Wild West Day at Camp Tall Timbers!

Yesterday was Wild West Day! YEE-HAW!

Wild West- Camp Tall Timbers is a place filled with mystery and wonder, flat deserts and steep canyons, milk and cookies, good and bad. It is up to y’all to brave these harsh lands and win the most prestige to make the Wild West- Camp Tall Timbers your own. But be wary: you’re not the only ones roaming these lands. Bandits and thieves hide around every corner, and if you’re not careful, they may take everything you have. Best of luck cowboys and cowgirls and just remember: Rootin’ Tootin’ and Shootin’!

This camp ain’t big enough for the four of us! Campers were split into the cowboys, sheriffs, outlaws, and pioneers, and moved through activities to find out which one of them was the best.

Cross the Desert

Campers needed to cross the desert (upper fields), but can’t touch the cacti (be tagged by other campers)! Once tagged you too become a cactus until one person is left standing gaining points for their team.

Water Horse Race

Each team sent out three campers in a canoe to go out into the lake, circle the counselor in the kayak, and come back first. Best out of three won!

Shootout

Each team member would shoot once at riflery and the team with the best hits on the target won.

Canyon Gorge Run

This relay race included going down the slip-n-slide, weaving through torches, going under the parachute, and crab-walking to the finish. The team with the best time won.

Wild West Dance

Each team had to create a two-minute dance to a country song during both free swims and after dinner to perform at the social.

Social

Presentation of dances and fun dancing!

In the end, the outlaws placed first (Travis, Porter, Franklin, Dylan. James, Matthew, David, Heath, Charlotte, Ingrid, Lily, Lily, Eliza, Maddie, Molly, Claire, Sara, Leighton, Emma, Drew, Skylar, Sydney, and Ruby), followed by the pioneers, cowboys, and sheriffs.

Signing off with a Can-do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

Thanks for being the Best Summer Camp!

The second session of summer camp in 2022 could not have been as successful without our CIT2’s! They did an outstanding job planning activities, putting campers to bed, and keeping traditions alive! These campers have always been excited about visiting the best summer camp in West Virginia and some of them wanted to say a thank you to camp for all their years as campers. Be prepared you might shed some tears!

Tessy Schreyer

Being a camper at Camp Tall Timbers has made my summers incredible. There are many things I love about this camp, but one thing I appreciate the most are the people I have met here. Everyone is open to making new friends, and you really have the chance to get to know all types of amazing people. I have definitely met some of the funniest and most creative people here. A group I am especially grateful for is my tent group. Living with these girls and getting to know them has given me a set of amazing friendships. I have known most of these girls for years and have had the pleasure of getting closer and closer with them each summer. I surely will not forget all the late night talks and laughs we have had. I am thankful for all the experiences I have had at Camp Tall Timbers.

Chase Lissak

My 6 years at camp were some of the best times of my life. It helped me interact with so many people from different walks of life that I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet anywhere else. I learned how to be more independent and spend some time away from home. I appreciate and have so much respect for the counselors who helped make each year so fun and memorable. I will miss all of it so much but I’m so glad I took the time out of each summer to go. I believe I would not be the same person I am today if it wasn’t for camp and I’m so grateful for it.

Sammy Lemar

The biggest thank you to Camp Tall Timbers for shaping some of the most amazing friendships and for introducing me to the girls who are basically my sisters. Thank you for giving me a place to be myself with no judgment. Thank you for giving me a community of support that I know will be there forever. And finally, thank you for the memories and the laughs that I will never forget.

Lawson Sipple

I appreciate camp because I enjoy seeing all of my friends come back and making new ones. I have been going to camp for five years now, and will hopefully be coming back as a counselor. I have never been bored at camp, and Emma and Glenn do a great job running camp and try their best to make sure everyone is safe and always having fun.

Sydney Seiler

This camp makes my entire year better and I can’t imagine not coming back as a camper next year. They say that this camp allows you to get “away from the everyday” and they couldn’t be more right. When I’m here, all my everyday worries, anxieties, and fears suddenly disappear and it’s amazing. I’m trying to soak up the last few days I have here and I’m really going to miss the pure joy I feel every day at this camp. 

Becca Adlin

Camp Tall Timbers has taught me so many special things, not only that have helped me here but also in the real world. As a camper, I have met the greatest people and learned a lot about myself. There is so much I will miss about camp, but most of all I will miss spending every day with my best friends. 

Silvana Yunda

I never understood how people could get so close to each other by just being together for three weeks each year, and I used to think that I would never have a friendship like the ones in movies. Until I came to camp for a second year, and realized that is all about trusting each other and being yourself no matter what. And like these, I understood that I have created a family because even though I don’t know everyone for long everyone has made me feel like part of the best community. The worst part of getting the best friends possible here, is saying goodbye, and not knowing when you’re going to see them again, but I just know that we are forever. 

