Unpublished Memorable Camp Events
Wayne always rose early on camp outs and
made his breakfast first. Then he let the boys have the frying pan to cook
their breakfast. “Burned food?” Camper “No that's the way I like it cooked
black like this. They don't make it good like this in the kitchen.”
The campers that were preparing for the
first Boundary Waters – Canadian trip challenged Wally and Wayne to
a race on the Waupaca River. They said fine we will pick the course. The course
Wally picked out was from Weyauwega to Waupaca, up stream. Knowing that the
campers had only practiced going down stream gave the counselors an advantage.
They had to slow down their pace in order to keep the campers in view.
On an Eagle River Trip camper D. B. saw
a small tree that had been cut with its leaves still green. When the camp was
set up D. B. said he needed something he had left in the bus. He was gone a
short time when he returned with a big smile and announced, “D. B. saves.” We
could not understand what he meant until the next day when we went to town. The
cut off tree was standing beside the path. “See,” D. B. said, “I saved this
poor little tree!” No one told him that the tree would not grow without roots.
There was an old-fashioned ice cream
parlor in Eagle River where the boys all went for a treat. Wayne and
Wally also made a stop there to pick up the energy it took to control the
campers. A couple of campers did not have enough money to pay their bill. Wally
noticed them picking up tips and quietly left, hopping that they would not have
to bail out any campers.
The Eagle River area was noted for the
large muskies that were in several nearby lakes. One trip there the group
decided to try to catch one. All went to a small lake that was noted for the
phantom fish of Northern Wisconsin with high expectations. The fish known as
the fish of a 1,000 and 1 casts waited for the 1,000 times a lure hit the water
in vain. One camper said he had a hit, but the fish got away. It was most
likely a submerged log.
Before signing up campers for the second
Sylvania trip Wayne warned the campers that we
would be camping in bear country. A camper, D. B. said he was not afraid of
bears. At the ranger station where we registered for our campsite the ranger
said, “We have had a lot of bear problems this summer so be sure to hang your
food packs high.” In the bus on the way to the launch site D. B. kept saying,
“I thought you were kidding about bears.” That night when it was time to bed
down D. B. asked, “Will bears come into the camp if we have a fire?' “Fire will
keep them away, but unless you have food in your tent they will not bother
you.” “I'll keep the fire going.” D. B. replied. The next morning there was D.
B. wrapped up in his sleeping bag by a fire. All the rest of the party had a
good night's rest. The next night after an active day of exploring and fishing
D. B. slept the night while a bear kept banging the cover on the bear poof
garbage can. He was the only one of the party to sleep soundly that night or
the next.
When Jim Dover was on the Early Bird
Trip to the Wisconsin Dells he had an adventure with a girl who was taking
tickets at Family Land. As usual whenever Jim was attracted to a young lady he
came up to the “Light of my “his” life with, “Honey you are the sweetest gal I've
ever seen.” She asked him to meet her by the train station when she was on
break. They sat together in a train car as it chugged through the park. Jim
never said what they talked about or did in the ride. Anyway, he learned that
she was the daughter of a mafia gang member. After the ride he kept asking when
we were leaving. That night at the Tommy Bartlett Water Show he was very
nervous and jumpy. After the camp was broken and all the gear on the bus Jim
told Wayne let's get out of here as fast as we
can. He kept looking for any car that might be following until we got to
Friendship, Wis.. As Wayne drove through the
town Jim opened the bus door and put his foot in the space of a broken window
in it and swung out over the side of the street clinging to the door. “You
won't find me now,” he screamed as Wayne slowly
parked the bus. “Get your ass in the bus and stay in a seat until we stop at
Camp Waupaca,” Wayne said with anger and
authority.
Camp sites in the area were hard to
find. Hartman Creek State Park was tried but it lacked privacy. They had outhouses
in the group camping area. Gosh that is not the same as peeing on a bush or
digging a shit hole. Also, the campfire was in grills. The supply of dead wood
had been depleted by previous campers so it was hard to come by. Gathering
around a grill for campfire stories is just not the same. What Hartman Creek
had was a great sand beach, apple trees to pick and a waterfall to walk under.
The one trip there that was outstanding was the “Star Watch Trip” sponsored by
Bob Moen.
The camp mechanic, Mr. Muck, had a
meadow that he invited the camp to use. It was used for one year, but the bugs
were terrible because it was a damp place. It was here that Wayne was talked into a strange act of stupidity. Jim
Dover said he had some Indian blood. He could juggle a fire ball if he did a
ceremony. Jim showed Wayne how to play with
fire without getting burned. How dumb could Wayne be.
Anyway, they went to the far field and practiced. True to Jim's word neither of
them were burned. At a camp out on Muck's farm they played catch with a fire
ball to entertain the campers. Jim did not teach Wayne the
word to the secrete ceremony so he never did the fire ball trick again. “If you
believe that you will be safe,” Jim said, “you will never be burned.” “Don't
try this at home,” Wayne told the campers. Well,
why didn't the fire dancers at the Tommy Bartlett Show not burn their, you know,
off? Believe now?
One of Wayne's
assistants asked for some orange and grape juice for the trips. It seemed strange
that it disappeared before it was taken on any trip. Then there were some
bottles in the camp out refrigerator. “What's in those bottles?”, Wayne asked. His assistant said, “Why that's some tonic I
made for when we have to stay in camp.” Tonic or not it smelled bad and it was
made behind the cabin. However it was made, it never exploded and the assistant
did not die.
Ghost Valley was named for the glowing
lights that were made from a thing called Fox Fire. There was a story about a
family that lost their lives there in a sudden early snow storm. The Fox Fire
was said to be the family father trying to summon help for his freezing family.
