Right now, I’m sitting on the dining hall porch (one of my absolute favorite views in the world) watching campers march down to the gym in all their funky flair to play one of our favorite evening programs: Counselor Hunt.
It’s quieter than usual this evening because most of our campers are actually out on various adventures. Our 7th and 8th graders are currently backpacking in Pisgah National Forest, the 10th graders are on their overnight canoe trip on Lake Jocassee, the 6th graders are preparing for their in-camp overnights across the lake, and the 9th graders are in town doing an exercise on optimism and gratitude.
This morning, however, the energy was much different. I was called down to the lower parking lot, where campers were packing their packs and filling their water bottles in preparation for their upcoming trips, to speak with a camper who was not very excited about going. She told me she had backpacked multiple times before and simply wasn’t interested in this particular trip. She wasn’t willing to share the specific root of her frustrations, but we sat together and talked about what she stood to gain by going.
Ultimately, I gave her a choice: she could sit this one out, or she could go. I’m not of the mindset that we can force campers to do anything, and I find giving them a well-informed choice is always what they truly need.
I offered that choice knowing deep down that the magic happens in the moments we choose the harder path. I knew that the real value wasn’t the trip itself, but the deep connection she would build with her cabinmates through shared adversity. After a quiet moment of reflection, she chose the harder experience. She looked at me and said she wanted to go. She was driven by the excitement of returning to camp with a much better story than if she had stayed behind.
Off-camp trips are a huge part of the Pinnacle culture. In fact, every camper will spend at least two full days off camp (hiking, white water rafting, canoeing, mountain biking, etc). They aren’t just “hard-core experiences” for kids who love the outdoors. In fact, unlike the camper I spoke to today, most of our campers have never spent the night in a tent or paddled down a river. We know this is likely their first time cooking over a camp stove, going to the bathroom in the woods, hiking a trail, or sleeping under the stars.
There’s a method behind our madness.
After a backpack, canoe, or even an in-camp overnight trip, cabins return fundamentally transformed. They return bonded. They have a shared experience, away from the rest of the world, where they’ve done something genuinely challenging. Some will have hiked through a sudden downpour, others will realize they forgot the salt so their dinner isn’t exactly delicious, and some will experience a twist in the adventure that was never part of the original plan. While we spend months hiring and training our staff to ensure campers are always safe and highly prepared, these little moments of friction aren’t failures; they are an essential part of the process.
When your campers return home in a few weeks, they are absolutely going to talk about some kind of hardship they had to endure. They’ve been living in the woods with no TV, no phones, and plenty of bugs. They might tell you about the daily walk up the steep hill from Lakeside that felt impossible, a thunderstorm that kept them awake while rain pelted on their cabin’s tin roof, or a night when they missed home so much they cried.
When they share these stories, I want to encourage you to listen through that same lens of growth.
Instead of jumping in to smooth over the discomfort they felt, help them feel immensely proud of how they overcame those obstacles. Validate the grit it took to keep walking. Celebrate the bland pasta. Laugh with them over the rainy hike.
When we let our children lean into the discomfort of a challenge and come out on the other side, we give them proof of their own resilience (one of our 5Rs). If they can hike miles through Pisgah National Forest, sleep through a storm, and paddle down the Nantahala River, what else can they do?
Enjoy the quiet of the evening at home, and get ready. The stories your children are creating right now are going to be spectacular.
