Stevie Rosen, age 11
Cabin: Barbados
Counselors: Tim Cook and Mitchell Wyly

Camp Leelanau gives you so many chances to do exciting things. A few days ago I went on a trip to the Pine River. We canoed 48 miles in 2 days. We faced many obstacles. It was peaceful, and we saw many bugs. I played Red Rover, Mafia, hat-people, and power-ball. I got baptized (dunked) 10 times.

Eli and I talked and talked- it made the time pass away. We called Joey “baby kangaroo,” and Cheetah swung from branches. Tents got too full, people tipped a lot, we all got scared, we played battle-boats, and we dipped a lot.

We ate stir fry, gorp, macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, bagels, and pita bread.
It was AWESOME.

Emily Wallingford, Age 13
Cabin: Windward

Camp Kohahna is an amazing experience for girls of all ages. It gives girls such as myself numerous opportunities to develop new skills and hobbies that they will use for the rest of their lives. Camp has a very diverse list of activities. These include sailing, tennis, canoeing, ceramics, archery, waterskiing, and so much more.

These provide the campers with many activities that keep them busy throughout the day, while allowing them to have a blast in the process. The scenery of camp is absolutely beautiful! Kohahna is surrounded by a lovely woods, and the cabins are located on a bluff that overlooks Lake Michigan. My experience at Camp Kohahna was wonderful, and I will remember it always, and I hope that you will choose to experience it too.

Drew Petkus, age 13
Cabin: Iroquois
Counselors: Fred Morrison and Ben Mason

On the first day of the Pine River trip, we started canoeing after a great lunch, at around 1:00. We canoed for about 14 miles, and reached out first campsite for the trip. It was a group effort to set up tents and cook chicken stir-fry for all of the campers. After the great chicken stir-fry dinner, we played a fun game of Mafia, and fell asleep for a well-deserved night’s rest. The next morning, we had bagels with cream cheese for breakfast, and then pushed off for a long day of canoeing. We saw river otters and many spiders. We paddled for about 4 hours until we reached our lunch site, where the CTs were.

We had a trail mix called gorp. We paddled for about 4 more hours, until we reached our campsite. We played in the river for a half an hour and then set up camp. I was assigned cook, and we had a great meal of macaroni and cheese with bacon. We went to sleep around 10:30, and woke up the next morning at 7:00. We had oatmeal for breakfast, packed up, left our campsite, and canoed to our final destination. We reached our destination after about 4 hours of canoeing and left the wonderful Pine River on the Big Blue Bus.

Hannah Hilzinger, age 13
Cabin: Birchview
Counselor: Katie Duntley

Camp is like a home away from home. Every summer when I come to camp I feel overcome with an atmosphere of live and family. Our fellow Kohahna campers become our sisters through good times and bad. When you need a helping hand or someone to lean on, you can simply turn to the open arms of the counselors here at camp.

Just being here for a day makes you feel like you truly matter and that you’re a part of the bigger picture that enriches the world. Everyone is included in all the fun activities that go on. All the smiling faces shine more brightly than the sun. That is why I think Kohahna is a home away from home.

Jonah Bettman, age 12
Cabin: Iroquois
Counselors: Fred Morrison and Ben Mason

We went on a trip to the Manistee River. We hiked along the river with 50 lb bags, and the trip was 3 days and 2 nights. We hiked 10.2 miles. There were 16 people on the trip. The first day, before we started hiking, I saw a 15 lb fish about 1½ ft long and about 5 in. thick in the river. I waded in the water and picked it up. Then we started hiking. We found a rope swing on a tree over the river, so we held onto it, swung over the river, and dropped. It was fun. Later we found a suspension bridge, about 15 ft tall.

The water was deep, so we all jumped off of it into the water. It was awesome. We set up camp on a bluff overlooking the river. Alex Lamie and I climbed down the 100 ft cliff/hill to fill up on water. When we were at the bottom, it smelled really bad. We had a hard time getting back up with 6 canteens filled with water.

For dinner, we had chicken and rice. In the morning, we got up, broke camp, and started. We found a waterfall- it was so cold! Then we hiked some more. We stopped for a dip and ended up staying for 2 hours. We swam across a 30 foot river with a strong current to a clay hill on the other side. There we played in the clay. Then we came back over and had peanut-butter and jelly on pita bread.

Then I found and picked up 2 crawfish. They were cool, but I threw them back. Then we found a tree 10 feet above the water. We climbed it, because it was nearly horizontal. Then we jumped off into the water. That was fun. We hiked for the rest of the day.

We set up camp again and had macaroni and cheese for dinner. That night we played Mafia, which was fun. Then I fell asleep. The next morning, we hiked for a long time. We stopped beside a road in a parking lot for a break, as we still had 2 miles to go. Then we saw Mark McCurties in the Big Blue Bus. He pulled over and picked us up. I was so glad- David Stewart and I kissed the bus. The trip was really fun.

Claire Dawson, age 13
Cabin: Birchview
Counselor: Katie Duntley

Every girl needs her own place to get away. For me, that place is Kohahna. From dips in the morning, until listening to taps while drifting off to sleep, the fun and excitement never end! My favorite part of camp is the relationships that are built with friends, siblings and counselors. The whole camp feels like a family! You can lean on anyone for support and advice. Camp is my favorite place to get away from the stress of school, sports and everyday life. I love camp and everything about it. I recommend it for anyone who is interested.

Andrew Rohrer, age 14
Cabin: Shoshonis
Counselors: Andrew Rathburg and Chris Moyer

The Manastee hiking trip was awesome. First of all, the hiking was really fun because of all the sights along the trail. Also, we stopped once in a while to swim in the river, which sometimes included jumping off bridges and overhanging trees. The food during the trip was very good and filling. The trees and undergrowth were interesting and the hiking trails looked fun.

We started hiking and we found a rope swing that swung over the water. Then after we finished, we started our hike on the trails, and when night came in, we set up camp at the first good camp site we saw. The next day was even better because the hiking was even more fun, as the landscape kept changing as we walked along.

When we got tired, we swam in the river to cool off. Then a few more hours of hiking brought us to a campsite where we stayed and played games around the campfire. Then the final day of hiking came, we reached the end of the trail, and drove home to camp.

Highlights from the Platte River Trip by several fellows of Leelanau

My highlight was ramming all the other boats on the Platte- Nathaniel Turak

Being pirates in our canoe and using the arrr sound in every word we said- Graham Littell

Learning how to canoe and paddle for the first time- Grayson Timoner

Quiet time on Tuesday morning and still being able to love my counselor even though he capsized me.- Griffin Carlson

Getting sabotaged by Tom and getting flipped over- Raimonds Zvirbulis

Being Pirates- Dylan Hanser

Paddling peacefully with two great guys- Noah Moothart

What I liked most about being on the Platte River was the canoeing portion of the trip. It was my first trip ever canoeing, and I had a blast- Reed Timoner

My highlight was tipping everyone’s canoes and acting like pirates- Kelemn Taylor-Gonzalez

Courtney Harrison, age 14
Cabin: Clifftop
Counselor: Sara Lowry

Kohahna means freedom to me. Whenever I come to camp, I feel free. I love camp. Kohahna is my second home. Every year, when camp time comes around, I remember how much fun I had the year before, and anticipate how much fun I’m going to have in the coming summer. Kohahna will always be my summer camp. I always have an amazing time here. I’m sad to leave at the end of the summer.