Camp Creativity

At camp, sometimes you need something, and you gotta make it work with what you have. I’ve seen that pop up a couple times this last week. I thought that you, esteemed reader, would appreciate these creative solutions.

Toilet Paper Flip Flop Repair

My flip flops came unhinged one evening on my way back to the cabin. I told myself I’d fix them the next day, but halfway through the night, I woke up in need of making the 200 foot trek through the cold night to the outdoor bathhouses, and the only shoes I could find in the darkness were my busted flip flops.

TP + Broken Flip Flop = Working Flip Flop

Once I made it to the bathhouse, after hobbling, I grabbed a bit of toilet paper and wrapped them around my flip flop. Self content, I walked back to my cabin and continued to use my TP solution for three days until the toilet paper fell off again. By then, someone had brought me back another $.98 pair from Walmart.

Dive Light

If a camper goes missing, we as a camp assume the worst case scenario and seek to rescue the camper from that scenario. The most urgent scenario would be if a missing camper had wandered down to the waterfront, slipped off the dock, and hit their head. An unconscious camper at the bottom of the lake has just a few minutes to live, and thus we staff have drills so we can practice our recovery times if such a camper were at the bottom of the lake.

There were a couple dark patches under the dock that we thought we could see better if we had a light. Unfortunately, dive lights are expensive. Fortunately, regular flashlights and leak-proof waterbottles are inexpensive.

Theres a pretty decent beam at night

We discovered that 375 lux Walmart flashlights don’t shine very brightly during the daytime (the sun puts out about 98,000 lux per square meter). But during the night, we had all sorts of fun. All the fish in the lake go deer-in-the-headlights with a spotlight on them. So even if the light isn’t bright enough for daytime swimming, the nighttime beam makes the purchase totally worth it.

Curtain Hanger

Lastly, I needed a hanger for an outfit. A half-hitch on a curtain did the job.

The Hangar