!!!). Then all were dismissed to the best time, Rest time! Rest time served as a well-earned break from the ever-ongoing hubbub of camp. Rest time proved as a great way to wind down and newly adopted Big Chiefs Matt C. and James C. were ready to exercise their freedom in free time. Free time brought a lot of chances to get better in activities and to work to achieve marks. Kayaking, Tennis and Team Sports were all open and ready to give campers something to fill their time with.

After free time, campers shot on toward their afternoon activities. Speaking of shooting, the shooting sports had a huge showing today. In Paintball, Hunter S. and Tom got their bronze, not an easy achievement in the least. An even more impressive achievement, Sean G. and Tommy S. snagged their silver bars in paintball! Airsoft had a similar treatment with Logan H., Christian S., and James S. all getting their bronze as well! In Archery, Brandon P., Parker L,. and J.B. G. all were pursuing their Silver marks. They blasted through nearly all of their targets.

Then the rain began to fall and some activities were slightly thwarted, but not for long. Most were not phased. In wrestling today, Matthew D. gave a serious race for marks and stood out tremendously as he showed leadership in class. Leaps and bounds were made in Pottery as well as the First fire was completed. Pieces were finally glazed and should be completed within the next couple of days. The rain didn’t distort climbing class at all as they simply moved to the indoor climbing facility in the Mike. Matthew J. even managed to snag his bronze bar!

As the enthusiasm continued to dinner, Campers had even more to get excited about when they found out it was chicken fajitas night. Then the evening activity was announced and all bets were off. Stealing Skins, the game that pits the Iroquois against the Seminoles Against the Staff. Essentially it’s a huge, camp wide game of capture the flag. The winner of the activity won’t be announced until tomorrow so stay on the edge of your seats until then! As the sun began to set, so did the campers as we headed up to the cabins to settle down for bed.

Another day at Timberlake in the books. It seems as if they’re getting better and better. At this rate tomorrow might just be life changing. I guess you’ll have to just read tomorrow’s article to see.

Thanks for sending your kids here. You’ve made this summer one for the books.

James Cloutier

Proud Seminole and Big Piney Counselor

University of Tennessee Knoxville ‘19