At Camp Tanasi, our summer resident camp, girls have the chance to commune with nature in a variety of approaches. Some approaches are more committed than others, such as Wilderness Week. During Wilderness Week, campers sleep in camping hammocks provided by the camp in a primitive outdoor unit with access to potable water. Each camper is still able to participate in traditional camp activities in the morning with other campers in the main camp before going back to the Wilderness unit. While in their unit, campers participate in activities that teach skills such as knife usage, lashing, wild-facility use, campfire cooking, and more. Each evening the Wilderness girls cook their own dinner over a campfire, after enjoying breakfast and lunch at the dining hall with the other campers. 

Does this sound like a fun way to spend some of your summer vacation? It is! Just ask some of the Cadettes and Seniors who participated in Wilderness Week while at Camp Tanasi.

Mattalyn explains why she wanted to participate in Wilderness Week, “I love nature…I mean a lot of people complain about noise where they live and [camping at Tanasi] is just silence compared to it. The crickets and cicadas sing while you go to sleep. It’s a lot of fun. You get to be with the other counselors and the other campers, and you get to socialize with other groups. And the counselors are really what make this camp amazing.”

Mattalyn also says that, “Being outdoors…it’s quite a turnoff nowadays; like [Wilderness Week] is completely primitive, but it’s nice to unplug and just be with friends and just meet people.”

Ava, left, and Mattalyn, right, enjoy a hammock with a friend.

The people of Camp Tanasi are Mattalyn’s favorite thing about camp, and about Girl Scouts in general. She says, “There’s just great people around; everywhere I turn there’s a good person. No one is truly mean; everyone is kind and wants to help each other. Everyone is just a good person and you just feel safe; there’s no real threat, there’s no bullies. It’s a safe and peaceful place.” 

Another camper, Ava, says that she signed up for Wilderness Week for the chance to sleep in a hammock! She says, “At first I thought I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep, but actually it’s really soothing and it really comfortable. You get to do a lot of activities, and you get to set up your own hammock. You make your own food, and it’s a lot of fun. And we’re on a mountain so we get to hike down it every day and hike back up.”

 Participating in summer resident camp, and especially doing Wilderness Week, helps girls get out of their comfort zone right alongside fellow Girl Scouts. It gets them up close and personal with nature, and they realize how tough and capable they actually are. Plus, it gives them something great to talk about when asked what they did over summer vacation!