Camp Wildflowers (post by Mark)

Good friends of ours, the Griffins, had told me about a cool Daddy/Daughter Day Camp that they went to last year in Wardensville, WV called Camp Hemlock. It is a faith-based camp that was out in the middle of nowhere. Located about 90 miles from home, Nina and I left on a Sunday and returned home Wednesday. The camp itself provided rustic cabins for sleeping separately for Dads and Daughters. The girls would have junior counselors and “Grandmas” taking care of them at night while the Dads slept in bunks of their own. The day started early at 7am with some Dad devotional time followed by breakfast with the kiddos. Then Nina and I spent the days swimming, hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, shooting a rifle, slingshots, bow and arrows and chucking tomahawks. We also got to learn a Sound of Music dance together, assemble crafts, and hand bells. Lunch was served and more hiking through an adventure course, rock gardens and streams. The rains came and went but that didn’t deter from the awesome time we had in the great outdoors. At night, the whole camp sat around a campfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, sang songs and the junior counselors did some skits.

  

The story of camp came when Nina and I hiked up a steep rock garden and outcropping to do or daily devotional together. We sat perched on a huge boulder looking out over the valley between the mountains. It really made me realize just how precious our children our as Nina prayed for our family and us. As we finished up we need to figure out just how to get back to the trail, as it was no easy task getting out to the big boulder itself. I had lifted Nina up and she proceeded to jump across another rock gap towards the trail, she heard a rattle and a hissing noise. I, at the time was just climbing onto the rock in the front of the gap she had just jumped across. She looked back and said “Daddy! There is a rattlesnake there, be careful!” I approached the 1.5-foot gap slowly. I could only see part of its body but it looked to be about 3.5 feet long. I could not see the head so I asked Nina, “Is it coiled up?...and which way is its head pointing?” After knowing it was not coiled and ready to strike I peeked over for a closer look. It was pointing away so I jumped over to Nina. We researched it to be a Timber Rattlesnake, very popular in the hills of West Virginia. Of course about 30 seconds after getting back to camp, the entire place knew we had encountered a rattlesnake and that Nina had saved my life.

Thank the Lord for Daughters!

All in all it was a great camp. Being out in the outdoors is what I remember so much as a kid. Camping, hiking, canoeing and fishing were what our family vacations were made of. Perhaps we may get back into it this fall with our family.