Friends of Camp Blazing Trails!
The photos and bios below will tell you a little bit about some of the friends you may see out at Camp Blazing Trails this summer! Enjoy learning about some of our fun traditions!
Sylvester the Squirrel
Sylvester is a very naughty and mischievous squirrel! He loves to hang out near the CBT shed and look for lunchboxes full of food to steal. He has been known to chew through lunchboxes, eat campers' lunches, and even hide in the shed, waiting for the counselors to put food in the trash can! He also likes to call all his cousins who live in the park to come and feast with him. Originally, Sylvester comes from Umstead Park in Raleigh. He grew up next to the lake there, until one day he decided to visit his cousins at Blue Jay Point. The day he visited, he was playing Camouflage with his cousins, when he stumbled across the Camp Blazing Trails shed. And who do you think was sitting at the shed, eating lunch? It was Coach Roach! Coach Roach decided to show some Southern hospitality and share some of his sandwich with Sylvester. Sylvester was really thankful, and he decided to move to Blue Jay Point so he could spend more time with his cousins and the nice people that hung out at Camp Blazing Trails. As the weeks passed, Sylvester was having so much fun playing with his cousins and getting the occasional snack from the Camp Blazing Trails shed. But then, Sylvester got greedy. He wanted more and more food every day, and started stealing food from people instead of waiting for them to share. Currently, Mouse and the Blazing Trails counselors are trying to teach Sylvester some manners so he won't steal from people. But in the meantime, make sure you have a sturdy, squirrel-proof lunchbox so Sylvester won't steal your food!
Purple Fuzzy Monster
Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Rufus. Rufus didn't like other kids, and he wasn't like other kids either. Rufus ate everything bad. He would lick the mayonnaise off a sandwich, eat the caramel out of a chocolate treat, and lick butter like a lollipop. Rufus didn't eat veggies, fruit, or anything that remotely resembled something healthy. He never listened to adults, cried a lot, played way too many video games, hated the idea of exercise, and basically lived his life being utterly miserable.
So what did Rufus's parents do to help him? They sent him to camp. Camp Blazing Trails sounded like a great camp for Rufus, and his parents hoped he would have a lot of fun! But when Rufus got to camp, he decided he wasn't going to have any fun AT ALL! He didn't get along with anybody in his huddle, he was disrespectful to his counselor, Princess Kim, and he complained about every activity. But the thing he hated most of all was Princess Kim's walking stick, the Silver Spirit Scepter. Princess Kim had SO much spirit and happiness that she couldn't hold it all in her body. So she would put some of her camp spirit into her Silver Spirit Scepter. And so Rufus HATED the Silver Spirit Scepter, cheering, and especially Princess Kim. He would play pranks on Princess Kim all the time, which made Princess Kim really sad.
Finally, it got so bad that one day, Rufus flicked a raisin in Princess Kim's eye. When she started to cry, Rufus grabbed her Silver Spirit Scepter and then vanished into the woods. All the other counselors searched high and low for Rufus, but they didn't know where he had gone.
Weeks went by, and Rufus was never found. Many people had filed reports of missing McDonald's Happy Meals, cookies disappearing out of cookie jars, and carrots pulled up out of the ground but not eaten. But nobody had seen Rufus.
So what happened to him? Well...Rufus had found a cave to live in, and he was SO happy! He ate whatever he wanted, laid around all day, and didn't have to listen to anybody. Over time, he got so smelly, and so gross that hair began to grow all over his body, and he looked like Cousin IT. But the hair wasn't purple, it was brown. Sorta light brown.
One day, Rufus went exploring. Back then in Raleigh, there was a company that used to manufacture lollipops. It was the Dum Dum Company. The Dum Dum Company had a factory here in Raleigh that was the center of Dum Dum candy manufacturing for the entire East Coast. The factory was located at the edge of a park called Blue Jay Point. The day that Rufus went exploring, he came across this factory.
Rufus had been wandering the forest for hours when he saw it. A giant fence, 20 feet tall and barbed wire at the top. On the other side was a field of green grass. Across the field was a huge brick building lined with evenly place windows, black to what was inside. Rufus was curious, so he dug a hole under the fence and began to make his way across the lawn. He found a door on the side of the building, opened it, and ventured inside.
