Weekly Update: June 29th, 2025

by Ariella Rogge on June 29

Happy Almost July! Tonight, at the Big Spring Vespers on Boys’ Old Sunday Rocks at the base of High Trails, there was a hubbub. Not long after we started singing “Sixteen Tons,” some boys started pointing at the sky behind us. At first, it was just groups of one or two, then soon everyone on the rocks was pointing at this strange object in the sky. It looked a little like a miniature moon, capturing and reflecting the light of the setting sun almost exactly like the moon (and almost in line with it, too). It wasn’t a bird, plane or Superman…and we still don’t know exactly what we were looking at. It didn’t move very fast–it initially appeared to not be moving at all. Some said it was a weather balloon, others said it was a UFO, and a few even said it seemed like someone had forgotten to turn off a stage light on The Truman Show…but we still don’t know for sure.

Along with a continued sense of wonder and curiosity, this week has also been filled with what MaryCatherine McDonald, a trauma researcher and author of “The Joy Reset,” calls those bright bits of (sometimes celestial) happiness: tiny little joys, or “TLJs”. From hiking under a blanket of stars, to finding camaraderie while “hawking” horses, to “making pizza” at the archery range, to practicing the perfect coyote howl imitation, to receiving #funhats and fun socks in care packages, to eating a bowl of cereal in the lodge late at night with your friends, the assortment of possible “TLJs” feels endless…and we also know these particular moments are ephemeral.

As we enter this last full week of camp, we hope our campers take the time to reflect on their accomplishments while also feeling gratitude for the unique experience that has been, and is, Summer 2025. We hope they remember some of their own TLJs: a counselor bringing them a hot cocoa, a friend giving them a hug when they were feeling bad, the laughs they had while trying to hang a bear bag, the warmth of their sleeping bags and the cold of their noses right before they had to get up to start climbing a mountain, the whinny-snort excitement of their horses as they get closer to the barn, the moment when they realize the last “false peak” is actually the summit, and the rustle of the Aspen leaves and the sway of their hammocks while trying to finish summer reading books…but end up taking a nap.

After an incredible week that culminated with a pajama party, alfresco breakfast, the All Camp Carnival and an evening, water-based Capture the Flag at Big Spring and a Lip Sync Battle at High Trails, campers are ready for another full week of trips and “last chance” activities to round out their experience. Big Spring campers are gearing up for their much-anticipated long trip week, where they will backpack, horsepack, climb mountains and canoe in the Pikes Peak area as well as the central Collegiate Range. High Trails campers received their cabinside JC Dinner invitations to the “Teen Beach” themed soiree which they will attend following varied and creative Cabinside All Days. Our Sanborn Junior campers have a couple of all days and another overnight this week. They will head to the South Platte River for a day of tubing and to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument to work on their Junior Ranger badges and then dig for fossils at a local quarry. This week will be full of singing, costumes, plane letter writing, themes and even more opportunities for personal growth, friendship and the cultivation of happiness.

We hope these weeks of fun, challenging, silly and engaging experiences will help campers seek out and acknowledge other “TLJ” moments in their lives–because, according to a recent NY Times article, it is those small moments that build our resilience, increase our well-being, help us become more resourceful and make us happier people. Each one of these campers is a “TLJ” in their own unique, authentic way and, together, we create a very strong, resilient, diverse and joyful community.

We are going to have an amazing week!

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Ariella Rogge
About Ariella Rogge

Ariella started her career at Sanborn when she was twelve. After five years of camper and five years of Sanborn staff experience, she continued her work with kids in the high school classroom. Ariella and her family returned to Sanborn in 2001 to take on the Program Director role which she held til 2012. She and Elizabeth Marable became co-directors of High Trails in 2013 and then Ariella became the High Trails Director in 2020. In the fall of 2022 she became the Director of Sanborn Western Camps, overseeing the director teams of both Big Spring and High Trails. She lists mountain golf, Gymkhana, climbing mountains and making Pad Thai in the backcountry as some of her favorite activities at camp. Ariella received a B.A. in English from Colorado College and is a certified secondary English educator,an ACCT Level 2 Ropes Course Technician, an ARC lifeguard and NREMT and WEMT. She lives in Florissant in the summer and in Green Mountain Falls during the school year so she can stay involved with the busy lives of her husband, Matt, and two sons, Lairden and Karsten.