Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alumni, and Friends,
Greetings from Camp, where we are still reveling in the memories of another great summer on the ranch. This summer was full of exciting new and familiar adventures: trips to the Alps, a newly-revived outpost at Emily's, hikes up Gates Mountain, and fire hose dances at the Harvest Festival were just a few of the highlights. Now that camp is over, we have been busily working on the new kitchen. As soon as the last group of family campers disappeared down Hyampom Road, we got straight to work pouring concrete, putting on the roof, and winterizing the new building so that we can continue to make progress once cooler, wetter weather sets in. We are excited to show you the finished project and serve up the first spaghetti dinner when camp begins in June. Until then, you can keep up with updates and photos from the project on our Kitchen Page.
There are some other exciting things in the works as well. Enrollment is open for summer 2019 and sessions are filling up quickly. We made the decision to change our fourth session to a two-week session and are excited to offer that option to new and returning families this year. You can see dates and rates and enroll on our website.
We are also looking forward to more opportunities to connect with the camp community outside of the ranch this year. We'll be spending the weekend of November 3-4 in the Bay Area hosting an alumni gathering and an open house in Berkeley. Whether you attended camp 50 years ago or just joined the ranch family last summer, we'd love to catch up with you, hear about your camp experience, and tell you about the exciting things going on at the ranch. The events will be hosted by camp directors, staff, and the advisory board. We are planning to host similar events in Southern California in the spring.
We hope you'll enjoy this issue of Campservations, which features a number of stories from campers who spent time at the Emily's Outpost this summer. For me personally, it's truly special to see a new generation connect with the homesteading experience and embrace the pioneer values of building community and respect for the environment that are so fundamental to the Bar 717 philosophy.
Wishing you all the best from all of us here at the Ranch,
Kent
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