I fell in love with camp the moment I first arrived. My mother on the other hand was not sure she ever wanted to take me there again. When you first arrive you are charmed by the single lane drive part gravel part dirt, lined on both sides by tall sturdy trees. It winds and twists along and is truly charming until you meet another car coming the other way! At this point both drivers try to pull to the right and someone finally gets by. Over the years the driveway has widened and there are obvious pockets where you pull over for others to pass. It was one of those pockets that my Mum first parked to let someone by however as she released the brake in our standard car it rolled back with a “clunk” into another vehicle! Not a good start to a lifetime adventure. Information was exchanged and every summer after that my Mum endured teasing of that small fender bender. Upon arriving at camp you come out of the forest and see the beautiful lodge, dining hall and a breezeway joining them. This is the heart of K.M.K.

After registration and meeting the director, the nurse and your counsellor it is time to settle in. Usually one of your counsellors or a CIT takes you to your cabin. They are rustic but have four walls and a roof. The inside has changed over the years. We used to have moveable beds and now you have permanent bunks. As a camper you pick a bed and get unpacked. After that first year I convinced my Mum to take me early that way we wouldn’t meet any vehicles leaving! I was often the first to arrive and the counsellors all knew my name! Every summer was like going home to a special family, Gods Family. A place where everyone cares for each other.

Everyday begins with morning watch and the flag raising ceremony. Camp life consists of many activities a swim test where we could earn our red (shallow end only), yellow (deep end with a counsellor) or green scarf (go anywhere in the pool). It took me three summers to finally get my green with encouragement and instruction from the lifeguard staff. Camp always had many funny meals, like “Monks Meal” where if you speak or make a sound you loose a utensil each time and then your chair until the talkative ones are eating on the floor with out any utensils!. The “One Utensil Meal” is fun as you enter the dining hall you reach into a big box where the cook has put all the extra cooking paraphernalia! You have to eat your whole meal with that one utensil it can be a challenge when they serve things like soup or beans and you are eating with a vegetable peeler or a slotted spoon! Singing meals and backwards days where you eat your meals in reverse and wear all your clothes backwards also make your week full of fun.

Getting mail at K.M.K. can also be fun but usually you have to sing a song to get the letter from the Director! There is lots of singing at camp. We sing when people are late for things, we sing on rainy days for grace at meals and at campfires. As we hike along you can hear cabins singing in the woods. My camp years were blessed with 2 very good pianists that could play any tune and made inside rainy night campfires that much more fun as they pounded on the ivories. Ann Heron use to come to my cabin and sing Barges to us every night. Janice Sinker was on staff with me for many years and we even put on a couple of musicals as a presentation to the campers. Shortly after that the Music and Drama camps were started so that the kids could also perform.

Years ago camp was more rustic, we did not have showers. The staff had them! Now with stronger health regulations it has been necessary to make changes. In the early nineties the smallest staff cabin was relocated near the drive way and turned into a shower cabin for campers. Years ago the original cooks shack was behind the lodge. The cook and her whole family stayed there the entire summer. As modern standards came in we hired a food services company to do the meals. Along with this service came a single cook person who was given the single side of the small cabin. The original cooks shack was named “Animal House“ the same summer as the movie came out! The title stuck for many years even though the board and parents disapproved. Under the guidance of Bill Stevens new names were given to all the cabins. Indian names, connecting the local Indian history were chosen. There are 8 cabins 4 down Hill and 4 uphill each has its own washroom usually called the KYBO for “Keep Your Bowels Open!” Over the years each KYBO has also been renovated each with 4 sinks. I think it was a lot more fun when we had a huge trough sink where a whole cabin could brush their teeth at the same time! After a long hike you could sit up on the trough shelf and wash your legs and feet with sunlight soap from the nurse if you thought you had contacted poison ivy! When the troughs were removed they were put into the craft lodge and covered with plywood to form very steady and very heavy craft tables. The craft lodge is now called Beck Hall after longtime board members Bill & Marg Beck who have endlessly supported K.M.K. for many decades.

Bill Stevens, a long time supporter and director at the time had the camp chapel rebuilt. The railway tie seats were replaced with pressure treated wood. With a lot of hard work our new chapel was formed. It is named the H.G. Wales chapel in memory of Mr. Harvey Wales who donated the land for K.M.K. to the United Church of Canada. Over the years I have had many visits to the Wales farm. Mrs. Wales also shared many stories with us but the one that has stuck with me all these years was when she said she just loves to hear the bell toll then she knows that the camp is in session and the kids are having fun. One of my fondest memories is when I was a CIT . On an evening hike down the fire break we traveled past the Wales home. We were invited in and enjoyed a quiet time talking with Harvey and Emily as we listened to their fascinating player piano. When I was a camper Mr. Wales came and gave us all great hay rides on his wagon.

Around the late seventies I was nature director. I wanted to find a new hike. The old ones were good but they had been done many times and if I was going to lead them 3 or 4 times a week then I wanted something new. I talked to Harvey and we created the farmers corn field hike. It travels down behind the Wales home and to the end of the corn field where there once was a campfire pit and a great place for a cook out. The old hikes now are my favorite, I loved going to the Magic Meadow and through the Enchanted Forest. Stomping my feet three time as we entered and exited the sumacs so that the Barbarians would not bite our ankles! At night at campfire you could hear the wombats clicking the rocks in the tall poplar trees behind the hill top campfire in the playing field. Even after all these years my special place is the Forks a place where the brook runs into a stream and travels on down to a river. It is a beautiful nature spot and I love it. Many many years ago we also had a lean-to on the way to the forks but it was gone by the late 70’s.

Camp Kee-Mo-Kee has always and will always hold a special place in my heart. It was part of my life that helped define the person I am today because of what I experienced those summers many years ago!