This summer at the ranch was kind of magical. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always some aspect of magic involved in making camp happen, but this year seemed especially remarkable. The staff meshed so well that when things needed to happen, they just did. Campers were excited, and there…

I quickly lost my concept of time when I came to the ranch. A day feels like a week, yet the last 5 weeks have flown by and I’ve had some of the best times of my life. Photographs and stories can give you an idea of what I’ve been up to, but it’s impossible to capture the beauty of this adventure…

Somehow, and I honestly have no idea how it happened, summer is halfway over. When I started this blog I had every intention of continuing it regularly throughout the summer. And all of a sudden here we are, halfway through, and this is the first moment I’ve had to sit down.

I should have…

Risk, when it comes to mountain boarding, is a very intricate thing. There are two ways to approach risky situations: confidence and caution. I find myself teaching kids how to combine the two, rather than using one or the other. Generally, confidence needs to be built, however I find myself occasionally…

Believe it or not, in the six years that I’ve been teaching mountain boarding, there has never been a serious injury. I see kids fall every single day. Sometimes, kids fall down after rolling extremely slowly for one or two feet, or they just haven’t quite figured out their balance,…

Camp has a way of uniting people. It happens for campers as well as staff members. You’ve ended up in this beautiful, unique, happy place, and you don’t necessarily get a choice about who else ends up there. You’re pushed out of your comfort zone, but in the most comfortable, fun, easy…

National Geographic just put out an article entitled “This is Your Brain on Nature.” It goes into detail about how much of a positive impact Nature actually has on our mental and physical health. In it, writer Florence Williams states that, “When we slow down, stop the busywork, and…

I’ve always been intrigued by horses. The first time I rode a horse was when I was eight years old on a family road trip from my home in Vermont to the wild west. The horse I rode was old and slow, and I was fine with that. Even after six summers at the ranch, the last time I…

Well, it is that time of year again. I’ve moved out of the Columbine, and into an apartment in Boulder. The most accurate way to describe leaving the ranch is that you begin to feel homesick in your own home. The daily rituals of the ranch become so engrained in your soul, that adjusting back to…

Summer is over and things at the ranch have slowed down quite a bit. Although most of the staff returned to “the real world,” a few of us haven’t quite made it out yet, and we’re certainly not complaining.

Emma stuck around to feed us incredible food and bless us with her …