This is Jump Mountain. She isn't exceptionally tall, and the only thing that really distinguishes her from other mountains is the small hump on the side. But I had a lot of happy moments under Jump's watchful eye.
I went to Camp Lachlan for 7 summers, which is in Rockbridge Baths at the base of Jump Mountain. When I moved to Richmond from Lynchburg when I was 10 years old, I had a hard time being away from my best friends. They all went to Camp Lachlan, so I started going when I was 11 to keep in touch with them. It's a 3-week long girls' camp that has only one session all summer so everyone's at camp at the same time. It's a boys' camp during the beginning of the summer, and then the girls go from the end of July to the middle of August.
I don't think I've ever been homesick while there, but I've certainly been campsick while home. It's hard for anyone to not feel perfectly at home there. Maybe because it's only girls there (aside from 5-7 "Buzzards" who are counselors during the boys' camp and then stay to take care of man things like painting fences and fixing leaks), but there's no pressure to be anyone but yourself. There's no point in wearing make up that you're going to sweat off. Everyone bathes in a lake since there aren't showers. There aren't even real toilets, but just a few "johnny houses" as we call them.
Every day is perfectly scheduled. Wake up at 8am for flag raising, go down to breakfast, brush your teeth in a trough (yes... a trough), clean up the cabin for inspection, then make your way down to Devotions. Devotions is the only real time during the day that you remember that Camp Lachlan is actually a Christian camp. At Devotions, Nancy, the owner's wife, teaches life lessons and how to love each other and love yourself. Sometimes she reads something out of the Bible, but most of the time, she taught us the way my mother has taught me lessons, with stories and love. After Devotions, it's time for morning activities like tennis, horseback riding, riflery, archery, drama, etc. The bugle blows (by the way, Leebo the owner blows a bugle to let the camp know when it's time to do something else) around noon for lunch, and then it's up to the cabins for rest hour. I never liked rest hour as a kid, but as I got older I appreciated the time to write letters and nap in peace. Then, we got into groups for team games, like kickball, capture the flag, etc. And then, the best time of the day. Swim call. I loved getting in that disgusting lake and feeling like I was getting clean. Looking back on everything now that I know a lot about microbes, bathing in a lake really shouldn't even be legal, but no one at Camp Lachlan cares. We're too busy having fun. So after swim call, there's a little bit of free time before dinner. Usually people sit around and knit (a very popular activity there) or write letters or chat. After dinner, there's more free time until an evening activity called Camp Gathering. It would start with singing camp songs for about 30 minutes and then the activity would begin. Sometimes Leebo would tell us stories about how Jump Mountain got its name (an essentially Romeo and Juliet story about a couple Native Americans from feuding tribes who fall in love and jump to their deaths to be in peace together) or sometimes we would put on skits or something. Looking back on it, I have to credit camp for my love for performing. Then, we get together in a circle and sang one last song before heading up Cabin Hill for bed. Leebo would blow TAPS on his bugle and we would all scream "GOODNIGHT!" in unison loud enough for everyone at the bottom of the hill to hear us.
I loved the sisterhood and ability to be myself. I loved that I made new friends and kept in contact with old ones. When I turned 16, I became a counselor, and I loved that too. But when girls get older, drama happens, and I felt camp's magic slipping away from me. I was only a counselor for 2 years before I stopped coming back. It was hard being away for such a large chunk of time during the summer when I was trying to work and make money while out of school. I really miss how it used to be when I was a kid though. There are so many memories I have, and I'm sad to say that I don't keep in touch with many camp friends anymore. The ones who stayed for summers when they were in college got extremely close, and almost every Buzzard who was there when I was there is now married to a counselor.
Sometimes I think of going back and visiting, but I'm afraid if I go back, I'll realize how out of place I am now and will lose that magic forever. I'm so thankful that my parents were willing to shell out the money to send me there every summer. It made me appreciate them and I learned valuable lessons.
I hope that someday I will go back. I hope that my daughters will go there and experience the same sisterhood that is usually overlooked. I hope that Camp Lachlan will continue to teach little girls how to love.
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