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Column: Summer camps with a science or angling twist

Great Outdoors by James Murray
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The summers of my youth were mostly spent goofing off, fishing and having pure, simple, unstructured and unorganized fun.

Back then, I could not have even conceived of something like having fun being either structured or organized. Needless to say, I never went to summer camp. My older brother Don, however, did get to go to summer camp. I believe it was in the summer of 1958. Even after all these years, I can clearly recall him returning from his camp experience and regaling me with all sorts of wild and wacky stories about trying to pitch a tent in the rain on the first day of arrival, canoe trips on warm sunny summer afternoons, firecrackers in bowls of potato salad, learning to shoot a bow and arrow, strange sounds heard during late night trips to the outhouse and the assortment of oddball friends and cohorts he made in the process.

I was only able to experienced summer camp vicariously through my brother’s stories. That was until five years ago when I started conducting a series of one-week fishing camps at Mackenzie Camp, on Mabel Lake, where I teach young people how to fish. Along with other camp activities such as swimming, kayaking and archery, program participants learn the fine art of angling. They learn about entomology and the eating habits of fish, where to find fish and how to cast both spinning and fly rods. They also learn to tie a number of basic, essential fishing knots as well as how to tie flies. The best part, they get to go fishing every day, which includes a full-day field trip to the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre where they catch fish on flies they tied themselves.

Assisted by me and several trained camp counsellors each step along the way, participants learn all the skills required to catch and release the fish. By the end of they week, they have also acquired a new understanding and respect for nature and the great outdoors. Pretty cool.

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This year we will also be conducting our first Science Camp. It’s sort of Harry Potter meets young Sheldon. Participants will get to shoot off rockets during the day and then look up through a telescope at the wonders of the universe in the evening. They will also play electronic music on synthesized instruments, learn to pan for gold, go on an archaeological dig and interact with live owls.

The Science Camp is designed to appeal to kids with curious minds. If they happen to learn about science and nature along the way, well, that’s almost as important as the fact they are having fun learning about the past, present and future.

The kids that come to Mackenzie Camp are from all walks of life. For some, it is the first time they have spent time on their own away from their family. For others, it is the third or fourth time they have come to camp. The common factor among those who come to Fishing Camp is they want to learn how to fish. For those who will be coming to Science Camp, I suspect the common denominator will be that they are curious about the world around them. Whatever the reason, I know the staff at camp will do everything possible to make their experience not only enjoyable, but memorable.

They also get to experience all the regular stuff that kids who come to camp have done for the past, well, since before I was young enough to go to camp. They go swimming and kayaking, learn to shoot a bow, learn about nature along the hiking trail and test their inner strength on the climbing walk, sing songs and listen to stories around the camp fire and, much like my brother all those years ago, make new friends. Who know what stories they will return home with to perhaps regale their younger siblings.

When it comes right down to it, summer camps may have changed somewhat over the years but the whole going to summer camp experience hasn’t changed all that much. It’s only gotten better.

All I know for sure is that as well as being a program facilitator, I am also the biggest kid out there. I finally got to go to summer camp.

For further information on the Science Camp (July 16 to 20) or the Fishing Camps (Aug. 6 to 10 and 13 to 17) or about Mackenzie Camp, visit makenziecamp.ca or phone 250-838-6293.

James Murray is an outdoors enthusiast and a former photographer for the Observer.

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