Analysis of Robust Hiking Day. Beausoleil Island. July.

This would be the full
Day’s excursion.
Tuesday, July, beautiful sun.
Peeking shyly through
The fragrant cedars
To our hiking group.
Packed with supper foods
For campfire meal
Mid-afternoon.

Discordant banter en route.
Up the dizzying Fire Tower.
Viewing the Bay.
Its expansiveness.
Delicious deep blue.
Couple of boats sailing.
Headquarters offered a store.
Soda pop, chips, licorices, bug spray.
Postcards and stamps

Day visiting tourists.
Girls, girls.
Ill -disciplined dogs.
Stoneless stretch of beach.
And radio music from “civilization”.
James Brown, Lightfoot, Dylan, Beach Boys.
Peter, Paul and Mary.
Happy blend of sand, igneous Rock
A small patch of lawn imported.
Horseshoes clanging away.
Volleyball.
Wonderful Day.

Banished from our summer Boys’ Camp.
The cook was away.
Tuesdays.
And we roughed it. Exquisitely.
The returning would be faster
Quieter, catching
Memory’s Album.
With thanks.
A bit sun-burned.
New stored laughs, sunshine, escapades.
Now 52 years onward.
Beaming smile evident.
On Douglas Wayne’s face.
Remembering adventures.

(Living retired in Kitchener ON.)

About this poem
In my case Camp Queen Elizabeth, late sixties. Georgian Bay, Ontario. London YMCA PROGRAM.