This past weekend was the middle of our Trekker’s session 2/3 and the beginning of our Pathfinder’s session 3. It was also the 4th of July holiday weekend. On Friday night we had the showing of the music videos made by the video skill track, and the skits put together by the fine arts skill track. Both were wonderful! On Saturday we had the second Buckhorn Challenge of the summer. The Red team was victorious. Saturday night was the dance hosted by DJ Guy from England. Sunday is always a mellow day after the campers put out so much energy in the Buckhorn Challenge and the Dance. And it is also rafting day for our Trekkers. The reports from campers were that the rafting was great and the water cold.

Monday was the 4th of July and America turned 235 years old! We had a flag raising after breakfast and  played the national anthem. Then we had the morning 4th of July Challenge which had the campers going around in their cabin groups competing in a variety of challenges all around the camp. After a fantastic lunch from our Kitchen folks Greg, Eric, and Nick and a little rest time to charge up for the afternoon, it was off to electives! In the evening we played Battle for Bunker Hill. It is a variation of Capture the Flag with the addition of secret messages and bombs. A Capture the Flag mixed with Stratego. It was a great weekend and now we are into session 3.

This morning our Teen Adventure Campers left for a backpacking trip near Square Top Lake, the Trekker Hiking Skill track headed off to explore some of camp’s 1000 acres of property, and the Trekker Climbers headed up to climb for the day. A busy morning and it looks like another beautiful day in paradise!

Today here at YMCA Camp Santa Maria it was a day of epic challenges! Yes, that’s right…it was another Buckhorn  Challenge! This morning most of our session 2 Pathfinder campers left us to head home for other summer adventures. The Trekkers and a few stayover Pathfinders took part in a Camp Santa Maria classic activity, the Buckhorn Challenge.  For those of you who do not know, Camp Buckhorn is where Camp Santa Maria was before it was here in Bailey. So to honor that foundational starting point the Buckhorn Challenge that was developed at Buckhorn is still played here at Camp Santa Maria. The camp is divided into  4 color teams: Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red. The color teams start the day of competition with the creation of a team cheer. Then the competition begins! Through the whole day each team competes against the other teams in a wide variety of challenges from Ga-Ga, to soccer, to ultimate frisbee, to random challenges. Score is kept, and the winners of this Saturday’s Buckhorn Challenge is (drum roll please)…The RED team!

After a dinner of pulled pork, mashed sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, mixed green veggies, and strawberry short cake everyone headed back to there cabins to get ready for the camp dance hosted by DJ Guy. Guy is one of our international staff this year from England. As you can see above, some of the staff go all out for the dance! the weather here is great, wish you were here.