Why hello there everyone! My name is Joe McGrory, and I was graced with the honor of being the Ropes Coordinator this past summer of 2022. This summer marks my fourth year of being on summer staff, being a CIT for 2 years, and a counselor in 2021. Before working on staff, I was a camper for as long as I can remember, giving camp a very special place in my life. Becoming the Ropes Coordinator was always one of my long term goals through my camp journey, and it was very exciting for me to be offered the position this year. For many of the people outside of my camp life, it may be very confusing why I continue to come back to this zero cell service, no air conditioning, messy bathroom ridden place that is Camp Alta Mons. For me however, I couldn’t imagine a summer without this wonderful place. The birdie song in the morning, the preacher cookies, the wagon rides, the screaming of campers playing big games, singing light the fire during worship, even the late late nights working night ropes. Day after day, this place continues to amaze me. With all of the amazing qualities that make Camp Alta Mons what it is, the natural beauty is one of the qualities that shines the brightest to me. This is why I made it one of my goals this summer to take in as much of the beauty as I could in every waking moment. It can be very easy to get sucked into the quick moving pace that is camp life, rushing from one activity to the next and focusing only on the task at hand. I had to continually remind myself to take in each moment. While at the pole course, I would take glances to the surrounding fields and up the holler that makes up Alta Mons. From the zip platform, I could look out into the trees, seeing the sun reflecting off leaves and onto the ground. Driving to grab ropes gear I would see groups of deer trotting through the back 400. During worship I could look into the fire, and follow the smoke up into the stars above us. Moments like these would continually bring me peace and clarity in the hustle and bustle that is camp life. They would remind me of the beauty that has surrounded me for the past 7 weeks and give me extra energy to put into camp. Camp Alta Mons will forever be my home away from home, and I am so happy to have been able to spend my summer here.
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