About the same time, a shiny black Mercedes Benz with tinted windows rolled up to the VIP parking space in the front of the building. Out of the driver's seat popped a portly man in a black suit, carrying a briefcase. Out the rear door popped a cute little girl in a pink dress, holding her stuffed squirrel, Sylvester. This little girl's name was Elizabeth. She skipped and hopped over cracks behind her dad, who walked at a pretty swift pace. "Let's go," he said, and opened the doorway that led up to his office, deep inside the factory building. It was Sunday, and the place was empty of people.
While inside his office, the little girl sang to herself, played with Sylvester, and played pretend games. After a while though, she began to get bored. "Daaaaaaad...." He didn't hear her. "DAAAAaaaaaad!" A pause. He still didn't hear her. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!"
"What??!!!??" he said.
"Can I please go play on the factory floor?"
Her dad paused, thinking to himself for a minute. Maybe he could get a bit more work done if she went exploring. "Sure honey. But whatever you do, DON'T go up on the catwalk."
POW...she was out the door, skipping down the hall with Sylvester clutched tight, ready to go EXPLORING! Down on the factory floor, while exploring by pressing buttons, sticking glitter stickers on the Dum Dum reactor, and flipping every switch she could reach, Elizabeth thought she saw something move. Way up in the steam, up in the ceiling, she thought she saw...someone! Now, what do little children sometimes do when they're told not to do something? That's right, they do it! So when Elizabeth saw someone moving through the billowing steam, she raced to the catwalk. Up, up, UP she went, stair after stair, until finally she was on the highest catwalk. All the steam ahead of her was lit from below in all the different colors of all the Dum Dum flavors in the world. Each giant cauldron under the catwalk held enough Dum Dum goo to make thousands of Dum Dums. Elizabeth walked across the catwalk, looking down each walkway as she passed. Then, at the very last walkway, she thought she saw something move!
There it was! It was something peeking over the edge! So she and Sylvester walked up a little closer to the shadowy form, and Elizabeth struggled to pipe up a little "h..ello?" Nothing. So she walked a little closer. "H...hello?" Still nothing, so she crept a little closer. "He...Hello?" STILL nothing! The shadowy, fuzzy creature didn't budge. But by this time, she was only a few feet away and starting to get frustrated. Elizabeth drew a deep breath and shouted "HELLLOOO!" as loud as she could! Her booming voice echoed all around her. The fuzzy creature turned around and SCREAMED! "AAAARGGHHHH!" Elizabeth screamed too!
Startled, the fuzzy creature (who was really Rufus) stepped backward, lost his balance, and fell. Slowly, screaming "aaaaaahhhhH!" as he fell...fell...fell...SPLAT! Right into the purplest purple of grape Dum Dum goo.
Elizabeth was scared. She ran down the catwalk, down the stairs, across the floor, through the hallway, up some stairs, around a corner, down another hallway, and into her dad's office. She slammed the door shut and screamed, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"
"What????"
"Daddy, Sylvester and I went to the factory floor and pressed the red button and then stuck stickers on the things and saw a movement so we went up the catwalk, into the clouds, and Sylvester was scared and I was scared and we looked and there was a fuzzy thing that screamed "AHH!" and fell into the purple goo and then we ran back to you!"
Her dad said, "You did WHAT??? And went WHERE??? And saw WHAT??"
He burst out of the office, with Elizabeth and Sylvester trailing behind, and went to investigate. They looked EVERYWHERE...and found nothing. Finally, after looking for quite a while, her dad was about to stop looking, convinced Elizabeth had made the WHOLE thing up. However, just as he was dragging her out the door, they saw it. Purple footprints! Leading all the way down the dark hallway to the side door of the building. They looked at one another, then stared at the footprints. Silently, they walked towards the door, tapped it open, and looked outside. Their eyes followed the footprints across the field, to the hole under the fence, and to the dark woods beyond.
Since that fateful day, there have been sightings of a Purple Fuzzy Monster hiding in the woods around Blue Jay Point. Sometimes at camp, we hunt for the Purple Fuzzy Monster, seeking to steal back Princess Kim's old Silver Spirit Scepter.
So what did Rufus's parents do to help him? They sent him to camp. Camp Blazing Trails sounded like a great camp for Rufus, and his parents hoped he would have a lot of fun! But when Rufus got to camp, he decided he wasn't going to have any fun AT ALL! He didn't get along with anybody in his huddle, he was disrespectful to his counselor, Princess Kim, and he complained about every activity. But the thing he hated most of all was Princess Kim's walking stick, the Silver Spirit Scepter. Princess Kim had SO much spirit and happiness that she couldn't hold it all in her body. So she would put some of her camp spirit into her Silver Spirit Scepter. And so Rufus HATED the Silver Spirit Scepter, cheering, and especially Princess Kim. He would play pranks on Princess Kim all the time, which made Princess Kim really sad.
