End of Summer

I can't believe the summer is over! I find with each year, the two months with campers goes by more and more quickly. Both sessions were a blast this year! We had new programs and trips, great campers, good weather, and lots of good stories to tell. I hope you've been able to read some of the stories the campers have told on the posts below. I want to encourage campers or parents who have adventures and stories to share to send me an email, ashley@sanbornwesterncamps.com, and we can get them up on the blog!

Things are pretty quiet around here now. We are getting ready for school weeks to start in just a couple of weeks. Each camper that came through, returning or new, brought personal experiences, outlooks, and excitement to camp. These made this year a one-of-a-kind adventure with memories not to be forgotten soon!

I personally learned a lot from all the campers this summer. The Juniors kept me laughing and having fun. It was encouraging to see girls who had never ridden before and were slightly nervous, smiling from ear to ear on the final rides and talking about coming back to ride next year. The maturity with which the JCs worked with the younger campers and set an example for the rest of the camp went beyond any expectations I had. They are already planning their return as staff in three summers. I actually ran into a JC from first session yesterday and she excitedly told me about a mini reunion she and her camp friends are planning for this winter. It is great to watch friendships grow and develop during a month at camp, and continue far into the future!

I am already looking forward to next summer!

Camper Posts

While we've been extremely busy here at camp, several more girls wrote about their experiences.

YAY!!!

Here at Camp Sanborn everything is so exciting and fun! Especially all the wide variety of activities that we get to choose from. There is an awesome swimming pool with an amazing slide! I have already climbed a mountain that was 14,265 feet tall called Mount Quandry. I have also already made tons of friends who are very close to me! The dances are also super fun! The music that they play is usually really good! I have also grown a love for riding horses in the arena! I love camp Sanborn!!! I have grown a love with it that is inseparable! Come to Camp Sanborn and enjoy the best summer of your life!!!

--Gracie Hurley

Things to Know if You Want to Come to Sanborn

If you like adventure, horseback riding, hiking, camping, dancing, games and a whole lot more stuff than this is your camp. This camp has great food everyday! There’s Gymkhana where you compete against the boys in horse games like barrels. There’s always a talent show where you can show your talent. If you are in the month long session you can sign up for 4 or 5 day horse trips, or to climb big mountains. You can even sign up to climb Pikes Peak! The ages are 7-16. Don’t worry, you can always write your parents letters! You always get to go on overnights. Sanborn is awesome! Don’t worry if you don’t have a friend when you come, you will always make new friends! The girls’ camp is called High Trails and the boys’ camp is called Big Spring. Every Saturday night you go to Big Spring to have a dance with the boys! There’s always something to do every day! You can either come for a month or 2 weeks! So I think everybody should come to Sanborn! It’s a great camp!!!

--Olivia Seely

Things I Most Enjoyed

Camp Sanborn is the most thrilling, exciting, and joyful camp around. It’s been the best experience I have ever had! This camp has made me decide for myself. I love everything about this place! All the people, activities, and the fun trips are going to be in my memory forever! My favorite thing I have done here so far are all of the overnights. I mostly enjoyed my 4-day horseback riding trip. I love riding horses and this trip made me become closer to them. I also enjoyed my technical rock overnight. It was with my whole cabinside and was a blast! I got to climb real rocks for the first time! Even though I got lots of bruises, it was worth it. I even climbed Mt. Quandry! It was exhausting, but the view was spectacular! That is was I enjoyed most.

--Emilie Schaphorst

EHMAGAWD!!

I just came back from my amazing long trip. I hiked a 14,110 foot tall mountain called Pikes Peak. It was so tiring, but super fun. Also, we had a spectacular view. When we finally summitted, we ate donuts and french fries. There was also a huge gift shop. The last day, after hiking all the way down from the Mother Ridge to the base of the Crags, we were starving, so we ate pizza at Joe Mama’s. This is the trip that I have enjoyed the most.

--Ana Pichardo

Sanborn Activities

Sanborn is so much fun! We get to do all kinds of fun stuff; if you come for a month, you get to do stuff like Gymkhana, long trips, hiking, horseback riding, art, dancing, games, High Trails and Big Spring talent show, swimming, and a ton of other activities. If you come as a junior, you get to have just as much fun only you come for two weeks. If you love adventure, fun, and great friends and counselors, come to Sanborn and go home with a smile on your face. There are also dances, where you get together with Big Spring. Every dance has a theme. My name is Kate and I am at High Trails. It is awesome, and I am sure that Big Spring is just as fun. Meals are so yummy. The cooks are great. When you have campfires, you learn a bunch of new fun songs. You also get to roast marshmallows by the fire. Overnights are fun too. Like the one to Tie Cabin where the Juniors went. So come to Sanborn! It is great!!! (It is for 7 – 16 year olds)

