NJICL Letters from Camp 2023 – Wednesday Night Edition
Good Evening NJ@KT Family,
Campers just wrapped up the evening’s activities and bike olympics, and are starting to retire to their dorms after an action packed day in the Northeast Kingdom. Since our morning letter campers have undoubtedly earned a great night of rest.
The two groups who worked with the Kingdom Trails Association Trail Crew built over 120 yards of trail over at the Kingdom Campground. The trail, which is entirely on private land, will be a part of an exciting expansion of the KT network, eventually connecting the system to nearby Lyndonville. It was noted by several coaches this evening at our meeting that our kids have an amazing work ethic. They were helpful and supportive of each other in the hot, humid and buggy environment and really put their heads down and worked. This is a snippet of the email I received from the KTA today: “Thank you SO much for today! I heard nothing but amazing things from the trail crew; y’all are AWESOME!”
The building today called for clearing the duff layer towards the tail end of the trail as it approaches camp
The four remaining ride groups attended skills clinics with Cognition Coaching today and the feedback was once again tremendously inspiring and beneficial for attendees. We’ve heard so many stories of students and coaches picking up new skills and things “clicking” for folks. We heard of riders screaming with joy as they accomplished a goal or rode a feature that had intimidated them before. We heard stories of tears of joy being shared after these clinics. Simply put, we love Cognition Coaching and our friend Ben, and we believe in the Cognition method.
It is difficult to capture how impactful these on trail skills clinics are for our students and coaches, but rest assured that they were pretty dang amazing! Thank you Ben!
In addition to the wonderful clinics and trail building, our campers made a big push today to get a lot of riding in. There is a threat of weather tomorrow which may impact the riding portion of our schedule (We are prepared to pivot to rainy day activities!) so the ride groups made a serious push to get quality miles in, especially on trails that they have not yet ridden this week. I heard that one group clicked off 30 miles today! Another group who may not have done as many miles spent the entire day bonding and riding, was the last to return to camp, and really inspired the staff and other groups alike.
Some random on trail photos below, but please be sure to check out the shared folder for all kinds of awesomeness!
Before turning in for the night campers participated in bike olympics (limbo) and crafts.
Finally, campers and coaches did a whirlwind cleanup of the outside spaces around the dining hall in preparation for potential inclimate weather tomorrow. Our campers put on a display of teamwork that was commended by all! Many hands made light work!
Wishing you a wonderful evening!
