Project: Finishing The Pond

Last year we drained and cleaned the pond.  This had never been done (the pond was built in 1987) and it was time.  We realized that we could use the sediment that was scraped out to upgrade the beach!  That sediment had to dry and then it must be worked with some other material. This money is to finish that effort and put in a nice sandy beach.

In the first years of BBC campers walked to a local swimming hole to cool off on hot days. The Pond was built in 1988 to create a fun space for campers to enjoy themselves on a hot day without having to leave camp. This is one of the most heavily used aspects of the facility since campers go down to the pond almost every day during the summer for swimming, boating, and fishing. Over the years, however, the camp has slowly started to outgrow the pond. Erosion took over the already thin beach making it much thinner and difficult to walk on. Poor swimmers were constrained to the very small shallow end. Vegetation built up over the years and campers and other facility users started to comment about how hard it was to swim through. Campers who don’t want to be in the water struggle to find engaging activities. This past fall we started a two-part process to improve the pond and address some of these problems. After two weeks and a lot of pieces of pipe the pond was drained and ready to be cleaned.  The material that was taken out was dumped next to the pond to help expand the beach. Rocks were strategically placed to create a much larger shallow end and play area for the campers. And large boulders were driven into the pond floor to use as anchors for the dock and water trampoline. This spring we are finishing the project by building out a large beach with areas to play games, relax, and store towels and swim gear. The larger beach will allow for more activities like Gaga and Volleyball to be brought down to the pond giving campers more choices of stuff to do. Additional picnic tables will be built to accommodate the card games and meals campers enjoy at the pond. A “Hammock Village” will be built to allow older campers a fun place to “chill”. Please help expand and improve upon one of the best parts of camp!

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