I’ve spent two “weekends” at Camp Arrowhead this summer, one with each of my older daughters, and both were excellent. I’m sorry to see the season end, and I’m sure the staff is, too.

The staff, by the way, is wonderful — from camp director Sprout to all of the counselors and kitchen staff. They obviously love children, and their enthusiasm makes everything fun, even doing kapers and attending flag ceremonies!

This past session was the Sals and Pals and Troop Camping session. We had four troops and eight Sal/Pal pairs in camp. We got to sample a bit of almost everything Camp Arrowhead has to offer — climbing Wind Mountain, hiking, canoeing, arts and crafts, games, the climbing wall, campfires, and S’mores. Canoers got to see turtles, tadpoles, and some interesting-looking freshwater sponges. Oh, and some of us went stargazing Friday night, which was an excellent night for watching the stars. From Camp Arrowhead, you can actually see the Milky Way, and we saw several shooting stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending one-on-one time with my daughter. Moms often don’t get a chance to just relax and have fun, and that’s really what you get to do at Sals and Pals. I wish I could take my youngest, too, but she’s only three!

I’m putting up more pictures on the photo page, both from our troop camping session earlier in the season, and from the Sals and Pals session.

If you didn’t get to go to Camp Arrowhead this year, be sure to look for a brochure next year and sign up early!

From Resident Camp Committee Chair Kari Rothi:

Changes to Camp Arrowhead summer schedule
Help us spread the word to the girls in your troops and VISTAs

3RD SESSION CANCELLED:
Unfortunately, 3rd Session has been cancelled due to low enrollment.
We are doing our best to accomodate the few girls who were interested
in third session with their 2nd or 3rd choice options. If you
registered your child online and were not able to record a 2nd or 3rd
choice option, please contact the council office to make your wishes
known. Council staff will also be attempting to contact parents
regardingn their wishes. Third session campers who cannot be
accomodated will have their registration deposit refunded.

Another SALS & PALS session Added!
We’ve heard from a number of leaders and parents that they would be
interested in attending a Sals & Pals session, but that they can only
make that work on a weekend. So to try and accomodate as many people
as possible, we are opening up another Sals & Pals session for the
weekend of August 8-10. You can come up to camp after work on Friday
and be home by mid-afternoon on Sunday. As with the previously
scheduled Sals & Pals session, the cost will be $110 for each
adult/girl pair.

TROOP CAMPING NOW AVAILABLE ALL SUMMER!
If the girls in your troop would like to experience Camp Arrowhead,
but are either unable to come during the sessions scheduled or feel
nervous about coming as individual campers, then troop camping may be
the way to go this summer. The Camp Committee has decided to open up
unused resident camp space for troop camping. Troops can now choose
the exact dates and duration of their stay, while still taking
advantage of all the program options and meal service available to
our regular resident camp campers. Troops need to provide their own
transportation and enough adults to meet Safetywise girl:adult
supervision ratios. Cost is $30 per person, per night. When your
troop gets to camp, the leader will work with the program director to
schedule what your girls want to do while they are at camp. If your
troop wants to cookout, that’s okay too. Food that is commonly
available at camp (including supplies for s’mores) can be ordered
from the kitchen. You can also request assistance from camp staff
members for leadership during the cookout. Specialty items will need
to be brought with you. If you have any questions or concerns,
contact either Leah Kalish (CampDirector@juliette.org) or Tanya
Tulloch (TanyaTulloch@juliette.org) at the council office.

You can also email me with any questions!
Kari Rothi
Resident Camp Committee Chair

Based on current enrollment, some programs have been cancelled, but resident camp will still be held throughout the summer.  Session 3 is the only session that has been cancelled entirely, with the exception of troop camping.  Troops are welcome to sign up for any time during the summer; food, lodging, and a small core staff will be provided.

If you are still planning to register for camp, you can check the online registration system to see if the program(s) you are interested are still available.  There’s still plenty of room!

Don’t forget, Girl Scout camp is for ALL girls, not just current Girl Scouts. If you or someone you know are interested in spending part of the summer outdoors, in the Columbia River Gorge, with activities like rock wall climbing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, canoeing, arts and crafts, and nature study, sign up! Non-Girl Scouts pay an extra $10 — that’s it!

Please, encourage everyone you know (girls age 7-17 and parents/guardians) to register for Camp Arrowhead as soon as possible.  We are at the point where we need to decide if sessions will be cut due to low enrollment.  We need your support!  Below is a message from resident camp committee chairperson Kari Rothi.

Camper registrations have been sluggish and we could really
use an all-out effort from everyone to encourage people to
sign up for camp. The sooner the better, as we are going to
have to start cancelling sessions soon. So if you or
someone you know are considering camp this summer, get your
registrations in ASAP. Along those some lines… if we do
cancel sessions, that will open up space for troops to do
some troop camping this summer, like we had last summer.
So, if the regular sessions aren’t working for you,
consider troop camping

Life is Good…
Kari Rothi

From the GSCRC website:

We are pleased to announce the hiring of our new Camp Director, Leah Kalish!

Leah, aka Sprout, has worked in Girl Scouting for over 10 years at camps throughout the United States. She has also had the opportunity to work for North Atlantic Girl Scouts Overseas in Germany, as well as volunteering at Our Cabana, one of the WAGGGS World Centers in Cuernavaca, Mexico. As a result, Leah is quite familiar with GS program goals, procedures and expectations; she has a diversity of experience that will allow her to think creatively about problems that arise and to offer solutions that others may not have thought of.

Outside of Girl Scouts, Leah works in Environmental Education, currently serving as a Site Supervisor for Outdoor Science School during the academic year. We are very lucky to have her on board and she is excited to join the team at Camp Arrowhead for what is sure to be a great summer season!

Camp brochures have been mailed out (we received ours yesterday), and registration is open! We need campers to help make our grand re-opening great!

Campers can register using the form in the brochure, or online at http://www.girlscoutscrc.org/CMS/programResources/camp.aspx. Non-Girl Scouts are welcome to register, too — they simply pay an extra $10 and become Girl Scout members for the summer.

Financial aid is available for up to 30 percent of the cost of camp. Cookie credits can also be used toward camp fees.

Okay — I can NOT get the photos to upload to this blog, unfortunately (WordPress has changed the way they do this, and it’s not playing nicely with any of the computers I use).  However, I have uploaded the photos to Flickr, and you can view them there:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45513630@N00/

The first group rental of the season at Camp Arrowhead is scheduled for May 2-4, and camp is now ready, thanks to a hardy group of 28 volunteers who pitched in on April 19.

According to Stewardship Committee Chair Eileen Skidmore, “Camp has not been heavily used since Spring a year ago. And yet, after a year of virtually non use, we managed to clean all 4 Units, 42 cabins and other small buildings, put out 188 mattresses, put up 7 platform tents, attempt to put up some tepees, build 2 brand new fire circles, and rebuild at least 6 other fire circles ….and get 3/4th of the new picnic tables built.”

And all this in the midst of snow and hail!

I will have some pictures up very soon — WordPress has changed the way they upload pictures and other files, and I was having a little trouble making it work with my Mac.  The pictures will be up as soon as I can transfer them to my PC

The resident camp brochure and job descriptions for Camp Director and other positions are now posted on the council website!  Registration for summer resident camp is now open, with placement beginning April 25 (I know, that’s right away).  So, get your registrations in quickly to reserve the spot you want!

You can also make Arrowhead site reservations for spring or fall now.  You can download and print a site reservation form on the website; you can also contact Deepa Kadkade at (503) 977-6800 to find out if the weekend you want is available.