Ten weeks with campers, twelve weeks with staff, and over forty weeks of thinking, planning, and preparing for the summer of 2026 are all coming to an end. It’s a sweet conclusion, filled with immense gratitude for our directors, counselors, campers, and the many parents who trust us with their daughters.
But for our one-week campers, they didn’t care about all that. We wasted no time mourning the end; we simply celebrated one last full day of activities. Campers ran all over, jumping in the lake, leaping off paddleboards, and putting the final touches on canvas bags in painting or ornaments in ceramics. Our horses made their last lap on the trails, and the beanstalk saw its final zip for a while.
For dinner, our amazing kitchen staff put on a magical final banquet filled with twinkly lights and fairy magic! We had an epic final Tilley Lodge dance party (these girls really like “Lush Life” and even taught me the TikTok dance to it) and enjoyed the Illahee favorite, Dirt Cake, for dessert. Once everyone was sugared up, we walked up behind McLeod to our campfire ring for a good old-fashioned campfire, full of songs, skits, dances, and more! We finished with a bedtime story from counselor Lizzie.
Right before we left, Gardner asked everyone if there were any announcements. A first year camper popped her hand up. Curious as to what she had to announce, Gardner called on her. “This is the BEST CAMP EVER!” she shouted in a munchkin-like voice. I have to agree.
At a certain point, we ended our evening walking down to the swim lake to light wish boats and sing the Pine Tree song. Everyone is back in their cabin, snuggling up for one last evening serenaded by bullfrogs, crickets, and the soft pitter patter of a summer rain.
One of my favorite theologians, Belden Lane, writes that “you find God not through addition, but subtraction.”
When we strip away the excess noise, the constant anxiety, worry, and the overscheduled, overstimulated lives we live that we can more authentically connect with our one another, our creator, and the created world.
At camp, we subtract a lot: Phones, parents, screens, homework, fancy clothes, grades, and more. It’s a stripping away that comes with an adjustment period and certainly a few tears.
Through it all, we’re left with a group of 160 girls learning to live together in cabins that have been loved by thousands before them, at a camp that has given so much to so many, and hopefully has done the same for them.
It’s a strange feeling to be at this point. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for a slower schedule, more family time, home-cooked meals and spontaneous trips to the forest or the park. I’m hoping to get Jasper on a pedal bike this fall and am excited to see Brooks play football for Brevard Middle School.
And, I’d also be lying if I said I won’t miss it. Camp is only camp when it is full of campers. We do this job because we love it.
I know the physical camp will enjoy a much-needed rest. Take a look at the mud spot on our athletic field from the Slip and Slide, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about…
It won’t be long till the poplars start dropping their leaves. The days will grow shorter and cooler, and while we’re working to prepare for summer 2027, your daughter will hopefully be writing letters to their new friends, telling stories about their time in the cabin, and living their best life with all that Illahee has taught her bursting forth each and every day.
Wishing you and your daughters the best as they take the next steps down from this mountain to a world that needs a little more Illahee love.
Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh
Lucas