Willsboro, NY

Volume XXXX

Monday August 6, 2005

SUMMER OF RIBBONS

Riding Campaign Concludes with Home Show

Willsboro, Aug.7-- Isabel Zahn went undefeated in three classes, while Heidi Taggart and Sophie Karp captured two blue ribbons, as the competitive summer season came to an end at the Big MacCready Horse Show.

     “I was a little nervous,” said Zahn (above right). “Winning was nice, but I enjoy riding even when I’m not winning.”

     Zahn, Taggart and Karp were joined by Blake Artuso as division champions; seven other riders won reserve ribbons. (see full listing of results here)

     The day concluded with the annual staff ride, where one of the winners was MacCready head of camp Cindy Watson (right), who dressed as a nun.  This is the second victory for Watson, but comes 20 years after her first.

ASK THE CAMPERS

Why should a kid come to Pok-O-MacCready?

Hannah Karp

Harley Tucker

Diego Rodriguez

Jenna Zimmerman

David Horwich

“There are a bunch of different reasons. Camp rocks!”

“Because you realize that you don’t need electronics”

”Because of the amazing activities”

“It’s fun and you get to choose what you want to do”

“Who wouldn’t want to come to the greatest camp in the world?”

NORTHVILLE - not quite LAKE PLACID TRAIL

     For session #2, the always eager Advanced Section pushed the envelope even higher with an attempt at covering the entire 121-mile Northville-Placid trail.  The seven-day trip was one of the more ambitious endeavors in recent memory.  The following are excerpts from the camper journal.

DAY #1: “The hike in was a pleasant one; open forest and quiet lakes.  Thunder and darkness threatened and we made a good decision to stop for the night at Silver Lake.”.... “Despite leaving off a few miles, we were still late getting to bed after cooking, cleaning, etc.”

DAY #2:   “It turned out to be a beautiful morning. The trail might have been the most enjoyable I’ve hiked on in my life.”... “As the hours crept by and the miles lengthened we pressured each other to hurry up.”..... “Tomorrow: 25 miles of UP, UP, UP, then Down, Down, Down!”

DAY #3: “Another day, another early morning (4:30)”... “We began to move at a slightly faster pace then yesterday, only to be slowed down by blowdown and short tempers.”.... “The sun had no mercy on us and we were lucky to be walking in the shade with occasional cool breezes”...”My group found a beautiful campsite at the shore of a lake and had a relaxing evening.”... “We refueled and went to sleep after saying goodbye to Billy and Harry, who headed back to camp for health reasons.”

DAY #4: “After a slow start, our hike got down to a good pace and we made up the four miles we needed.  As we walked down the unused logging trail, the heat and flies prompted a quick march.”... “As we reached the trail we learned that we still had a six or seven mile walk left.  A swamp and a re-route later, we were half an hour late for our destination.”

DAY #5: Injuries were mounting to both campers and staff prompting the need for two more hikers to abort the hike.  With numbers dwindling a group decision was made: Terminate the trip; cutting the losses yet counting the blessings.  Said ADV section head David Durant:  “We were all dissapointed not to finish, but it was a lofty goal to begin with, it was an awesome trip and everyone did incredibly well!”

pokomac.com SUMMER HOME

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