Bruno Becker

Going to summer camp has been the most important part of my summer for four years now and I’m definitely going to miss it a ton. Meeting people and living with them forms a strong bond between you, and some of the friends I’ve made at camp will continue to be my friends for the rest of our lives. Thank you to Camp Tall Timbers for providing me with the opportunity to make these wonderful friendships, to the counselors for being role models that I still look up to, and most importantly all of the amazing people I’ve met at camp. 

Read about the fun our campers have had this year at Camp Tall Timbers summer camp, when the camp went to the wild west!

Evening Activity Extravaganza!

Second session was filled with so many fun evening activities it was an evening activity extravaganza!! Here are just a few examples:

Zombie Apocalypse Night!

Last week campers were split into six groups to try and find a cure to an infectious disease causing an outbreak of zombies! Teams were sent through activities to gain power ups such as 2x points, freeze a zombie, ‘no bones’ a zombie, and revive a teammate to help win capture the flag on the golf hill!

These activities consisted of getting one bullseye, two in red, or three in blue at archery, climbing to the top of the climbing wall, getting fifteen soccer goals, getting two basketball hoops with defense, winning a game of volleyball against the zombies, and sending your whole team through the spider web without touching it.

Zombies were stationed at the bottom of the golf hill and each team would send two campers at a time to grab a paint bottle. If tapped by a zombie, then they became infected and became part of the zombies chasing after those trying to retrieve the flag! 

The team that retrieved the most flags in the end defeated the zombies and found a cure! Vance and Jami’s team won which consisted of Sydney Rob, Maddy, Skylar, Poppy, Chloe, Frederick, Chase, Jack, Heath, Thomas, and Iver. But the evening activity extravaganza didn’t end there!

Clue Night!

Tuesday night we had clue night! This activity consisted of teams of campers doing a scavenger hunt around camp and finding clues to figure out who ate the pudding, with what weapon, and where this horrendous crime took place.

Each team had to go to the lake campfire, pavilion, pool, frisbee golf hole, office porch, art shack, rec hall, gym mats, basketball courts, sports shed, soccer goal, golf putting green, archery, climbing wall, and the entrance sign. At each of these locations there was an envelope hidden with certain locations, people, and weapons, which would then be crossed off, and then through the process of elimination the last one in each category is the correct answer to the mystery.

Throughout this hunt teams had the ability to gain power cards which consisted of blackmail – the ability to ask a team to reveal one of their cards to you; bribery – the ability to trade this power card for one of theirs; friendly wager – ability to wager a certain number of cars and play rock-paper-scissors with the losing team revealing the number of cards wagered to the winning team; and investigate a theory – the ability to ask a team one person, place, and weapon and if they have one of those they must show you.

The first team to complete the scavenger hunt with the correct answer and win was Harold’s team which consisted of Mackenzie, Serena, Natalia, Malcom, Jacob, and Timmy. In the end we found that Vance ate the pudding at the gym mats with the fancy spoon!

Citrus Night!

Sunday night we had a camp favorite evening activity citrus night! Each team of counselors picked campers’ names out of a hat to randomly create a team. After picking teams each team also randomly picked an orange which determined how much money they could spend at the auction. Items such as: a tube from the art shack, box, broken water gun, baseball, etc. were sold, but teams were not told what these objects would be used for in the end. 

Throughout this auction teams were able to gain more money if they were wearing citrus colors and through citrus wammies, which are challenges (mostly) with oranges. These included bocce, bucket throw and dunking a counselor with the cold water, two person toss, peeling an orange the fastest, squeezing the most juice out, making a song about an orange, worshipping an orange, and a lemon juice shot. 

Once all of the items were sold each team had to build something to protect the orange when getting hit with a baseball bat with the items they bought and tape. In the end, Rosalie and Alex’s team came away with the victory! What an incredible evening activity extravaganza!

Signing off with a Can-do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

PS. Want to explore more of the fun we’ve had this summer? Hear from our campers in this blog!

Summer Camp Adventure, oh-my!

Pirate, Cowboy, Alien, Ninja Day: The Sequel: The Robots Strike Back!

Adventure awaits at summer camp and this past Saturday was no exception.  Activities included Pirate, Cowboy, Alien, Ninja Day: The Sequel: The Robots Strike Back!

Last year was the 100th Pirate-Cowboy-Alien-Ninja Olympics, yet the robots were unhappy because they were not invited to participate and therefore, decided to launch an attack on the Olympic council headquarters demanding a place in the 2494 games! Therefore, the pirates, cowboys, aliens, and ninjas had to defend their sacred games against the robots! A summer camp adventure indeed!

To prepare for their battle against the robots they went through a series of training activities!

