Floating Food and Bug Sandwiches–

Published on August 2, 2017July 31, 2017 by Kathy Baker

“I can remember piling eight kids and two staff members into an open truck with all the food and supplies and they would drop us off at Rollways. I look back now that I am a Mom and think—there were no cellphones, no place to contact anyone in an emergency, “ said Laurie Cone, (1962-68) who figured there had to be a ranger station somehwhere—“and driving in an open truck with deer possibly jumping out in front of us? I guess times were different. It was not a litigious world. It was a simple time and we didn’t know any better.”

Tracy Topping (1962-63) also remembered piling into the pickup truck with a “gaggle of girls” singing “We Are The Girls Of Camp Maqua” on the way to the river. “I don’t think that water in the river ever got above our knees and it was slow moving, but if you had too much in the canoe, it would get stuck. I can still see the string of hot dogs all hooked together that came floating down the river. We tried to save the food. I guess one of the canoes had capsized.”

Her sister Randi was at the front of the canoe line, when her sister was at the back. “We all witnessed the giant sausage links floating by our canoes. We were quite impressed that they floated and we tried to catch them,” she laughed, recalling how they were careful to duck the giant tree limbs in the current as they tried to catch the lost food.

Many girls, like Sue Purdue (1964-68), were city girls and took very few trips growing up. “I was very rugged and would not have known camping was in my blood, had it not been for Maqua. One year I was on one of those three or four day camping trips, which I did every session. We didn’t have tents, just sleeping bags. My cousin Laurie was a kitchen aide at the time and had packed the food. There were thirteen of us and she packed enough for six. Also, since there were no coolers, we had something with sour cream and it was in our stew or some dish. All I remember is I threw up all night, but she didn’t know.”

Keeping Safe and Dry—

Published on July 31, 2017July 31, 2017 by Kathy Baker

“I do remember spending a night at Rollways State Park. I was just too cold to sleep,” said Ann Meisel (1962-66). “Now I would just ask if there were any more blankets, which I’m sure were available, but I was too young and shy to know how to deal with grown-ups, so I just suffered.”

Ann later took a three-day canoe trip, where the girls were driven to Grayling. “It was truly a rough and hard adventure. We did not have good camping gear back then and it rained and my sleeping bag got soaking wet. We learned how to maneuver the canoes to sleep under them. There was also an accident with a canoe and three girls had to be rescued, which made people in charge quite frantic. I think they tipped in some rapids and some items were lost. One of the girls who was rescued later showed us her lace panties and said she did not know whose panties she had on,” laughed Ann.

The canoe rental place happened to be next door to a house that looked terribly familiar to Ann. She was certain that the people that cared for her father’s mother in her dying years lived there, and had taken her grandmother from Bay City to their retirement home on the AuSable in Grayling.
“I was frantic, ran up to the door and banged. An older lady answered and I shouted, “I’m Ann Mesiel and I think you took care of my grandmother! They remembered me, and still had one item from my grandmother. It was a gold bangle, oval shaped, with Matie inscribed on it. I wore it for the next twenty years,” said Ann, who considered those trips to be the coolest thing she ever did.

It Was A Big Deal!

Published on July 19, 2017July 10, 2017 by Kathy Baker

“I loved the canoe trips down the AuSable and made two or three trips as a camper. It was a real big deal to me,” said Priscilla Johns (1968+). “We took our backpacks, (which were considered cool back then), and our sleeping bags and would throw it all in the back of THE truck,” she laughed, as she recalled the girls standing up or bouncing down the highway. “We would camp overnight and on the river, if we lost sight of one of the canoes we had some chant we called back and forth between us. We even had some canoe songs we sang, like “my paddles flashing bright.”

It was a big deal to Dawn Sohigian (1966-74) who learned to canoe at camp. “I was excited when I was finally old enough to go on the canoe trips, which I loved. I kept thinking—when is it my turn—and then felt like such a big girl when I went on one.”

Kathy Butsch rembered the landmarks on the river– Steven’s Bridge, Jolly Redskin Canoe Livery, and coming out at Lucerne. “It was a big deal that we were older than our sisters and could go on the canoe trips. We were super close as siblings, but there was always this big drama as we left to go on the trip. The canoe trip was the highlight of the summer, but the trauma was trying to pass the swim test.”

“I loved the canoe trips, both as a camper and a counselor,” said Jodi Tripp (1957+). “We spent three nights on the AuSable, and then one year we were on the river up near Grayling. It was a faster section of the river. We got rained out the first night and we were all sopping wet. We ended up staying where they stored the canoes to dry out and had to stay an extra night–sleeping out in the open in our wet sleeping bags. We were freezing, but sang a lot by the campfire.”

Jane McKinley (1956-59) learned to canoe at camp and loved to swamp and bounce on them, but loved the three-day trips on the AuSable, despite getting totally soaked. It appeared that she was always close enough on the river to walk for hamburgers and milkshakes, which was a nice change from campfire food.

