Weekends at Falling Creek

Weekends at Falling Creek always have their own rhythm. Saturday keeps the pace moving with games, tournaments, and special events, while Sunday slows things down so everyone can rest, reset, and get ready for the week ahead.

Saturday

We started the morning with an early round of Deep Woods Capture the Flag to beat the heat. After that, some boys headed into disc golf, chess, or soccer tournaments, while others chose from a variety of free choice activities. In the afternoon, Staff Shakeups gave everyone the chance to try something new with a different mix of friends and counselors.

The day wrapped up with a camp-wide series of games known as the Stegosaurus Smack Down. The challenges had a light dinosaur twist and were all about teamwork and having fun together. By the end, there was plenty of laughter and just enough friendly competition to make it interesting.

Sunday

Sunday morning began with church, where Chaplain Matt Sloan spoke about this week’s theme—Honesty. The cooler morning air made it a peaceful setting to listen and reflect on the Christian message before heading back to cabins for Sunday Inspection.

Sunday’s All-Camp Game was a camp favorite—Wild Wild West. The goal was simple: earn the most points for your team (Red, Blue, Green, or Yellow) by capturing flag belts, finding gold, and returning valuable items to the Depository. Some “valuables” were everyday camp necessities—pickleballs, disc golf discs, and tennis balls—which were low in point value but high in importance. Others were harder to track down and worth much more: the Pony Express letter, sarsaparilla bottles hidden in the woods, Bill Hickok’s rifle stock, Calamity Jane’s can of peculiarities (and her left foot, tangled in tumbleweeds), plus gold mine shovels.

Once the bell rang to end the game, players headed to the Saloon to cash in their hard work with a sweet Cheerwine. Along the way, Lineheads Johnny 'Beans' Irvin and Whit Flickinger had an epic standoff with campers—something between a scene from Braveheart and Pickett’s Charge—shouting instructions to “take the high ground” and “flank the ridge.” Cheers erupted at Morning Watch when the scores were announced: “Green Machine! Green Machine!” as the Green Team claimed victory.

I probably snatched 20 belts and found three or four tennis balls.

Finn L. from Charleston, SC.

A cool front had blown in, so after Wild Wild West most boys changed into dry clothes and headed indoors for table games. With the temperature hovering around 60 degrees, it was a perfect way to wrap up the afternoon before dinner.

Evening

After dinner, cabins gathered to design their session signs—an all-hands project full of quotes, nicknames, and inside jokes that capture each cabin’s personality. Laughter, sketches, and brainstorming filled the evening until it was time for Campfire.

Campfire began in silence, as it always does. Boys walked in and took their seats quietly as Keeper of the Flame Will Cameron stepped forward to light the fire. Two-week campers leaned in to watch, some standing slightly to see the match catch the wood. Once the fire was burning, Erik Solberg shared Psalm 133:1: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” Yates followed with a story of how campers in 1969 chose this very spot for Campfire, ensuring it would remain a gathering place for generations.

The band took their place and sang “Brother, Let Me Be Your Shelter.” Performing Arts presented a skit on the importance of honesty, telling the story of a camper who tried to bypass the swim test to qualify for a kayaking trip beyond his ability. After failing the test multiple times, he bribed a friend with extra dessert to take it for him. While it got him on the trip, it put the group in danger. In the skit’s final scene, the camper fell into dangerous rapids and had to be rescued, ending with the group meeting with “Yates” to apologize. “Your choices,” Yates told them, “led to life or death.”

The band returned for another song before Zach Rivera closed the evening with a reflection on honesty. “A person who cannot be trusted is alone,” he said. “Honesty is the bedrock of who we are and our culture. It’s easy to tell a little lie, like when you leave your towel on the dock and say, ‘Oh, someone stole it!’ But that doesn’t solve any problems—it just leads to bigger ones.”