Camp Pine Crest, a family tradition
Three generations call this site a ‘second home’
At the age of 11, Sydney Gee was the third generation of her family to go to Camp Pine Crest, a YMCA camp on 263 hectares surrounded by lakes in Muskoka.
But even though she had grown up hearing stories about Pine Crest — from her father Bruce and his cousins, who’d gone as campers and staff, and her great-uncle Bob — the prospect of being away from home for two weeks was making her really nervous.
But within moments of being at camp and meeting the counsellors for the first time, she felt at home.
“I remember being so excited and happy, and all my worries just went away,” she says.
Six years later, Sydney, 17, is returning to the camp, heading into its 103rd summer this year. This time she’s a counsellor, and is looking forward to creating an equally wonderful experience for young campers.
For Sydney, as for so many Pine Crest campers, the opportunity to get away from the city, be a part of nature, be active, try new things, go on a long canoe trip (if that’s what you sign up for) and make lifelong friends is a highlight of every year.
“It does become your second home,” says Sydney.
In fact, her mother, Dana, says that through the school year, nightly family dinners (Sydney’s brothers, Jackson and Matthew, are also Pine Crest campers) pretty much follow a predictable pattern.
“We all talk about what happened during the day,” she says. “And then after three or four minutes the conversation reverts to camp.”
Both Sydney and her father say experiences at Pine Crest helped them become the people they are. Sydney has developed organizational and leadership skills that she connects to camp, and, she says, she makes new friends easily.
Bruce, who spent 12 summers at Pine Crest as camper, counsellor and program staff, says the experience taught him how to take care of himself and of others, how to be a part of a community and be a leader — not to mention how to cook for a bunch of kids on a trip in the middle of nowhere.
“It offered a lot of consistencies over 12 years,” says Bruce, “but it threw a lot of challenges at you that you had to adapt to. I learned to make the best out of what tools and assets I had at the time.”
Those are abilities, he adds, that serve him well to this day. Unlike six years ago, Sydney is counting the days until camp. “You feel so safe and welcome and you’re having the best time of your life,” she says. “It’s more than you could ask for.”