Finally, it got so bad that one day, Rufus flicked a raisin in Princess Kim's eye. When she started to cry, Rufus grabbed her Silver Spirit Scepter and then vanished into the woods. All the other counselors searched high and low for Rufus, but they didn't know where he had gone.
Weeks went by, and Rufus was never found. Many people had filed reports of missing McDonald's Happy Meals, cookies disappearing out of cookie jars, and carrots pulled up out of the ground but not eaten. But nobody had seen Rufus.
So what happened to him? Well...Rufus had found a cave to live in, and he was SO happy! He ate whatever he wanted, laid around all day, and didn't have to listen to anybody. Over time, he got so smelly, and so gross that hair began to grow all over his body, and he looked like Cousin IT. But the hair wasn't purple, it was brown. Sorta light brown.
One day, Rufus went exploring. Back then in Raleigh, there was a company that used to manufacture lollipops. It was the Dum Dum Company. The Dum Dum Company had a factory here in Raleigh that was the center of Dum Dum candy manufacturing for the entire East Coast. The factory was located at the edge of a park called Blue Jay Point. The day that Rufus went exploring, he came across this factory.
Rufus had been wandering the forest for hours when he saw it. A giant fence, 20 feet tall and barbed wire at the top. On the other side was a field of green grass. Across the field was a huge brick building lined with evenly place windows, black to what was inside. Rufus was curious, so he dug a hole under the fence and began to make his way across the lawn. He found a door on the side of the building, opened it, and ventured inside.
About the same time, a shiny black Mercedes Benz with tinted windows rolled up to the VIP parking space in the front of the building. Out of the driver's seat popped a portly man in a black suit, carrying a briefcase. Out the rear door popped a cute little girl in a pink dress, holding her stuffed squirrel, Sylvester. This little girl's name was Elizabeth. She skipped and hopped over cracks behind her dad, who walked at a pretty swift pace. "Let's go," he said, and opened the doorway that led up to his office, deep inside the factory building. It was Sunday, and the place was empty of people.
While inside his office, the little girl sang to herself, played with Sylvester, and played pretend games. After a while though, she began to get bored. "Daaaaaaad...." He didn't hear her. "DAAAAaaaaaad!" A pause. He still didn't hear her. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!"
"What??!!!??" he said.
"Can I please go play on the factory floor?"
Her dad paused, thinking to himself for a minute. Maybe he could get a bit more work done if she went exploring. "Sure honey. But whatever you do, DON'T go up on the catwalk."
POW...she was out the door, skipping down the hall with Sylvester clutched tight, ready to go EXPLORING! Down on the factory floor, while exploring by pressing buttons, sticking glitter stickers on the Dum Dum reactor, and flipping every switch she could reach, Elizabeth thought she saw something move. Way up in the steam, up in the ceiling, she thought she saw...someone! Now, what do little children sometimes do when they're told not to do something? That's right, they do it! So when Elizabeth saw someone moving through the billowing steam, she raced to the catwalk. Up, up, UP she went, stair after stair, until finally she was on the highest catwalk. All the steam ahead of her was lit from below in all the different colors of all the Dum Dum flavors in the world. Each giant cauldron under the catwalk held enough Dum Dum goo to make thousands of Dum Dums. Elizabeth walked across the catwalk, looking down each walkway as she passed. Then, at the very last walkway, she thought she saw something move!
There it was! It was something peeking over the edge! So she and Sylvester walked up a little closer to the shadowy form, and Elizabeth struggled to pipe up a little "h..ello?" Nothing. So she walked a little closer. "H...hello?" Still nothing, so she crept a little closer. "He...Hello?" STILL nothing! The shadowy, fuzzy creature didn't budge. But by this time, she was only a few feet away and starting to get frustrated. Elizabeth drew a deep breath and shouted "HELLLOOO!" as loud as she could! Her booming voice echoed all around her. The fuzzy creature turned around and SCREAMED! "AAAARGGHHHH!" Elizabeth screamed too!
Startled, the fuzzy creature (who was really Rufus) stepped backward, lost his balance, and fell. Slowly, screaming "aaaaaahhhhH!" as he fell...fell...fell...SPLAT! Right into the purplest purple of grape Dum Dum goo.
Elizabeth was scared. She ran down the catwalk, down the stairs, across the floor, through the hallway, up some stairs, around a corner, down another hallway, and into her dad's office. She slammed the door shut and screamed, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"
"What????"
