by Alex Slauenwhite
On our second night at Mosquito Creek in the Canadian Rockies, our camp director, Joe Smith, gathered everyone who wanted to join in the common area of the hostel. He was going to do some magic and card tricks. For one of them, Joe would leave the room while everyone chose a colour and focused on it. Then he would come back in, think hard about what the colour might be, and say whatever came into his mind. Somehow, he got it right every time. Even the other staff members were surprised.
I enjoyed the evening, but the thing I remember is what happened after the show was over. Some people stayed in the common area and talked, some played board games or cards, and others went off and did their own thing. I mostly stayed around talking to whoever was around, including some of the staff, who were great to talk to.
There was no mobile phone service at Mosquito Creek, and that made it easier for all of us to interact with each other. Some of us sat around the fire and chatted. Some played games, and some went to play in the woods. Without phones, we spent more time together. That was one of the reasons Mosquito Creek was probably the biggest highlight of the entire camp for me.
This post is cross-posted from ursa, part of Third Schools
| Campers wind down the trail toward a turquoise river, with the Rockies rising on every side.
