Fleas, Ticks & Mosquitos: Oh My!

A Note from the Health Center to our Camp Parents:

We’d like to take a moment to share our plan of action for the risks associated with tick, flea and mosquito bites throughout the United States. Camp has been taking steps to minimize exposure for our campers and prevent the spread of disease. In addition to the measures outlined below, camp regularly consults with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations to update our protocols.

Prevention

  • Outside lawn chemical professionals have been hired to treat all fields and field perimeters with flea and tick control as well as areas around bunks, buildings, and activity areas with flea and tick control.
  • All trails and paths at camp are treated with flea and tick control.
  • An outside professional pest control company has been contracted to regularly treat for rodents, etc.
  • Grass is cut frequently and brush is trimmed back in regularly trafficked areas.
  • Application of CDC approved bug spray throughout the day as needed for activities in wooded areas. There are also bug spray stations throughout camp.

Education and Practice

  • All counselors have training sessions on ticks and the counselor’s roles in health care, including
    • Hygiene, shower hour self-check prompting, tick checks after hikes, walks in the woods, and campfires
    • Basic tick prevention, best practices, bug and bite identification
    • Camper clothing coverage, including long pants and sleeves on hikes
    • Avoiding brushy areas, high grass and leaf litter.  Walking in the center of trails.
  • Nurse education during training
    • Tick checks, identification, removal
  • Full body checks after all hikes and walks in wooded areas.
    • A note: Nurses and counselors prompt campers to self check in and around the bathing suit area.
  • Check clothing.

Please don’t hesitate to call us with questions or concerns. We will stay vigilant!

The Health Center

Camp Family Ski Season – 2024

You’re invited! ⛄️ If you’re looking for a not-too-far-away outdoor adventure this winter, consider @SkiBigBear and stopping by to see camp covered in snow! ❄️ They’ll be offering our camp families a special 15% camp rate for non-holiday lift tickets in 2024 🎿 Email us for the code and to let us know if you plan on stopping by to drive through camp: ! Snow exciting! ⛷

The Trouble with Camp…

The trouble with camp is that camp ends.

The buses pull out this morning. In an instant, camp is silent. But the air will be filled with happy memories. Pine Forest’s 92nd summer has come to a close and it was one of the best ever.

Thank you one and all, campers and counselors, housekeeping and maintenance, nurses and doctors, office staff and drivers, for making it such a tremendous season.

And now it’s back to home and school. But everyone who shared this wonderful summer comes home a little different. A little better. Keep the spirit of PFC alive all year long. Stay in touch.

Pine Forest is more than a place in Greeley, PA. It’s a place in our hearts.

We’re so busy!

Color Days 2023 has officially wrapped up, and after an amazing 3 days of fun, we’re back to enjoying our regular programming. We’ve got an action-packed few days with league playoffs and championships, awards ceremonies, banquet and cabaret, candlelighting, and more! Trust us: we’ll take advantage of every minute we have and make the most of it all! 

We’ve been busy wrapping up athletics! The past 2 days, campers played football, basketball, soccer, newcomb, and more. Hi-seniors boys enjoyed their last time down at the lake yesterday, and the hi-senior girls are headed there today. 

Yesterday afternoon, we also had our annual Old Timers Club party – always a crowd favorite! Any camper or counselor who has been at camp for 3 years or more comes to this annual celebration. We had ice cream – with more toppings than you can imagine! – as we celebrated all of our summers here. What a blast! And early this morning, our hi-senior girls ventured down to the lake early in the morning while the rest of us slept for their annual Polar Plunge tradition.

Tonight, girls camp will gather for one of our favorite traditions: bunk Song & Cheer, while our lower camp boys will play an epic game of Capture the Flag together. Senior boys will play a favorite: Crystal Quest, and hi-seniors will have Auction Battle. Believe it or not, these activities will close out our regularly scheduled evening activities. Next up: banquet, cabaret, and candlelighting! How is it all coming to an end so soon? Say it ain’t so!

Kindness Day, cont.

While our senior and hi-senior campers are having amazing adventures out of camp, our junior and inter campers are having lots of fun of their own! We’ve been immersed in Kindness Day! 

