SENIOR NEWSLETTER July 18, 2021

Greetings from Senior Winona! We certainly enjoyed a full week of events, trips and competitions.

This summer, under the guidance of Aunt Luanne, Performing and Visual Arts have been offered as a new Senior activity. These skills were put in service last Sunday when Senior Winona hosted Sunday Vespers. Uncle Trip wrote a short play titled, The Wonch. The storyline highlighted Winona's philosophy on inclusion and friendship. The Wonch may have felt “wonchy” when he was friendless and lonely, but the Winona Senior campers welcomed him to join them in camp activities. The Wonch discovered he could make new friends and he found happiness at Winona. The Wonch was played by Mun Luak. Other actors included: Henry Hoffman, Renzo Martinez, Nuer Bol-Rik, Dash

Lamphier, Ben Lemieux, Jack Wetter and Wesley Persons . Technical arts helpers included: Thomas Gasperini, Lyle Fuchs, Henry Hoffman, Lucas Sao Marcos, Marco Sierra, Jack Wetter, Ryan Hays, Xander Krauskopf and Matt MacDougall.

On Monday, the Mountain Trippers and the Allagash adventurers (see more on the Allagash on page 2) departed for remote wilderness areas. The Mountain Bikers also saddled up and departed for North Conway, , where they explored a technical mountain bike trail network. Xander Krauskopf, Dash Lamphier, Matt MacDougall, Gunnar Lundin, Devan Sarkar, Owen Manning, Max Rosenbaum, Lorenzo Vannoni, Quinn Hoffman and Liam Kirby pedaled around Pudding Pond and explored an abandoned quarry. Later in the day, the boys found some jumps and learned how to safely navigate their air-time. The heat of the day was forgotten when they found a nice swimming spot on the Swift River.

On Tuesday, Uncles Garrett and Tucker along with Darryl Villasenor, Logan Wilson, Graham Wilson and Connor Shillington went to Jockey Cap for technical rock climbing. For each participant, this was their first time on a real rock. Even with some rain in the morning, the group was very motivated. Despite the rock being wet every camper was able to make it up multiple climbs. After a few hours of hard climbing, the rain started to lighten and they were able to hike to the top and enjoy lunch with great views. A couple more challenging climbs were set-up after lunch for the campers to test their skills before going back to camp, wet but very content with the day.

Wednesday morning, the Senior kayakers, led by Uncles Harry, Sam, Jackson and Ned set-out for the mighty Saco River. Their first stop was Steep Falls where first-time kayak trippers Devan Sarkar, Owen Manning and Matt MacDougall learned how to ferry glide (paddling across rapids). After getting comfortable in the river, Uncles Ned and Harry led Dash Lamphier and Quinn Hoffman down the 8’ waterfall as Uncle Clay took awesome pictures. While they were climbing up to the falls, Xander Krauskopf, Liam Kirby and Max Rausenbaum spotted a bald eagle. After playing around in the rapids they kayaked down some easier rapids to the take-out area. The group loaded the trailer and traveled to Limington Rapids where they enjoyed lunch before more rapid running. After reviewing river safety and signals, they went down the river where Lorenzo Vannoni and Gunner Lundin paddled right through several challenging “holes”. The kayakers ran the rapids one additional time and then finished the day with some surfing practice.

Evening Programs (EPs) this week included: Six-ball soccer, British Bulldog, Mallets to Mallets, Don’t Make Me Laugh, King Pin Dodgeball, Name That Tune, Airband and a new game of Squadron Ball.

Adventuring into the great wild heart of the White Mountains, campers Tristan Baker, Lyle Fuchs, Oliver Golden, Renzo Martinez, Kasper Potter, Leif Sonne and Cal Stubbs departed Monday with Uncles Alex F., Sam and Trip on a five-day odyssey. Hiking up the Monday, the boys enjoyed a dip in Zealand Falls before making their way up to the spectacular Zeacliffs, one of the finest viewpoints in the mountains. From there the boys traversed the whole eastern lobe of New Hampshire’s Pemigewasset (Pemi) Wilderness, one of the largest officially designated wilderness areas in the northeastern United States.

On Tuesday, the boys saw few other hikers, crossed craggy Zealand Notch and visited secluded Shoal Pond before feasting on backcountry pizza and homemade guacamole. On Wednesday, diving ever deeper into the Pemi, they traveled on remote trails, reveled in a swim near paradisiacal Thoreau Falls, encountered a few historical artifacts from turn-of-the-twentieth-century logging operations, and saw no other hikers. (over for more news!)