“One canoe trip down the AuSable as a C.I.T. was so much fun,” said forties’ camper Marsha Immerman, who loved the singing back and forth, the view of the canoes in a single file and the “bobbing” that pitched them into the water. The food was not to her liking, and she was not alone.

It’s Not Just About The River–

Published on July 17, 2017July 14, 2017 by Kathy Baker

Nan O’Tool wrote about a two-day trip in “O’Tool’s Activities” in the July 12-26,1950 issue of the “Loon” describing the canoe trip by Hut 7. “We left with the canoes hanging out of the back of the truck on Monday morning. Our counselors, Irene and Dickie and Betty accompanied us and showed us what to do almost every foot of the way. After going about three miles from Loud Dam across the AuSable River, we came to a small inlet. After looking around, we beached our canoes and made our camp, which we used for the next two days. “

“We were gifted with delicious food for every meal. Some of the outstanding foods were: cube steaks, smoked ham, sausages and eggs, and huge servings of ice cream. The fishing was good, but in the morning only. We caught seven Rock Bass all together. By mistake, the fish were left on the side of the canoe and some lovely water creatures ate all except one head. We, at least, had the enjoyment of catching them. The water was quite clean, so we all went swimming several times during our stay. It was a rather sad departure at first, but when it began to rain we agreed it would be good to get back to camp.”

Sister Pat O’Tool said some of her fondest camp memories were of the trips away. Her first overnight trip was to Rollways and sleeping bags were unheard of. She took blankets and rolled them with newspaper for insulation.“We took a number of canoe trips and normally it rained. We knew how to pack and we packed carefully. We would sleep in our tents in the rain. I can still remember the Angel Bread we made with sweetened condensed milk. We would dip two pieces of white bread in the milk, then dip them in coconut and roast them over the fire. We also used large cans to make stew with vegetables or sloppy joes over the fire. I think I tasted apple butter for the first time at camp and it was strange, but I liked it.”

Take Me To The River!

Published on July 10, 2017July 10, 2017 by Kathy Baker

The trip scheduling was not always perfect since there was lack of transportation and conflicts with canoe areas, according to notes left by the program director Toni Young in 1966 (for canoe overnight trips), but those trips remained the epitome of fun and adventure for girls of every decade.

A sample sheet was attached in the report with Gayla and “Squirt” from cabin seven leaving at 5:15 for Rollways, followed by dinner there, a clean up and explore time at 7:30, snacks at 8:45, taps at 9:30 and pick up and returned to Maqua at 8:15 the following morning.

There were near drought conditions that summer with a fire ban in place. Combined with “not too enthusiastic or inexperienced staff, very few cookouts were taken and just as few sleepouts,” wrote Toni. “Most of the cookouts were taken in conjunction with overnights, thus killing two birds with one stone.”

Four firebowls were available in camp in Senior Village, waterfront, and primitive. The one in primitive was only used when they were gone on a trip and the one between the lodge and the archery field wasn’t used at all that year.

Anne Obey was the campcraft packer, so the counselors were only responsible for the cooking utensils, tarps and hatchets from the campcraft hut and first aid kit from the nurse. Ann had impressed her director very much with her mature manner and how well she handled her responsibilities. “I could not have asked for anyone who gave willingly and actually showed loyalty and love for Maqua and its campers as Anne” she wrote in her report in 1966.

More Overnights–

Published on July 5, 2017June 28, 2017 by Kathy Baker

Campouts were always an adventure, whether they were away from camp or nearby. Edna Young (1932) shared her experience of her local hike. “One day we took an overnight hike about a mile and a half and planned to sleep on the shore, but we had to come home because a storm came up. The lake was not very populated and we had hiked to a place called “Recreation Hill”, which was to the right of the camp as you look across the lake. We walked home holding hands and later the counselors went across the lake to get our blanket rolls by boat. It was nasty and we stayed close to shore. They were might worried about us and there were big lights by the boathouse to direct us back home.”

Susan Bradford (1965) recalled a trip to Rollways for several days with the older girls, when they slept in a pavilion in sleeping bags on a bluff overlooking the AuSable River. “It was a huge gorge with hundreds of steps that took us down to the river. At night we told scary stories, made S’mores by the campfire and enjoyed having our outing away from the younger campers.”

Overnights were always special for Molly Olson and Judy MacNicols(1946), even when they just canoed to the right side of Loon Lake to Hale Park. “We did have an overnight canoe or rowboat trip across the lake for a campout with no tents,” said Judy, who remembered the rowing, campfire with hot dogs and sleeping on the ground “roughing it”.

In 1955 Minette Jacques said only the good swimmers were allowed to take the rowboats and camp overnight at Hale Park, where they made pancakes over the fire. A second overnight was on Chapel Hill with foil hobo dinners, but the fun trips were in the back of the pickup truck singing “We Are The Girls From Camp Maqua” all the way to Rollways, where they camped under the pavilion.

Girls of Camp Maqua

My Book ~ Your Story

1950’s