This one is kind of risque, but I just had to include it. When I was a waiter, I rolled a Lipton Tea cigarette. I was sitting in front of the waiter's bunk at night, smoking this thing, which didn't taste real well. All of a sudden, the Head Counselor, Ray Senzer, pounced on me with his ultra bright flashlight. It was like out of a "Cops" episode from TV. He was so proud that he had busted me for what he thought was something entirely different. He hauled me in and threatened to call my parents. Around this time, I told him that it was Lipton Tea in the cigarette. He smelled it and realized that it was indeed tea. He was bummed that the big bust had gone sour.
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I remember having a tough summer. Lew took me between the bunks and we were sitting on the plywood that covered the sewer system. He had this big pocket knife that he taught me how to throw, which eventually turned into a lesson of how to play chicken. That was pretty cool. An 8 or 10 year old kid playing chicken with a knife.
My memory may be off but I think Bruce Cohen was the nature instructor one year. I might be confusing this with a Camp Nock-A Mixon memory. If it was Bruce, allhe wanted me to do was hold this freakin raccoon. That was not for me and I he gave me such a hard time. I stormed away and he ran after me, but I never did hold it.
I think the bunk that one inspection got a midnight pizza party. One year I think we won each week...we were such nerds, but the pizza was good!!
Thank you Mark Walker for turning us on to that album. Still one of my favorites. He always like Pink Floy's Dark Side of the Moon....Never really dug that one.
I remember Lew teaching me to put my hair in a pony tail. My hair (of which I have none anymore) was so fine that it kept falling out. Finally it stayed. My parents really loved that time period. Then of course Lew playing guitar and putting his burning cigarette in the neck of the guitar...I thought that was so cool...so Dylan-like.
I remember taking a row boat out to the island on the right side getting out and picking fresh teaberry leaves and chewing on them for hours. Much better than teaberry gum.
That was one of the coolest activities that Bernie brought in. Bicycling trips. I remember FLYING down those hills at probably 50 mph (No Helmet) of course (they weren't invented yet). Then stopping alongside this pipe that had crystal clear freezing water coming out of it from the snow melt on the mountains. That water was amazing!! Then I remember having to walk the bike up the hill because there was no way to pedal.
My bunkmates might remember staying up all night long in the bathroom between the bunks playing poker all night long.
Does anyone remember the canoe trips and the huge pot of stew that was made. I remember the counselor (don't remember his name) would spit a Huge clam into the pot before serving....lovely
I remember each of us tying our pocket knives onto the brooms and then someone standing guard each night while Bernie was supposedly guarding the camp with a shotgun.
It's hard to believe that the Eagles warmed up for them. That was my first concert experience and a real fun one. I think I saw Bill Clinton there with a gas mask so he didn't have to inhale the air.
It was the summer of 1971. I was a camper in Bunk 12 and my counselor was Gordon Campbell, from England. I believe he was awarded the Counselor of the year in '71. Anyway, I had overheard the Waiters talking about trapdoors and I decided to build one for myself. I built it in the floor, right next to my bed, and camouflaged it with a blanket. I would sneak out after lights out and hang out with the older kids. This lasted for a couple of weeks until Bruce Cohen did the morning inspection and accidentally fell through the trapdoor. I thought that I would be kicked out of Camp for that, but Bruce just chuckled about it. Bruce, if you read this, thanks for letting it slide!
I never told anyone about this. On the very last Mt Marcy hike, in 1974, I was picked to lead the trip. Dave Gelfand was to help me. Everything went great. We actually climbed Mt Skylight, in addition to Mt Marcy, which is next to it. On the third morning, Dave, I and another counselor (his name escapes me after 36 years), set out to climb Mt Colden. Just before we struck out, I witnessed the other counselor shooting up in his thigh with a hypodermic syringe. I asked him what was up with that? He told Dave and I that he was a diabetic. I didn't know much about such things and didn't give it much of a second thought.
Just as we were approaching Mt Colden's summit, the diabetic dude collapsed- out cold. Dave and I tried frantically to get him to come to. Finally, he opened one eye and mumbled "get me sugar...". I didn't have any, nor did Dave. I started to run down the mountain. When I got to the bottom, I ran into a couple of hikers. I explained to them the situation and they reluctantly gave me a large bag of chocolate chips. I thanked them profusely and proceeded to run back up Mt Colden.
I made it to the top in what was surely a world speed record for climbing that mountain. He was still unconscious when I arrived. We slapped his face and got him to wake up a little. We started to feed him the chips. After a few seconds, he became wide awake and consumed the entire bag and wanted more. I convinced him that we should get down off of that mountain and get back to the trailhead to meet Bernie. He complied. We got back to the campsite, saddled all of the campers up, and made the long, downhill hike back to Tahawus parking lot.
When we got to the lot, Bernie was waiting there for us. He was livid with me and didn't want to hear anything about that we practically saved the guy's life, there on the top of Mt Colden. He also didn't care much that for possibly the first, and only time in Balfour Lake Camp's history that 3 of the Adirondack High Peaks had been conquered on one trip. No thanks were given, but none were expected. However, I ended up with an exciting memory with a happy ending, which I will always remember.
Hey remember Senta and Otto? They did the cooking and ran the mess hall. I remember a song that was written just for them. It went:
Hello Senta,
Hello Otto,
What's for dinner,
for tomorrow?
I hear that we are
having meatballs?
Well, I tell you something Otto,
you can eat _____!
I hope this wasn't too risque for this site! If so, sorry, Lew.