Stories about strange things that happened there were told by people who lived
in the area.
The main activities at Ghost Valley were
campfire stories and hikes. There were hikes to the US Geological marker on the
hill behind the camp site. It is the highest point in that part of the State of
Wisconsin. There were hikes to the tepee poles that had been rotting in the woods
for years. There were hikes to giant stone boulders to climb
Ghost Valley hike that was one-time
unusual event. There were two valleys at ghost valley. One where the campsite
was and one through a trail in the woods. One day in the other valley a car was
parked with a boy and girl in a sleeping bag beside it. “Wayne what
are those people doing camping on your land?” Wayne,
“Camping.” When the couple saw about ten boys descending on them there was
panic. Scrambling out of the sleeping bad trying to straighten their clothes
they jumped into the car. Burning grass as they left the valley there was
disappointment they left quickly without introducing themselves. Too bad the
boys could not ask them what they were doing as they were very interested.
The weirdest happenings at Ghost Valley
was the night that two moving lights moved across the sky. Both lights looked
like satellites. Both were moving rapidly one from the right and the other
looked like it would pass over the campsite. The one on the right and the other
light seemed to merge. There was a flash of light and both of the lights were
gone. It did not seem to affect the campers, but it ran chills down Wayne's spine. UFO's? Who knows?
Deer Hollow got its name because at dusk
almost every evening deer came down to drink across the pond from the campsite.
The campers were usually quiet and watched the deer drink and frolic. Wayne cannot remember anytime a camper made a noise to
drive the deer away.
Wayne bought a well point and some pipe
to make a well at Deer Hollow. It was not for drinking but the cold water from
the pump was used to cool off and clean up campers. Also, the water from the
pump was easier to get than dip water from the pond.
Pine trees around the campsite were
great for climbing. Eatable parts of the pine trees were there for tasting. A
true story of a Swedish soldier who escaped from a Russian POW camp was told.
He has survived on the “pine nuts” he picked off the trees. The soldier made it
home traveling two months and over 500 miles. He told Wayne that
he never wanted to ever eat another piece of a pine tree.
The fields had clover blossoms that held
a sweet syrup that could be sucked out of the individual parts of the flower.
Many campers tried it and seemed surprised that the taste was similar to honey.
With a fork branch from a willow
tree Wayne demonstrated how to “witch” for an
underground stream of water. Some campers had the gift. Some faked it
after Wayne showed them the underground stream.
Some thought it fake. Witching for water was taught to Wayne by
an old Sioux Indian who had found an underground stream of water after they had
drilled a couple of dry wells. This was how the Sioux survived when they had to
retreat during the war years.
By charging a glow in the dark “flying
disk” several camp outs included a game on the open fields.
This was popular until the disk lost it
glow one night and could not be found. Most likely it came to rest in a pine
tree.
At the Deer Hollow camp site the last
year that Wayne took campers, one night near
the end of camp the site was surrounded by fire. Fox fire that is. The piles of
decaying wood glowed and flickered as if they were burning. It was weird and
scary, but just nature giving the campers one last show.
On the second Sylvania trip the radiator
on the old Carry All began to steam so we pulled into a way side stop. There
was no pump for water there so we found a can in the garbage can and passed it
around. The trip was saved by the efforts of the campers. We made it on to our
destination with a vehicle full of piss.
Wayne often drove campers to movies,
competitions with another camp, the Amherst Fair, cabin nights out. One time
the trip was to a bowling alley. Teams were chosen by the campers with one team
one person short. Wayne was asked to be the
last man on one of the teams. He told them that he had never bowled so he could
not be helpful. The team short of a man would not believe him. They
fitted Wayne out with a ball and the game was
on. There was no doubt that Wayne told the
truth. By the end of the game his score equaled the number of gutter balls he
threw. The word must have gotten out as Wayne was
never asked to fill a team again.
Campers on a trip from Waupaca, “Can't
this bus go any faster? Wayne step on
it!” Wayne did step on it as asked, the brakes
that is. The bus stopped suddenly. Wayne accidentally
turned on the flashing bus lights at the same time and stopped traffic in both
directions. The rest of the ride to camp was in silence. (Webmaster’s comment:
I was on the bus when this happened!!)
It had been raining one cook out day but
it had stopped in mid-afternoon. Although the sticks that campers picked up for
the fire were wet the picnic meal was on. A Junior Counselor in cabin 2 stayed
at the cabin to get a fire going as the rest of camp was at flag
lowering. Wayne was in the Trip Shack working
on how to get a trip out for the campers who's had been canceled. Then there
was a large explosion in the direction of Cabin 2. He rushed out thinking the
water heater had blown up. Standing by the fire pit for the cabin was the
Junior Counselor in shock and his hair singed. “What happened,” Wayne asked. He pointed to a 5-gallon gas can. “The wood
was wet and I could not get it burning so I threw some gas on it.” It seems
that there was a spark in the wood pile that caused the gas to explode as it
hit the wood. No one was seriously injured and the wood smoldering.
Story telling was always a mystery
to Wayne. If a story was based on true things the
campers would often say, “You just made it up.” Yet “Big Mo” the turtle story
that was made up on a train trip home was taken as fact. Campers often reported
seeing Big Mo in the lake for many years. The campsite in “Ghost Valley” was
the site of the tragic death of the Neal Eastman family in the 1800's. The
lights that were often seen in the area were most likely made by Fox Fire. An
Eastman decedent of the long dead Neal Eastman was living in Rural. His name
was also Neal and was on his mailbox. Campers who saw his mail box believed
that this story was an entirely made-up story.