Camp Fircom - Reflections

Camp Fircom is way, with a more than strong emphasis on WAY, different than I expected. To begin with, I hadn't even been spelling it right, as I thought it was Furkham, and I had no real idea whatsoever about where in BC Gambier Island was. When I was told of the correct spelling - Fircom, and the direction of the little water taxi that drove us to the camp told me very slightly the area the island was, I soon found out that was just the beginning. In my mind I had a cross between Elphinstone and, well, I don't know what. I pictured a long flowing field of my-height grass leading up to a picturesque little mess hall, and the cabins like that of my Air Cadets barracks on Vancouver Island. When the MV Mercury IV pulled into the little bay, and we unloaded on the little dock, it was not at all what I expected. We all walked past the two tipis, and unloaded into our first community circle, which gave me some insight into what the camp would be about. I learned what I had been hoping for, which was swimming, and it still pressed into my mind about how short the camp was, basically a Gambier Island Sleepover, although later on I realized that with all we did, it felt like much, much more than that. After swimming, which was quite relaxing, I might add, we had a great lunch then unpacked into our (in my honest opinion mixed and out of style) little room, which was laid out instead of rows, in a square formation, with large-matressed comfortable modern beds in the middle, but tacky, blue, out of style, small uncomftorable beds off to the side (in which me, the 5'10'' biggest person in the classroom happened to sleep in). Anwyay, once our stuff was in we began the activities, which included Primitive, a survival style activity which worked on co-operation and task dividing, and kayaking, which was truly my highlight. After sliding on a grass-burn-inducing-120-foot-slip-n-slide adventure, we had a great beef/chicken dinner filled with amazing salad dressinged salads, before a campfire with songs and smores, a movie, and one of the top ten worst sleeps in my entire life. In a stiflingly stuffy and hot room, all the grade 8 boys were cramped together, and at least two thirds had successfully, or in my case unsuccessfully, tried to get to sleep with the remaining third telling jokes that were not all too funny, causing another third to start laughing, preventing me from that amazing land of sleep. When I finally got to sleep, well after a few times of getting back to sleep, I was awoken by a light beeping and the commencing of the polar bear dip, of which the all-too-willing avid swimmers had dropped out, due to the cold water and early morning. Only a friend and I managed to brave it out and swim in the freezing water, after which we were treated to go first for an amazingly delicious breakfast. The day of archery and farming went by fairly quickly and before I knew it I was on a boat back home, with the bags in the back, leaving Camp Fircom behind, but in my memories, as the one-night camp that surpassed camp Byng by 700 kilometers and really mixed up the way I camped, as not to be forgotten, ever.



PS - I learned that Fircom actually stands for First Community, and it is roughly a tenth of the size of Stanley Park, however it felt much larger and I believe it to be the largest camp I have ever been to.