Camp Crystal Lake

Midsummer in Paradise

camp — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:20:15 +0000

We are midsummer and we’ve already covered a lot of ground. In the first half, we added a 6th girls cabin for two whole weeks. This cabin was on the boys side and housed our youngest female campers, our CIT’s and our CIT Director. Other than that, there was really no difference to the flow of camp. We battled unpredictable weather that brought the unfortunate cancelation of some Adventure sessions due to the high and fast flowing river waters the past few weeks. The second half of the summer started out with a bang as we brought Adventure into camp for the first time ever. After setting up Tent Village near the museum on last Sunday’s start of Session 4, the Adventure campers signed up for their classes just like the residential campers. Throughout the week, they got the best of both worlds with night paddles and climbing on the ropes course and some activities as part of the rest of camp. We are definitely embracing this opportunity to grow as a camp for a successful remainder of the summer. Our Session 3 and Session 4 back-to-back two-week sessions brought us weekends of campfires, carnivals and Capture the Flag. We had multiple returning alumni visit during the weekends and family of the staff out for the July 4th campfire of Session 3. We’re gearing up for session 4′s campfire tomorrow night! Signing off from paradise. See you Friday, Parents!

AHH- Rain at Camp

camp — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:36:48 +0000

Had a nice group at camp today- UF’s Peace Corps program. This would be awesome enough but it RAINED! The lake is desperately low and the plants stressed- maybe this is the beginning of something!

Call me the optimist but perhaps the dry spell has allowed some sediments to oxidize and when the water comes back it will be “crystal” clear.

Clyde

Exciting Times

camp — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:53:22 +0000

Summer Camp is in the air. Online registration is happening for the first time. The staff is almost complete and CIT interviews have started. You can almost hear the bell ringing to end rest hour and picture the circle forming to sing “day is done”. It’s hard to believe that it is only January. Before we know it, it will be a 100 degrees. Oh how wonderful it is thinking about paradise….

A new job

camp — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 01:01:02 +0000

Camp from a plane August 2011

I am so ambivalent this time of year- find it hard to concentrate. Summer is done- all the crazy stuff I rush to do to get kids on the river. And yet the school year hasn’t quite started at camp- hard to get permission slips signed for a field trip the first week of school!

So we do the small, unnoticed things, unimportant lest they not be done, that make our school year work. We spend most of a morning moving tables and benches around under the new pavilion at the outdoor classroom, deciding on locations for the perc tank and the ground flow models. Erika and I chat about changes she is making in both the lake study sheet and the nature study. This and a dozen other jobs; Matt has built a nice new display table; Adam is cutting the grass.

We will be ready next week- could be ready tomorrow if need be.

Clyde

BTW- The photo was courtesy of my wife who paid for the flight due to our 29th anniversary!

What good is it?

camp — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:01:57 +0000

I often have students ask what good something is. This is an interesting question and usually revolves around what good something is to people. “What is its function?” is a better question.

Last week someone asked me about the dead Longleaf Pines (Pinus palustris) above the fishing dock at Little Crystal Lake. “Why haven’t you removed these dead trees?” I was asked. These trees were killed during our controlled burn about five years ago. For some unknown reason the fire grew hotter in this area and killed mature trees, while not killing them elsewhere.

As you look at this picture you may get a sense of the purpose even dead things have in the functioning of an ecosystem. Clearly the woodpeckers are feasting on insects which are feasting on the deadwood. Invisible to us the fungi are also breaking down this dead tree. The tree all the while is providing homes and food and, as it decomposes, enriching the soil.

Sometimes we need to look carefully.

Clyde

Summer Camp is in the air!

camp — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:00:53 +0000

Residential and Adventure applications are available to be printed from the CCL website. The mail in date is 2/1/11. Staff interviews have started and CIT interviews begin next week. Just another day in paradise.
Tony O

A walk on the Florida Trail

camp — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:48:01 +0000

On Thursday and Friday last week, January 6 and 7, we made an interesting trip to Camp. We had 80 Sixth grade students from Westwood Middle Schools’ Cambridge program at camp last week. One of our activities was a half day hike on the Florida Trail. We walked about 4 1/2 miles of the trail.

I drove the bus of 12-year-old adventurers from Camp out the Airport road and turned right on State Road 100. After going north on 100 we turned onto County Road 18 by the Edwards store. We took the second left and parked by a beautiful pond courtesy of Mr. Triest.

The first part of the Florida Trail from here back to camp follows an old rail grade. Along the grade we saw large numbers of epiphytes (air plants) and mistletoe. The epiphytes have a commensal relationship with the trees they sit in, meaning the plants benefit by being raised up into greater sunlight while the tree is neither helped nor hurt.

The mistletoe, on the other hand, is a true parasite as it extracts nutrients from the plant in which it grows. A parasitic relationship is one in which the parasite (mistletoe) benefits while its host (the tree) is harmed but not usually killed.

After less than a mile we headed east off the rail grade through a field with high grass. We eventually worked our way back onto a grade and then the path meandered through an old cut over area used for pulpwood. We reached the halfway point at State Road 100, crossed the road and had a welcome drink of water from a cooler stashed along the trail.

The last half of the hike is by far the most scenic. The trail follows the property line between the airport and camp Montgomery, at first along a stretch which was recently cut over for pulpwood. Soon after passing under the power line a beautiful sandhill ecosystem lays out before us. Gopher Tortoise burrows, Turkey Oaks, and Longleaf Pines dominate. We soon skirt the north side of a beautiful sinkhole pond called Emerald Lake.

The trail drops to an old road and heads north. The view of Little Crystal Lake from the bluff on its west side is awesome. To see camp- the old fishing dock, the Rec Hall, and the gap to Big Crystal- from this height and angle gives you a new perspective on camp. We then followed the west side of Pebble Beachs’ Creek all the way to the airport road, crossed a bridge, and followed the ravines’ east side back to Little Crystal Lake.

From there it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the B&O bridge and a welcome sit at the
Hangman’s tree. What a wonderful way to spend half a day!

Clyde

Our path on the Florida Trail

The Snowbirds

camp — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:13:45 +0000

It was a quick reminder that the winter season is upon us. Last Wednesday while crossing the soccer field I heard that unmistakable sound, a honking sound, coming from the sky. Watching carefully Beckett and I located the flight of Sandhill Cranes high overhead. Soon we heard another and by the end of the day had seen several more flights.

As the week went by I noticed many more flights, some so loud I could hear them over the noise inside my house. These awesome birds are another of nature’s signs of the seasons.

Clyde

December 10, 2010

Application for 2011 Summer Camp Now Available

marcus — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:51:32 +0000

The 2011 Camp season is upon us. Application mail-in date is Feb 1, 2011.

2011 Summer Camp Application

Application for 2011 Adventure Camp Now Available

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:40:11 +0000

The 2011 Camp season is upon us. Application mail-in date is Feb 1, 2011.

2011 Adventure Application