--Kate Grylicki

Sanborn Camp

My name is Alivia, and this is my first year at camp. My experience here has been so fun. On the first day I came I was very shy, but after my mom left, I made lots of friends who are all very nice. Before the first day ended for sleep, our counselor reads a story. After that, we have flashlight time, where we can read, write, or just sleep. If we haven’t already fallen asleep at flashlight time, you go to sleep after. In the morning you have breakfast at 8:00 and then you have cabin clean-up to make you space nice and clean. After that, we normally go on a morning hike. After your hike you have lunch and after lunch is rest time where you are in your cabin doing quiet things. After this, you will have more activities, which are very fun. Then you have dinner. Then the cycle starts over with different hikes and activities. After a couple of days, you go on a camping trip. On my camping trip it hailed, so you have to bring warm clothes. Sanborn is very fun and you will enjoy this camp very much.

--Alivia Nelson

Long Trips

I just got back from long trips yesterday. I was on Pikes Peak. I really liked it, but it was really exhausting. The first day, we had an easy hike to our first campsite. On the second day, we woke up at 3:00! That day, we hiked the Mother Ridge. We met a guy named Brad who was 40 and had muscular dystrophe. Pikes Peak was his 8^th Colorado fourteener! After we went up the Mother Ridge, we hike down into a valley and set up camp. On the third day, we woke up at 3:00 again and hiked up Pike Peak! It was easier than I expected but the last 600 feet was entirely rock, so we had to rock scramble up to the top. At about 10 or 10:30 we summitted! There was a donut shop/gift shop up on top. There were tons of tourists who either drove up or took the train, and they looked at us like we were crazy. The donuts were really gross though. We went back to our campsite and crashed. We had dinner at 9:00 because it rained for like 5 hours. On the fourth and last day, we woke up at 6:00, we climbed up the valley, down the Mother Ridge and down to Lottie with the vans. Then, we went to get pizza at Jo Mama’s. I had a slice of cheese and 1 ½ slices of a pizza that is a vegetarians nightmare. It had pepperoni, ground beef, sausage, salami, bacon and ham. After pizza we came back to camp and crashed.

--Chandler Kropp

Tie Cabin Overnight

Juniper East went our first overnight on Wednesday. It took about 1 hour to get there. When we got half way, everyone was super tired, so we took off our packs and laid down. When the counselors told us it was time to go we all groaned, but we kept going. When we finally got there, we set up out tents and got settled in. After that, we ate bagels for lunch. Then we explored the cabin. When we were looking through the doors we found an old picture that was dated 1912. Then we ate dinner. We ate pita bread pizza. We had to stop and take our food into the tents early because there was a thunder storm. After a while, we went to bed. The next morning we packed and ate crepes. It was so good. Then we hiked for another hour back. Almost all of us fell asleep. Overall, it was a great first trip.

--Myriah Pitt

Sanborn

Camp has been great. It is my first year, and already I know that I am definitely going to come back. I love all of my choices of activities that we get to choose from like horseback riding, climbing mountains and so much more. I have met so many people I know I will be friends with forever. I love them all so much. An activity I have done was a four day horse trip. It was a blast, and I became so much more comfortable on horse and I am a much better rider than I was before I came to camp. The dances and Saturday Specials are loads of fun too because they are co-ed, long and you are always active. Colorado is beautiful and having camp here is great with such a gorgeous view. I love Sanborn and you should definitely try it.

--Tessa Oliver

My Long Trip

We rode in one of the vans, and it was about 2 hours long. When we got there, we set up tents and ate lunch. Then we unpacked. For dinner, we had chicken noodle soup or tomato soup. The people that were climbing went to sleep right after dinner. We wore up at 3:00am and started climbing at 4:00. We summitted and got back at 11:30. And for lunch, we had crackers. We did arts and crafts for the rest of the day until dinner, which were noodles. The next morning, we went to South Park City, and looked at the old buildings and we ate lunch and got ice cream. It was delicious.

--Vivi McNett

Sanborn is the most amazing experience EVER. We do white water rafting, horseback riding, long trips (3,4, and 5 day), swimming at the pool (which has an awesome slide), science and TONS more. I love it here.

--Sierra Zischke

They Pay Me to do This?

Last week, I was able to summit Mount Shavano with our co-ed S.O.L.E. service trip. The boys were so supportive of the girls as we climbed the 14,000 foot mountain. All 10 of us, 3 boys, 4 girls, and 4 staff all took in the fantastic views at the top. After 7 ½ hours on the mountain, and after meeting about 35 different people along the way, one of the boys turned to me and said, “You six were the only women we saw on the mountain all day and definitely the only ones who summitted. That is so awesome. It’s so cool to know strong girls.” I smiled. I hadn’t even noticed, not only what happened that day, but how many opportunities Sanborn offers for kids to stretch themselves and learn to appreciate that in each other.