"Daddy, Sylvester and I went to the factory floor and pressed the red button and then stuck stickers on the things and saw a movement so we went up the catwalk, into the clouds, and Sylvester was scared and I was scared and we looked and there was a fuzzy thing that screamed "AHH!" and fell into the purple goo and then we ran back to you!"
Her dad said, "You did WHAT??? And went WHERE??? And saw WHAT??"
He burst out of the office, with Elizabeth and Sylvester trailing behind, and went to investigate. They looked EVERYWHERE...and found nothing. Finally, after looking for quite a while, her dad was about to stop looking, convinced Elizabeth had made the WHOLE thing up. However, just as he was dragging her out the door, they saw it. Purple footprints! Leading all the way down the dark hallway to the side door of the building. They looked at one another, then stared at the footprints. Silently, they walked towards the door, tapped it open, and looked outside. Their eyes followed the footprints across the field, to the hole under the fence, and to the dark woods beyond.
Since that fateful day, there have been sightings of a Purple Fuzzy Monster hiding in the woods around Blue Jay Point. Sometimes at camp, we hunt for the Purple Fuzzy Monster, seeking to steal back Princess Kim's old Silver Spirit Scepter.
Snipe
Every Wednesday, we go canoeing, fishing, and hiking. Now, hiking may sound a little bit boring next to canoeing and fishing, but we take advantage of one of the little-known amenities of Blue Jay Point. You may not know this (not many people do), but Blue Jay Point is the biggest snipe preserve in the United States. So when we go hiking, we go on snipe hunts. Don't worry, we don't actually hunt the snipe, we just see how many we can see. Snipe are extremely shy and elusive creatures, and they are VERY hard to spot! They have excellent hearing and smell, so they have time to hide from us while we walk through the woods. Becoming a great snipe hunter takes a lot of patience and practice! Don't worry if you don't spot any your first few snipe hunts...it's definitely a learning process. Snipe can be a little bigger than a rat, all the way up to the size of a beaver. They have brown or black fur, although there are a few albino snipe in Blue Jay. They enjoy eating dead logs, berries, and crayfish. Snipe also love to swim, and can hold their breath for up to an hour! Snipe have loooong flat tails, similar to beavers, but longer. Hopefully you'll have fun hunting snipe with us!
Bellafina the Mermaid
Bellafina the Mermaid is new to camp this year! Originally from the Mediterranean, Bellafina grew up swimming around the coasts of Italy, France, and Spain. All mermaids spend a few years when they reach young adulthood studying humans. Bellafina decided to specialize in American humans, so she swam through the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to Carolina Beach, North Carolina. She spent a year at Carolina Beach, studying the humans there and getting to know the fish and dolphins that swim in the waters there. One day, she met a fish named Alejandro, who had swum all the way from Falls Lake down the Neuse River. Alejandro had had a traumatic experience one day. He was swimming along, enjoying the water, when he saw a piece of ham. He ate the ham, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his mouth. He was pulled through the water, yanked into the air, and shown off like a trophy. While little humans were kissing him, Alejandro overheard a counselor called Mama Llama talking about mermaids. Once Alejandro was put back in the water, he swam as fast as he could away from Falls Lake. As he told Bellafina this story, she decided to swim up the Neuse River to visit this Camp Blazing Trails and find Mama Llama. She wanted to learn about this human who knew so much about mermaids. When she arrived in Falls Lake, she made contact with Mama Llama, who invited Bellafina to stay at Camp Blazing Trails for the summer. Mama Llama has been teaching Bellafina English and how to write, and Bellafina is going to communicate with us via message in a bottle this summer. Look for Bellafina's special message bottle on Wednesdays, and make sure you tell the counselors any questions you want to ask Bellafina, so we can find out more about mermaids while she finds out about us!
Bellafina now has a Twitter! She got a new shellphone, and Mama Llama taught her how to use it. Her twitter name is @CBTBellafina if you want to follow her!
Bellafina now has a Twitter! She got a new shellphone, and Mama Llama taught her how to use it. Her twitter name is @CBTBellafina if you want to follow her!
Plank
Plank is another of our new friends at Blazing Trails. We found him living in the shed during the winter, so we decided to adopt him and let him come to camp this summer! Plank is going to be part of our Tribe Wars. We will have a daily challenge for the tribes, and the winners of the challenge will get to have Plank hang out with their tribe for the day. We're looking forward to having some great adventures with Plank this summer!