The Trail of Life - Revisited

By Peter Grunawalt
September 19, 2017 (comments)

An Exclusive Interview with Filmmaker John Behnke [as told to John Burgman] Anyone who has attended Camp Voyageur knows that embracing the past—and understanding history—is an important aspect of the summer experience. It’s why we still sleep in the same rustic cabins as campers did in the 1950s; it’s why we hit the trail with a purposefully low-tech approach; and it’s why there’s still a chair at the Fire Circle that is reserved every Wednesday and Sunday evening at dinnertime for Charlie Erdmann—camp’s founder. At camp, we appreciate the past, and we like to keep old memories and stories alive...

Youth Woodsmen Mid-Season Update

By Alex Kvanli
July 12, 2017 (comments)

The Youth Woodsmen Competition kicked off a few weeks ago and it’s time for a mid-season update! The Woodsmen measures campers’ fitness levels when they arrive at camp and at the end of camp. Fitness tests included curl-ups, shuttle run, v-sit reach, half-mile run, pull-ups, and push-ups. The results of the first session are remarkable! Over a span of only 24 days, campers improved significantly in nearly every statistical category. Campers’ half-mile run times improved, on average, by over 20 seconds. One camper even improved his half-mile run time by 1 min 35 seconds! By the end of the session,...

Buttermilk Pancakes

By John Erdmann
June 24, 2017 (comments)

Ingredients: 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon sugar 2 cups buttermilk 2 eggs Directions: Combine all ingredients. Mix until fully incorporated, but not too thin. Ladle batter onto greased griddle on medium high heat. Flip when air bubbles appear on top. Serve when both sides are light brown. Add chocolate chips or blueberries to the batter to mix it up a bit! Be sure to top with your favorite maple syrup, butter, fruit, or all of the above! Serves 4

CV Enters First Youth Woodsmen Competition

By Alex Kvanli
June 13, 2017 (comments)

CV entered its very first fitness competition! The 2017 Youth Woodsmen Competition kicked off today and for the first time ever, Camp Voyageur signed up! The Woodsmen is a competition that dates back to the early 1950’s, when President John F. Kennedy said that “physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” President Kennedy’s famous words resonated with the whole nation, and as a result many of today’s mainstay fitness competitions emerged from this Golden Era of physical fitness. The Youth Woodsmen is...

Voyageur Staff Prepare Camp for the Season

By Peter Grunawalt
June 09, 2017 (comments)

As the long awaited first day of camp approaches, our staff are wrapping up their training and preparation. While the staff this year have a breadth of experience at the helm, it’s still important to have a thorough refresher, brushing up on everything from safety protocols to the “art” of making sure all campers feel included in the program. But still, two weeks to do that?! Well, there’s more to it… What is “pre-camp”? Preparation has always consisted of a wide array of topics that include everything we could possibly encounter up here. Of course, that includes a healthy number...

2016 Paddle Post

By Peter Grunawalt
March 29, 2017 (comments)

Have you read the latest Camp Voyageur Paddle Post? Be sure to catch up with the latest summer happenings with the 2016 digital edition!

A Freedom Almost Forgotten

By Peter Grunawalt
October 08, 2016 (comments)

There are leaders, and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. We follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves. And it’s because we want to that we let them influence us and those around us. Though I never met the founder of Camp Voyageur in person, I've seen glimpses of his life and leadership in this place we seem to seasonally gravitate towards. It radiates from the leadership that continues...

POSTURE! An Old School Habit We're Bringing Back

By Peter Grunawalt
September 22, 2016 (comments)

Were you ever yelled at as a child to have good posture at the dinner table? Or at your desk in school? While it hasn’t fallen off everyone’s radar, posture is certainly not an emphasized issue. Gone are the days of being chastised for not sitting up straight. But is posture really that important? Yes, it turns out. Poor posture in children is the greatest predictor of postural issues later in adulthood, manifesting as pain in the head, neck, back, hips and knees (Widhe, 2001). Poor posture is also compounding, meaning that if one link in the chain is out...

Ah, 'ze Rendezvous! Session 2 Round 2 Returns

By Peter Grunawalt
August 03, 2016 (comments)

Time is surely relative. This summer has seemed to pass in the blink of an eye as we welcome our campers in from their last trip for the season. And yet for them, life on the trail can make each day seem like three. Only on a wilderness trip can you truly comprehend the distance you’ve traveled, knowing the shorelines of each lake you paddled through and each uphill section on the day’s portage. A few inches on a map is measured in hours, sometimes even days. Be sure to check out the latest photos.

Venturing North: Second Round Trips Begin

By Peter Grunawalt
July 27, 2016 (comments)

After an exhilarating week in camp, our last trips have finally left the docks to find wilderness adventure once more. Second round trips range from 7 to 10 days and cover a wide variety of landscapes. Our most experienced campers headed out on to the Apostle Islands to sea kayak, to Lake Superior via the Grand Portage, and down the Vermilion River. Each of these trips involved campers in the planning and packing phase extensively. Less experienced and younger campers will paddle through some of the most iconic lakes of the Boundary Waters on a quest for fishing holes, legendary...