Lake Life at Maine Camps

Guest blog post for MCE by alumna camper Orli, “your camp big sister”

Summer camps in Maine are magical, and what makes them especially enchanting are the lakes. Lakes are the heart of all the excitement. From early morning polar bear plunges to late night twilight bumper tubing, the best memories are made on the lake.

As a young camper, I spent hours on the lake each day. My days were packed with time to enjoy instructional and recreational swimming, sailing, waterskiing, and paddleboarding. In instructional swimming, I built up skills, making me a stronger swimmer, and in recreational swimming, my friends and I had fun sliding down the Aquaglide and playing on the Rockit. In my first year of camp, the sailing staff took us out on the sailboats and started teaching us to sail. Just a few years later, I could sail a Hobie 16 all by myself, and I would go on rides around the lake daily with my friends.

One of my favorite camp traditions that I participated in was completing Lake Swim. All summer, I attended “Lake Swim Prep,” where I would swim laps and tread water, building up endurance for the 1¼ miles swim at the end of the summer. During prep periods, music played, and I bonded with campers I was not previously friends with. Spending every day with a new group of people brought us together and created new friendships. On the day of the actual Lake Swim, swimmers swim alongside a canoe with a lifeguard and a friend. As I swam, my friend Cali played music and cheered me on, encouraging me to push through and finish. It was truly one of the most rewarding experiences of camp.

The lake is a place where the whole camp comes together. As the focal point of our camp, we gather at the lake to celebrate. The firepit of my camp overlooks the lake, so when we all gather to celebrate the start and end of camp, we get to watch the beautiful sunset over the glistening lake. And, for the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathers at the lake’s edge to watch the fireworks above the lake. Enjoying these special moments with the entire camp brings us all together. Campers and counselors run in different directions all day, but having the lake to go to at the end of the day unites us.

Spending my summers on Maine lakes is an experience like no other. It is a joy that can be felt nowhere else and will stay with me forever. From learning to sail to participating in the various traditions that revolve around the lake, I have learned so much from Maine’s lakes.