In the last rays of the summer sun, my mind reviews the role of camps in children’s lives. For me, my uncle’s camp was our home base in the summer. My experiences were filled with long hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, canoeing in Maine on the Allagash river and swimming in cold mountain lakes. We lived in simple cabins and ate simple and yummy food. We made plays and sang songs and looked for frogs. There is a lot of research to suggest that outdoor experiences ground children and give them direction. Here is the web page from the camp I went to:
Welcome to Cragged Mountain Farm!
A co-ed summer camp providing wilderness hiking and canoeing adventures!
Our emphasis is on healthy outdoor activities. We have four, two and now one week sessions. There are no cell phones, computers or televisions. All campers will go on overnight hiking and canoeing wilderness trips of one to five nights in duration, which are led by experienced trip leaders who are certified Wilderness First Responders (WFR).
The 14-year-olds have four weeks of wilderness tripping: one week of trips close to camp and a three week canoeing adventure on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine. The 15-year-olds have a four week wilderness trip, the Penobscot, which is entirely continuous along the rivers and lakes of northern Maine.
Cragged Mountain Farm (CMF) is a summer camp in rural New Hampshire established by Dr. Henry Utter in 1927. It has been owned and operated by the Utter family ever since. Our campers range from 6-15 years old. The average camper population is 55-65 children over the course of the four weeks. Unlike many other summer camps, we feel the co-ed nature of the camp environment enhances the learning experience in many positive ways. Boys and girls have separate sleeping and bathroom facilities. Most of our campers return summer after summer and often become CMF counselors, trip leaders and other staff members.
