Summer Camp, Now and Then

By Chris Hubbard, Education Director

Summer camp…the very words bring back memories for many of us. Rustic cabins and bunk beds, arts and crafts and songs around a campfire. Friendships made, cool camp counselors, dips in the lake. We often hear the stories that visitors share, of their remembrances of coming for summer camp at Merck Forest. Sometimes they have one or two newer generations in tow.

My younger brother recently related his own experience of coming to Merck Forest for summer camp, years ago, when he was in 4th or 5th grade. Of being fascinated by a butterfly collection in a cabin in a field and of catching butterflies and moths to closely examine them. Of looking at a dark backcountry sky sparkling with distant stars through telescopes set up in a field. Of camping in a lean-to near a large pavilion and of the kid who was bitten by a garter snake that wouldn’t let go. Of being excited about his first backpack and heading out on his first backcountry camping trip. Memories made 45 years ago. He spoke of how his fascination with the insects at Merck led to in-depth college courses on entomology, to a life-long love of backcountry camping, and to his career, where today he works as a freshwater analyst for a state environmental agency. His early experience camping at Merck resonates through his life today.

Summer camp is back at Merck Forest and Farmland Center!

While our Grades 1 – 3 camps are full, we do have openings in our Grade 4 – 6 Inquiry and Exploration camps as well as our Grade 7 & 8 Trail Crew camps. To learn more, go to www.merckforest.org and click on the Learn tab.

Digging through our archives, I came upon a precursor to our current Ridgeline, “The Merck Forest,” dated Spring 1976 – just the time my brother would have attended camp as a 10- or 11-year-old. One article tells of the upcoming summer overnight camps, then in the third consecutive year of running. Of how young campers “will live in lean-to shelters and experience a variety of exciting outdoor activities connected with the farm and forest operations of the Merck Forest.” I found myself scanning the black and white photos for someone who looked like my brother.

Fast forward to today. We are eagerly awaiting this year’s campers, from fresh-faced, nervous little ones for whom camp is a new experience to junior high students who will join us for Trail Camp for hands-on explorations and projects. Our camp offerings follow an arc: from games and imaginative play for our younger elementary campers, to inquiry and exploration for our older elementary campers, to a focus of stewarding the land for our junior high campers.

Who knows what memories they will come away with, and how it will affect the trajectory of their lives? What course will they be set upon? What will they carry into the future? Our mission is to inspire curiosity, love, and responsibility for natural and working lands. These young campers are our mission.

Do you have any stories to tell of summer camp experiences at Merck Forest when you were young? Were you a camp counselor with stories to tell? We’d love to hear them!

Write us at learn@merckforest.org