  • Pirate Training: Greasy Watermelon
    • Be the first team to get the greasy watermelon into the canoe!
  • Cowboy Training: Archery
    • Be the team to pop the most balloons on the targets!
  • Ninja Training: Climbing
    • Be the team with the most people to get up the climbing wall!
  • Alien Training: Code Cracking
    • Be the team to decipher the alien code in the quickest amount of time!
  • Robots Training: Maze
    • Be the team with the quickest time to find all 6 dodgeballs and move through the maze!
  • Gauntlet: Relay Race
    • Be the team to complete the relay in the fastest amount of time, which consisted of sliding down the slip-n-slide, grabbing a bucket of water, jumping over three benches, weaving through torches, throwing the bucket of water at your team leader to wash shaving cream off them, climbing under two benches, climbing across the balance beam, and returning the bucket!
  • Robothunt
    • Robots (CIT2’s) have invaded: you have 5 minutes to hide and don’t get found!

In the end, the robots short-circuited from the rain, and they were defeated. Yet, one team really outdid the others throughout training and the robot hunt and won: the Cowboys (Bruno, Sydney Seiler, Sammy Lemar, Charlie, Grayson, Jake, Archie, David, Ashton, Malcolm, Theo, Sammy Davis, Alexa, Kyra, Grace, Poppy, Chloe, and Adele)!

Stay tuned for more summer camp adventures with GMTT highlighting this fierce competition! 

Signing off with a Can-do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

Want to learn more? Read about some of our other summer camp adventures!

CIT2’s host Monopoly Night!

Friday night’s evening activity was a twist on the classic game Monopoly with our CIT2’s!

Our very own CIT2’s (Sammy, Tessy, Becca, Sydney, Silvana, Mikayla (Micky), Anna, Chase, Bruno, Alex, Lawson, and Ben) planned and ran this new activity and it was an immense success and will be continued in the future!

Once the bell rang, campers were sorted into seven teams consisting of a monopoly piece: top hat, thimble, car, dog, battleship, iron, and shoe.

These pieces then moved around to different properties to partake in activities and if they were the best team overall they gained money. Another way to gain, or potentially lose, money was by being stopped by cops. They gave teams challenges to complete, such as running around the baseball bases or art shack in a particular amount of time, and if the team completed these tasks they were able to gain a chance card! However, if they were unable to complete the task they would be sent to jail and not be allowed to participate in the next station.

Properties and their Activities:

  • Reading Railroad: Red Light, Green Light
  • Boardwalk: Basketball shots from the edge of the pool
  • Marvin Gardens: Pictionary
  • Baltic Ave: Recreate the Monopoly board by memory
  • St. James Place: Trivia
  • Pacific Ave: Frisbee Golf
  • Free Parking: Name that Tune

Once all of the pieces stopped at each property they were able to pick a box in order of the team with the highest amount of money to lowest. Yet, there was a twist! Some boxes held punishments instead of prizes. These boxes consisted of dippies, cleaning a cabin, cleaning all of the tables in the dining hall, pieing the CIT2’s in the face, pushing the CIT2’s into the pool, CIT2’s serving the team lunch, and pieing admin in the face!

As the session progresses we look forward to seeing all that these CIT2’s are capable of!

Signing off with a Can Do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

PS. Hear directly from our campers about how they feel about summer camp!

Jived Through the Genres!

Tuesday night we jived through the genres for our evening activity!

Each cabin/tent group was assigned a specific music genre during lunch and was tasked with creating a skit/dance including music from their specific genre, during rest hour, free swim, and after dinner.

Once the bell rang each cabin/tent group was able to perform for the camp and the judges, who were special guests: Big Time Rush! Carlos was the crowd’s favorite judge reacting to each performance with taps on his helmet, each time it was longer than one before cheering roared through the gym!

Girl’s Side:

  • Cabin B: Hiphop
  • Cabin G: EDM
  • GT Group 1: Alternative
  • GT Group 2: Metal
  • GT Group 3: Showtunes

Boy’s Side: 

  • Cabins 1 & 2: Pop
  • Cabin 3: Rock
  • Cabin 7: Country
  • Cabin 8: RnB
  • BT: Classical

It was an ambitious competition ending with Cabin 7 (Hugh, Jacob, Heath, Zach, Ryan, and David), taking home their second skit win of the session, Cabin 3 (Alexander, Thomas, Kai, Jonathan, and Ashton) in second place, and Girls Tents Group 1 (Kyra, Shawnie, Morgan, Skylar, Serena, Maura, and Grace) in third! These kids worked hard, jived through the genres, and had a laughing good time! All of us here at Camp Tall Timbers are proud of all their hard work and their commitment to fun! 

Be on the lookout for a GMTT of this jiving night coming soon! 

Signing off with a Can Do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

PS. We’re having so much fun here every week during summer camp! Read about some of our favorite activities! There are many reasons why Camp Tall Timbers is the best summer camp in West Virginia, click the learn to learn a few of them today! We’ve jived through the genres this week, what will we do next? Stay tuned to find out!