--Kira Runtzel

More Camper Posts

In between all of our trips and activities, several campers have been busy documenting all the fun that is happening at camp!

Art Page:

In art this year at High Trails, we have a great new art teacher named Joyce! We've made journals, done tie-dye, made gourd bird houses, gourd African shakers, and some awesome gourd bowls! We've also experimented with candles (supervised by Joyce or a counselor), made the best picture frames ever, and decoupaged everything possible. Joyce has the best ideas for crafts! One of my personal favorites is the orange juice wallet. When you come to High Trails for a month, go to the Art Barn for lots of fun!

- Virginia Owen

Swimming:

Grab your swimsuit, grab your towel, put on your shoes and run for the pool. 1,2,3 Splash! Up 10 stairs, zip, zap, zoom! Take a ride down the slide. In the middle, friends are needed! Find a ball and play...VOLLEYBALL with the built in net! To make it hard, play noodle volleyball. It's the same as volleyball except you have to stay on a noodle. If you want to relax, some noodles have string to sit in. There's this little place with swimming supplies. Splash! Have fun at the pool!!!

- Emily Driscoll

Bear Sightings:

The counselor hunt is a battle between the cabinsides to name all of the hidden counselors you could find. The more you name, the more points you collect. Our cabinside was off at the sound of the bell. We doubted we would win because or cabin had trouble with remembering names... and more important stuff too. After finding a bonus counselor (10,000 points) we passed behind Out Camp to name the wranglers sitting on top of a car. We came up to them laughing and talking loudly but we were quickly shushed by Reggie who was hidden in the top of a tree. She pointed toward the Aspen trees and we followed her finger directions. We all shifted around the trees to look at the object that had already gathered a small crowd. Little did we know that what we thought would just be a deer or rabbit was actually a bear! She was sitting 100ft up facing us with the least bit of aggression at all. She must have gotten bored and turned around to go back up into the trees. A small cub bounced out from behind a tree and chased after her and played with her tail. It reminded us of the cub "Koda" from the movie Brother Bear. It was nothing like anything on T.V.

Sanborn Horse Back Riding:

Sanborn has great horseback riding lessons. You can go on long horse trips and all-day horse trips. There is also something called gymkhana were you go on horses and compete against Big Spring boys; you go around barrels, poles, and rings. Also, there is a Saturday special where you can ride and there are three different groups at 7:45a.m., 9:30a.m., and 11:45a.m. At the end of camp there is a super wrangler all-day where you go to a secret place and go bareback riding.  

- Sophie Murphy

Why You should GO TO Sanborn:

You should go to Sanborn. Sanborn is the best camp I have been to. At Sanborn you can do swimming, horseback riding and much, much more! I love to go horseback riding. Sanborn is so awesome! On Saturday, I do drama. On Saturday, we have special things such as dances at Big Springs! At Sanborn, you sleep with girls your own age in cabins. It is so much fun! On Sundays after dinner, we have Vespers.

That's why you should go to Sanborn Western Camps.

- Natalie Glick 

Overnights:

Just recently, my counselor, Kimberly, my cabin-mate, Charner, and I all trudged back to our cabin after an outstanding Artsy Overnight at Tie Cabin. First, we set up our tents and unpacked our backpacks. Then, we explored Tie Cabin and told ghost stories referring to it. As we were looking in cabinets and drawers, I happened to find an old pastel drawing of a row boat tied up to a dock with a sunset in the background. It even looked like it had been through a fire because it was burned and singed on the edges. It said 1912 on the back. The rest of our group told me to go and show Kimberly. It turned out it was a prank from a previous overnight. After a little exploring we had lunch. Then we decided to explore more of the site. We found an old outhouse and grill. About twenty minutes after we got back, Joyce drove up with our crafts! She told us while she was unloading her car for us to go find lots of different types of flowers for our first project. By the time we had enough flowers she was all set up. She told us we were going to do flower pounding. First, we had to tape down the flowers and then we got in a line to start pounding them with a hammer. I was the last one and as soon as I was done this thunderstorm popped up and it started pouring! We just went inside Tie Cabin and make book marks and leather bracelets and key chains. When it stopped raining, we had to collect firewood for our stir fry dinner. Yum! Kimberly even made a single match fire! Even Joyce had dinner with us before she had to go. After s'mores, another thunderstorm came up! We had to stay in our tents until morning. But when we woke up it was clear; really nice weather.

I live in Texas and at Sanborn Western Camps in Colorado, it's a real treat to beat the summer heat! I love this camp so much it is my fourth year. If you want to be caught up in something adventurous, yet peaceful Sanborn Camps is your place to be over the summer!

- Savannah Phillips