LAKE SAMISH — It was taco day and the sun was shining. It was a great day at Lutherwood Camp and Retreat Center, perched on the edge of Lake Samish.
On the grassy expanse in front of the cantina, a group of 12 teens from the camp’s waterski and wakeboard camp have gathered. Filled up on tacos, they chatter about the afternoon’s big event: the challenge course.
In a few minutes they’ll be high up in the trees, a world away from the comforts of the waters they’ve been in all week. Some are excited, some are scared, but they all have to give it a shot.
“It’s that individual challenge of stretching themselves out of their usual comfort base,” says Brandon Scheer, program director and challenge course manager at the camp, who goes by the nickname Goat. “For some people it might be putting on the gear and touching the ladder. There’s a challenge for everyone while they’re up there.”
After a brisk hike through the woods, accompanied by four camp employees who go by the nicknames Goat, Scuba, Spork and Buckle, the kids make it to a clearing surrounded by a ring of trees. Though nothing on the ground suggests a challenge, all they have to do is look up.
These trees aren’t just trees. About 20 feet in the air, the circle of trees is connected by an intricate system of ropes, bridges and logs, with a platform around each trunk to stand on. In all, there are 12 activities up there, from tightrope walking to the leap of faith to the vines.
Madi Simonton’s stomach turns as she looks up.
The 13-year-old Bellingham resident has seen these trees before. Last summer, she tried the high course for the first time.
“Last year, I climbed up the ladder, got to the top and came down,” she recalls. She spent most of the time sitting on the itchy bark in her helmet while the other campers howled through the trees like spider monkeys. Before Simonton has to hit the trees, the kids and counselors gather in a circle, where Spork gives a pep talk. The group has to follow a few simple rules: Do your 100 percent, no more, no less; no putdowns, to others or to yourself; and stop, when you feel unsafe or if a counselor tells you to.
They break up into two groups to enter the trees from two different areas; one is a high climb up a ladder and pole, and the other is a lower climb to an ascending log and rope bridge. This year, Simonton is in the high pole group, and she has dibs on going last.
The camp has three high challenge courses. In addition to the Hub and Spoke course the campers tried on this day, there’s also a three-sided climbing wall, the back side of which is called the Vertical Playpen. Instead of the usual grab spots, the playpen is laced with tires and other obstacles for the climbers to get past with help from one another.
The last, and usually most intense, of the challenges is the Pamper Pole. It’s a 20-foot telephone pole that the campers must climb. But the real trick is standing on the small circular surface at the top and then jumping to reach a trapeze.
“Everyone is roped in and harnessed up for that, but that one gets me every time,” Scheer says. “It’s great. I haven’t seen anyone who doesn’t get a little nervous when they’re standing up on that pole and it’s shaking a little bit.”
The camp set up the challenge courses in 1999, and since then they’ve been used by youth groups, corporations, campers and even bachelorette parties. Scheer has worked at the camp for the past six summers, and has been a full-time employee for more than three years.
“For me, it gets more and more exciting as it goes on,” Scheer says.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