1 From a beautiful campsite high up on the East Brach of the , the team completed a challenging climb of Mount Hancock Thursday. Uncles Alex, Sam and Trip were mightily impressed with the boys’ fortitude, resilience and route-finding skills. Finally, on Friday, the campers capped their invigorating Pemi East Branch expedition with an ascent of Mount Carrigain, the highest in the region at the head of the Sawyer and Swift Rivers. Fortunately the weather cooperated with their plans, affording them a panoramic vista from the top that included Camel’s Hump in the Green Mountains, Pleasant Mountain in Maine and myriad blue and green peaks and ridges in between. All were happy to find pick-up driver Uncle JK awaiting them by the Sawyer River, and eager to tell him their tales. The boys significantly refined their outdoor living skills on the trip and expanded their knowledge of Leave No Trace wilderness ethics and best practices in minimum impact camping.

News from the Sail Docks: The winds of Moose Pond came in strong on Friday morning. There was a steady breeze and gusts of 13 knots. The best conditions of the season! Campers Quinn Hoffman, Phelps Henry, Ward Jenkins, Liam Kirby, Ben Lemieux, Tomas Mercado, Matthew McDougall and Ian Russell all enjoyed the high winds. Phelps and Ian cruised back and forth from the sail docks to the western shore of the pond doing their best to remain upright. Quinn, Tomas, Liam and Ben successfully completed their capsize requirements. Ward and Matt ventured south towards the narrows of Moose Pond, where they completed a blazing fast downwind run. The Senior sailors hope to see more breezy days like this when Uncle Cam and the sail staff plan to start a sail race series.

Early Monday morning, Senior canoers Kekoa Brown, Thomas Gasparini, Ryan Hays, Teke Helms, Rowan Pedraza, Nathan Monchik, John Proulx, Nicky Smith and Ellis Thompson with Uncles Bruce, Ingi and Todd departed in the van with canoes and gear in tow to take on approximately 60 miles of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. After a long drive they arrived at Churchill Dam, set-up camp, and enjoyed a wonderful Greek chicken and shrimp dinner. Before bed, with clear skies, they had a sublime North Maine Woods stargazing moment.

The next morning, they took on the first of many challenges by paddling down the Allagash River through the class 2 Chase Rapids into Umsaskis Lake and then into Long Lake where camp was made and they cooked another great dinner. This time, marinated steak with Dutch oven potatoes. On Wednesday, they continued the routine of rising early, making breakfast, breaking-down camp and paddling to the next campsite. They finished up Long Lake, portaged into the next section of river, and made their way to Round Pond where they had to paddle with a very strong headwind to make it to the campsite. Although tired from paddling so hard, they had lunch then rallied to set -up tents, tarps, and the kitchen, so they could prepare an awesome traditional Spanish Paella dinner with fresh mussels, shrimp, chicken and chorizo sausage.

By Thursday, the boys had learned and honed their camping skills enough that the counselors felt the boys could take on the challenge of setting-up the next campsite and cooking all the meals with minimal help or guidance. Five of the boys will be going to the Junior Maine Guides Testing Camp in a few weeks so this was a great opportunity to practice all the skills they will need. After paddling another section of river to the next site, the boys set-up a proper camp, sawed and split all the wood, built the cooking fire, set-up and started the camp stove, prepared and cooked the meals, and followed through with washing the dishes and clean-up. They served up a delicious lunch of grilled Brie cheese, bacon and apples. After some relaxing, and a swim in the river, they cooked a marinated pork kabob dinner (all with minimal help and guidance from the counselors who were very impressed).

Day five started with some heavy rain so they broke-down camp quickly and paddled to the last campsite. This was the best site yet with a beautiful view of the river and sunset. The rain soon turned to sunshine and the boys had a great relaxing afternoon with a swim before making their last dinner of the trip, a Pesto Pasta dish with Dutch oven brownies for dessert. A cool night made for great sleeping, and after an early morning paddle to the take-out, the boys departed for Winona, proud of what they had accomplished.

We have another fun packed week planned ahead. We’ll be closing out our first half with a variety of activities. The Tough Mudder Race is on the slate for Sunday afternoon; Senior has upcoming overnight trips for kayakers, technical rock climbers, mountain trippers, mountain bikers and canoe trippers; camp tournaments include 3v3 basketball and tennis; the Ravens, Falcons and Hawks will somehow figure a way to capture the totem; and we will finish the week with a few favorite Red/Gray EPs.

I look forward to sharing the final events of the first half. Until then, I hope you have a great week too.

Brix Brax, Uncle Jeffrey “Bubba” Dropkin (1983-1986, 2002-2021) The BAT 2015 Senior Unit Director Caretaker of Bailey, Senior’s favorite Chocolate Lab

Editors Note: Your son’s unit’s weekly Newsletter may also be accessed online: http://winonacamps.com/welcome-parents/unit-newsletters. Please note that in the weekly unit Newsletters, we focus primarily on out-of-camp trips and sporting competitions which are just a small part of the entire program here at Winona.

You can find current photos of Winona by visiting us on our Facebook page (Winona Camps – Maine), Instagram (winonacampsmaine) or our Bunk1 site, www.bunk1.com.

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