By Kylie Blanchard, Staff Writer
I started going to Triangle Y Camp, near Garrison, with two of my best friends when I was 12-years-old. From my first week there as a camper, I was completely, 100 percent hooked. The place was magnetic. The energetic counselors and staff; new friends and bunkmates; activities ranging from swimming, canoeing and ropeswinging to arts and crafts and horseback riding; camp games (including the infamous all-camp Capture the Flag); staying up late; pulling pranks; and much more filled my week and began a string of great memories that would get me through the long winter until I could return again the next summer and the next summer and the next summer...
I recently wrote a story for the upcoming summer issue of North Dakota Horizons (which is being mailed out to subscribers this week and will be reaching statewide newsstands soon) on many of the summer camps in North Dakota. I have to admit, I was surprised to discover the hearty number of camps in our state. From Triangle Y Camp on Lake Sakakawea (pictured above are a group of young Y Camp campers enjoying the camp's swimming pond) and its next door neighbor, Camp of the Cross Ministries, to Badlands Ministries near Medora, the International Music Camp in the Peace Gardens and Park River Bible Camp near the state's eastern border, summer camps span the state. Even more immpressive, many have been in operation for over a half-century. Red Willow Bible Camp, located north of Binford, is actually one of the oldest, continuously running Lutheran bible camps in the United States.
I had an amazing camp experience spanning a total of 11 summers and, after learning there are so many in the state, it floors me to think of the sheer number of kids that have had the opportunity to experience summer camp as well.
I was a camper for a total of three summers before I began to spend my full summers working at TYC. Starting out as a Leader-in-Training, I learned the ropes of being a camp counselor and then moved on to Junior Counselor, Senior Counselor and finally Program Staff. I spent 8 summers in all working at the camp, being a counselor, working at Sportsfeild (I played more games of dodgeball and more variations of the game than I ever thought possible), working the camp's Alpine Climbing Tower, writing cabin schedules, working in the camp store and learning valuable life-long lessons I still use every day. I made some of my closest friends and even met my future husband, in our first year of working at camp.
Although we didn't know when we first met, (pictured here in our early years at camp after a rainy 
afternoon of mudsliding on the camp's front lawn) we would marry at the end of our last summer working at the camp in an outdoor ceremony overlooking Lake Sakakawea at, you guessed it, Triangle Y Camp surrounded by family, friends and our fellow camp staffers.
There honestly are few places and experiences in my life that have been as influential as Triangle Y Camp. My husband and I always say we would still be working at camp...if it paid the bills. But for now, we look back on those years fondly and enjoy re-telling the many stories and memories we made while working there. We look forward to sending our son, when he is a bit older, to get his share of the camp experience as well.
Make sure to pick up your copy of the summer issue of North Dakota Horizons and learn about the camps closest to you. I think you'll be interested to learn that many of the state's camps have now become year-round facilities catering to children, young adults, and families. It's never too late to have your own camp experience...so Get Camping!