We’re ‘Fired Up’ For Second Session!

As we sadly said goodbye to our first session campers, we happily welcomed our second session campers here at your favorite Summer Camp in West Virginia – Camp Tall Timbers!

Second Session 2022: July 11, 2022

The three week session has an abundance of returning campers who were extremely excited to see each other, and some new faces who have quickly acclimated to camp life and have already made new friends! 

After a bustling morning of camper arrivals we had a yummy lunch and unpacked and then moved on to our introductory camp activities. The weather was sunny so we were able to have campers swim, play tennis, do challenge games, archery, and meet the nurse all while bonding with their cabin/tent mates.

Our evening activity was the famous welcome campfire at the lake where we all sang camp songs, learned the friends song and CTT hug, and made skits to introduce ourselves. Each skit had to include a random object given to them and use it not for its intended use and everyone’s names. It was a close competition but boys’ tents won (Quinn, Adam, Carter, Chase, Bruno, Alex, Lawson, Grayson, Charlie, Frederick, Graham, and Ben), followed by cabin 7 for second (Hugh, Jacob, Heath, Zach, Ryan, David), and Cabin B for third (Rachel, Abigail, Adele, Chloe, Guinevere, and Juliana). This fun night was concluded by each cabin/tent group making s’mores!

Keep a look out for a ‘Good Morning Tall Timbers’ later this week for video footage of this night! 

Signing off with a Can-do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal    

Up Next! Jiving through the genres with your favorite summer camp in West Virginia! We’re having more fun, sharing more laughs and enjoying more summer moments at Camp Tall Timbers. Be sure to visit our camp registration page to get enrolled for our upcoming camp summer camp!

Avenger’s Day!

On Saturday we had Avenger’s Day here at Camp Tall Timbers – the premier summer camp for teenagers- where Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor had to prove themselves worthy to take over the vacancy for director of the Avengers, after the passing of Nick Fury, by collecting all six infinity stones in their respective trials: space, time, mind, soul, reality, and power.

Space Stone

The first trial being a canoe race at the lake. 

Time Stone

Campers competed in a relay race where they had to spin ten times around a baseball bat, run through cones, jump over and go under a bench, and finish by running up a soapy slip n slide. 

Soul Stone

Campers had to dive into the pool two at a time and find pennies at the bottom of the pool without being tapped with a kickboard by the hulk. 

Mind Stone

Campers could gain points by guessing the name and artist after listening to just a few seconds of the song, during name that tune. 

Power Stone

Campers were challenged by smashing a frozen t-shirt and thawing it enough for one camper to wear it before the other teams.

Reality Stone

Each team picked four teammates to create a comic strip of how their Avenger became the director of the avengers, which they presented to the camp before the S.H.I.E.L.D. Ball.

To end this super day we had a S.H.I.E.L.D. Ball where campers dressed up and danced to celebrate Captain America becoming the new director for the avengers. 

A GMTT will be out later this week to showcase how spectacular this Saturday activity was!

Signing off with a Can do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

Ps. Camp Tall Timbers is the premier summer camp for teenagers in the DC area. Read about some of the other fun we’ve been having this summer! Be sure to register for summer camp today to ensure you’re kids have the best summer ever!

Best overnight camp in West Virginia – Camp Adventures!

Camp Tall Timbers is the best overnight camp in West Virginia for adventures, here’s why!

Yesterday was our first trip since 2019! We were fortunate to have an extremely successful and fun day in the sun at Cacapon State Park! 

On the bus ride there campers sang songs and learned bus traditions that have not been shared in the past few years such as holding your breath when driving past a cemetery and holding up your feet while touching a screw when we go over train tracks.

Once at Cacapon the campers were able to swim and jump in the lake, nap, read, or play games on the sand and eat yummy snacks at the snack bar. 

After this fun-filled afternoon campers and counselors changed and moved to a pavilion where we had a cookout with burgers and hotdogs. Quickly moving on to our evening activity which was a surprise…MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT. 

The campers found out that Gigi, the dog, had disappeared under suspicious circumstances, and were then split into six groups. This suspenseful activity entails all of the groups becoming detectives and interviewing six counselors and doing activities to gain information from them to try and figure out who would want to kill our beloved, hilarious, and sometimes filthy Gigi. In the end, Patrick (head boys counselor) was the culprit and killed her because Glenn was spending too much time with her. Even today campers are continuing to interrogate him.  

Everyone was actively participating in swimming, snacking, and detecting until our extraordinary day was over, ending with chocolate chip cookies on the bus ride home!    

Signing off with a Can do Attitude 🙂

Jami Siegal

PS. Camp Tall Timbers is gearing up for another fun summer at the best overnight camp in West Virginia. Read more about our adventures on our blog .