Campers participated in various activities around camp focusing on team building activities, expressing gratitude and appreciation, and mindfulness exercises. We made cards for others, worked together to help beautify camp, bonded over sing-alongs and s’mores around a campfire, and so much more! One of the most magical moments of Kindness Day was last night when all campers filled the dining hall together. Each bunk gathered around a table and every bunkmate wrote their name on a piece of paper. Then, everyone passed each piece of paper around the table until everyone ended up with a message of love and appreciation from each of their bunkmates filling their papers. No doubt these notes will be cherished forever. 

This time of camp – when upper camp gets to experience travel together and lower camp has PFC to themselves – really is such a special time for everyone. As these activities wrap up and we’re all back together again tomorrow for regularly scheduled programming, everyone’s feeling rejuvenated and excited for the final two weeks to come!

An Adventure on Blueberry Island

The weather was perfect when our 5th grade boys canoed out to Blueberry Island in the middle of Lake Greeley for their Kindness day kindness circle. Led by our intrepid leader Alli Cahill, campers and counselors formed a circle and said something kind or appreciative of the person next to them. About halfway through the inspiring exercise, it started drizzling until — without warning, a downpour of rain came crashing down upon them. Campers and counselors took shelter, huddled together and continued saying nice things about each other (!) as they weathered the storm. Soon the clouds lifted and the lifeguards paddled everyone back to our beach. A bus was waiting for them, and when they arrived back at camp, a huge cheer went up! The soaking wet campers and counselors were overjoyed to be back and the rest of camp was thrilled to see them. What a kindness day plot twist – but definitely something they’ll always remember!

Visiting Day | Summer 2023

Excitement was in the air today for our first in-person Visiting Day since 2019! And WOW! This day did not disappoint! Parents gushed over their camper’s official bunk photos, swam in the pools, tackled the Wibits at the lake, and even enjoyed a snippet of this year’s production of School of Rock at Netsy Playhouse! 

The warmth we felt wasn’t even weather-related (although we couldn’t have asked for a better day!), it was the warmth from our camp families joining us “Up Where the Sky Begins! And you know what makes the day even more special? 

So many parents who were once campers reconnecting with old camp friends. Former campers and counselors who made the trip to Greeley to spend a few hours in their favorite place with their favorite people. Our special 10 year tree ceremony where we celebrate those who have officially spent 10 summers here at camp. Noticing a trend? PFC is simply irresistible! 

We already can’t wait for Visiting Day 2024! We hope to see you there! And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Boys’ camp is busy making s’mores while girls’ camp is participating in a real favorite – MTV Night! We have a few more precious weeks to soak up all this fun!

Survivor Day

Build a shelter, cook an outdoor meal over an open fire, paint a team banner, create a cheer. It’s Survivor Day 2023! Grab your bandana, your bug spray and your sunscreen. Into the woods we go! With our fearless leaders! The green tribe built an “infinity pool” and the red tribe created their own “working” toilet — don’t worry, we didn’t try it. There were bridges built over running streams, swings, huts, miniature golf courses, baseball diamonds and more. It was Swiss Family Robinson, The Flintstones and Huckleberry Finn all rolled into one amazing day of adventure at PFC.

Survive? Campers and counselors thrived!

“Wooder” Ice

A Taste of Home OR a New Treat! 

Guess what?! Campers were delighted with a cool treat this evening, and on this hot day, we needed it! 

A Rita’s Water Ice (or is it Wooder Ice?!) truck pulled into camp and everyone got to come by and pick out their favorite flavor. In line, one camper from New York excitedly said, “I’ve NEVER had Rita’s before – I mean, I’m a New Yorker!” After some of his buddies got past their initial shock, they shared their recommended flavors, ranked in order. See, we told you we are always trying new things at camp ;). 

After this special snack, campers dispersed for their evening activities. 

Camp sure is sweet!

School of Rock (PFC’s Version)

It was a sold out show! The musical, “School of Rock,” rocked the house at Netsy Playhouse last night. Movie Star,Jack Black, would be proud (no relation to Mickey Black). There were so many campers that took the stage, there wasn’t a bunk unrepresented! Bunkmates cheered from the audience for their favorite camp “stars!” Beautiful singing, dance moves and great performances all around. A standing ovation for all! (Followed by “Taps and Friends!”) Parents, on Visiting Day, the cast will be performing select numbers from the show. Take a seat at Netsy Theater no later than 1:30 PM to catch it!