This year, Camp Adahi, a six day long sleep-away camp up near Nelder Grove, was held from July 19-24. Since 1954, this annual camp has only been made possible by Madera Heart of California Camp Fire volunteers of all ages who prepare for this unique camp months in advance.
The Camp Adahi campers don’t sleep in cabins. Instead, they make their living spaces out of tarps, easy-ups, and comfy air mattresses, sleeping literally under the stars in the open air.
With no internet access, these campers, ranging from 3rd to 8th graders, keep their week busy with many different fun activities. This year, this included games, hiking, archery, cooking, tent-making, and creative art.
During these activities, Camp Adahi counselors taught the campers many useful skills such as how to navigate the woods with a compass, how to safely and accurately shoot a bow, how to cook over a campfire, how to create their own protected shelters when camping, and how to have fun making their own beaded shark keychains.
On Tuesday of the camp, the campers all took part in one of the camp’s main traditions: Sequoia Games. These games are put on entirely by the oldest tribe of campers, the 8th graders, also known as the Sequoias.
Each year the Sequoias choose a different theme for the games and the entire camp is mixed together and randomly sorted into color teams to compete. This allows campers to get to know other campers and counselors not in their age group, and they get to spend the afternoon dressing up in colored clothing, putting on colored face paint, and making up chants to yell with their team to show their enthusiasm.
This year, the campers had to solve a mystery about a missing shark, this year’s camp mascot as decided by campers’ votes from the previous year, with many familiar counselors’ faces as their main suspects. Team members had to work together to compete in games, gain evidence, and form their own theories about who was behind the fake mystery.
The fun doesn’t end when Sequoia Games are over, however. Thursday is Camp Adahi’s annual hike day. On this day, each tribe of campers, divided by grade, got to explore one of the many beautiful hiking spots in the surrounding Sierra National Forest.
This year, the Gooseberry group, consisting of the 3rd grade campers, explored Camp Adahi’s Nelder Creek, donning their swimsuits and water shoes for their creek hike. Meanwhile, the Dogwood Group (4th graders) hiked the nearby Lewis Creek Trail to Red Rock Falls and the Manzanita group (5th graders) continued a Camp Adahi tradition by hiking to George’s Falls, allowing both groups a chance to cool off in their swimsuits after their hikes. The Cedar group (6th graders) hiked the Chimney Tree Trail all the way to the Bull Buck tree, a 2,724 year old giant sequoia with an enormous height of around 246 feet and a circumference of around 84 feet.
But, as the campers themselves might tell you, the best part of hike day is the food, with sandwiches for the hike prepared by Camp Adahi’s own camp cooks, and shaved ice served by the Sequoia tribe as a refreshing treat for campers who have completed their hikes.
Every year, the camp cooks sacrifice their own time to make delicious meals for the entire camp all week long, causing camp food to become many camper’s favorite parts of Camp Adahi. Some of the many main favorites include cinnamon rolls, tri-tip, spaghetti, and homemade strawberry dessert pizzas.
One of the most exciting days at camp is Friday, and not just because that’s the day everyone goes home.
The campers started the day with their last “druther” activity, a craft or game, followed by water games, both put on by the high school-aged junior counselors, giving them a chance to cool off from the heat. That night, the campers, and their newly arrived family members, all came together for council fire one last time.
All week, the campers had been singing together, writing their own songs, and performing skits around the campfire at council fire, and the campers got the chance to share all the fun they had that week with their family through the form of both original songs and funny skits.
Camp Adahi’s junior counselors also play a big role in this final camp gathering. Another council fire tradition is flag retirement, done by the junior counselors who have just graduated high school.
This respectful flag burning ceremony says goodbye and officially retires one of our country’s old unserviceable flags with dignity. This is the preferred way to retire a flag, according to the U.S. flag code.
Additionally, at this final council fire, the Big John award (awarded in memory of John Matousek) is given to a junior counselor who stands out for their extreme dedication to Camp Fire, both during Camp Adahi and outside of it.
This year’s award winner was Matthew Young, chosen for his many hours of dedication to Camp Fire through helping set up Camp Adahi and volunteering as a counselor.
As camp comes to an end, a physical reminder of this year’s memories is put up, created during the week by the camp “dudes” out of a fallen and stripped tree trunk and engraved and painted with symbols of this year’s stories, inside jokes, and activities.
This year, one special engraving of a chair references one of our senior counselors, Tony Donatelli, and the hilarious skit he created with his Gooseberry group. At the very top of this year’s tall trunk is a wind vane with a metal shark, this year’s camp mascot.
Camp Adahi is a truly unforgettable week for all of our campers and counselors, uniting new traditions with the old and bringing people of all ages together. None of this would be possible without our gracious volunteer counselors as well as all the campers’ dedicated parents and family members who support us yearly. We hope you can join us next time for the year of the axolotl.
Camp Fire Heart of California’s registration officially opens in August for new leaders, clubs and members. Contact Madera’s office at (559) 673-5771 if anyone is interested in joining this group or finding more about Camp Fire.