After more than two decades at Stone Mountain Adventures, there are a lot of things I could put on this list. The adventures. The watersports. The campfires. The friendships. The laughter.

But when I think about what makes SMA special, it's often the little things. The traditions. The moments. The experiences that campers may not expect when they arrive, but end up talking about long after summer is over.

Here are five of my favorites.

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1. Greeting Campers at Breakfast

Every morning, without fail, campers begin making their way to breakfast.

And let me tell you, the transformation from "sleeping teenager" to "functional human being" is not always immediate.

There are bedheads that defy gravity.

There are sleepy eyes that aren't quite open yet.

There are campers who somehow made it all the way to breakfast while still appearing to be asleep.

And there are the conversations.

"Good morning, how'd you sleep?"

"I don't know."

"What are you doing today?"

"I don't know."

"What did you have for breakfast?"

"I haven't eaten breakfast yet."

Fair enough.

One of the things I love most is standing outside the dining hall and greeting campers as they arrive. Sometimes the conversations are meaningful. Sometimes they're ridiculous. Often they're both.

We talk about yesterday's adventures. We debate who would win in a battle between a gorilla and a grizzly bear. We discuss why cereal somehow tastes better at camp. We hear dramatic retellings of overnight ghost stories that somehow become scarier with each telling.

By the time breakfast is over, the sleepy campers have become energized campers. The quiet campers have become chatty campers. The day has begun.

It's not a big thing.

But it's one of my favorite things.

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2. Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies

Every evening, after dinner, you'll hear a familiar call echo across camp:

"Evening meeting in the barn!"

Or...

"Evening meeting on the front!"

And campers come running.

One of the highlights of every evening meeting is a tradition called Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies.

When I returned to SMA in 2001, I wasn't entirely sure how teenagers would react to the idea.

Warm fuzzies?

Cold pricklies?

Would they think it was cheesy?

Would they take it seriously?

As it turns out, they absolutely love it.

Warm fuzzies are the good things that happened during the day.

Maybe someone finally got to the top of Shark's Tooth.

Maybe they stood up on a wakeboard for the first time.

Maybe a friend helped them through a challenge.

Cold pricklies are the things that didn't go quite so well.

A scraped knee.

A frustrating climb.

A volleyball game where someone remembered the players but forgot the volleyball.

(Yes, that has happened.)

There is one important rule:

If you have a cold prickly, you have to end with a warm fuzzy.

It's a simple tradition, but it's incredibly powerful.

Every night, campers pause and reflect on their day. They celebrate one another's successes. They laugh together. They support one another through disappointments.

What's funny is that whenever we're short on time, I sometimes suggest skipping Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies.

The response is immediate.

"No way!"

Someone always has "the best warm fuzzy ever."

And somehow we find the time.

Because by the end of the summer, campers know that these few minutes each night matter.

A lot.

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3. Camping Overnights

If I had to pick one experience that captures the spirit of SMA, it might be our camping overnights.

Twice during a two-week session, campers head out on overnight adventures.

Rock climbing overnights.

Canoeing overnights.

Wakeboarding overnights.

Adventure hiking overnights.

For many campers, just sleeping outside is an adventure.

For others, it's the mountain pies.

Let's talk about mountain pies.

Because mountain pies are one of humanity's greatest achievements.

Take two pieces of bread.

Add cheese.

Add pizza sauce.

Add pepperoni.

Cook everything inside a cast iron pie iron over a campfire.

Try not to burn it.

Burn it anyway.

Eat it.

Declare it the greatest meal you've ever had.

Repeat.

After mountain pies come s'mores.

After s'mores come stories.

After stories come ghost stories.

After ghost stories come 14 teenagers insisting they aren't scared while refusing to walk to the bathroom alone.

It's beautiful.

What I love most about camping overnights is that they create stories.

Someone finally stands up on a wakeboard.

Someone completes a hard climb.

Someone discovers that sleeping on a rock all night was not an excellent decision.

The next day, everyone returns to camp with a completely different experience and a completely different story to tell.

The energy is contagious.

The Warm Fuzzies that night are legendary.

And for a brief moment, every camper feels like they were part of something special.

Because they were.

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4. The Feeling of Coming Home

Every summer there is a moment that gets me.

A vehicle pulls into camp.

The door opens.

A returning camper steps out.

And suddenly they're home.

Before their bags even hit the ground, they're spotting friends.

They're running across camp.

They're yelling names.

They're hugging people they haven't seen in months.

Within minutes they're right back where they left off.

For some campers, Stone Mountain Adventures is more than a place they spend part of their summer.

It's part of who they are.

It's where they learned to wakeboard.

It's where they made their best friend.

It's where they climbed their first rock wall, slept under the stars, learned to believe in themselves, or discovered they were capable of more than they thought.

There is something incredibly special about watching teenagers return to a place where they feel known, welcomed, and valued.

You can see it on their faces.

It's not just excitement.

It's belonging.

And that's one of my favorite things about SMA.

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5. The SMA Staff

People sometimes ask me what makes Stone Mountain Adventures different.

The activities are amazing.

The setting is beautiful.

The adventures are unforgettable.

But if I'm being honest, the answer is simple:

The staff.

Every summer I get to watch an incredible group of young adults choose to invest themselves in the lives of teenagers.

They teach.

They encourage.

They coach.

They listen.

They stay up late helping homesick campers.

They wake up early to prepare for adventures.

They celebrate successes.

They help campers navigate challenges.

And they care.

Genuinely care.

One of the greatest joys of camp is watching relationships develop between counselors and campers.

A camper arrives nervous.

A counselor notices.

A conversation starts.

Trust develops.

Confidence grows.

And before long, that camper is trying things they never imagined they'd do.

The truth is that campers often remember the relationships long after they forget the details of a particular activity.

Years later they may not remember what they had for lunch.

But they'll remember the counselor who believed in them.

The counselor who encouraged them.

The counselor who helped them discover what they were capable of.

That's powerful.

And it's one of the reasons I look forward to every summer.

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Final Thoughts

There are a thousand reasons I love Stone Mountain Adventures.

These are just five.

Ask me again tomorrow and I'll probably come up with five different ones.

But that's the magic of camp.

It's made up of countless small moments that somehow become unforgettable memories.

And after all these years, I still feel incredibly grateful to be part of it.

 

      - Jud Millar, Camp Director and Owner