Day two of Frontier Week started with late wake and cloudy skies. The day’s events kicked off after breakfast and inspection. In the Frontier Competition, all campers were required to compete in an individual event on behalf of their tribes. Juniors met with their head coaches to design and paint their tribe’s torch, which will be carried by the chiefs at Monday night’s closing ceremony. Seniors and Hi-Seniors signed up for one event each, and they chose from a variety of options including ropes course climbing, archery, a biking obstacle course, and kayak/canoe races at the lake. After a morning of individual competition, the six tribes gathered at their campsites to continue working on their shelter building. The sun began to peek through as campers gathered wood, lashed branches together, and helped bring their tribe’s vision to life.
The afternoon brought about one of the most beloved events of Frontier Week: Overland Overwater. This massive relay race requires full participation from all tribe members. Chiefs assign each camper on their team to a leg of the race. Some of the events are complicated and skill-based, like serving three consecutive tennis serves into the same service box. Other events just require a lot of energy and enthusiasm, like running from the lower tennis courts to the small front porch of the Dining Hall. The goal is for everyone to get involved in some way, and to celebrate each camper’s contribution to his tribe.
This year’s Overland Overwater featured campers biking, dribbling soccer balls, shooting foul shots, throwing frisbees, swimming in the lake, shooting arrows, and lots of running! Each tribe was timed in its designated heat, and the tribe with the quickest completion time was declared the winner.
The ultimate Frontier Week event took place after dinner. Rope Burn is a camper favorite, with tribes gathering kindling from around camp, building and transporting a massive pile of wood, and igniting and stoking a bonfire with the goal of burning through a suspended rope quicker than any other tribe. Owego’s best “campcrafters” from each tribe took turns adding kindling, blowing on the sparks, and building the fire higher and higher until the flames raged skyward and started to chew through the ropes.
Campers looked on and cheered wildly as the fires climbed higher. The wind blew the flames precariously close to the trees nearby. Black smoke billowed up to the sky. The fire-builders were protected with bandanas over their mouths, and spent much of their time flat on the ground, up close and personal with the fire. After about 10 minutes, Seneca’s rope snapped and the team erupted in loud cheers. Nadaco’s rope was soon to follow, then Duhare, Tunica, Wichita, and Cora. All of the tribes were proud of their team’s efforts. As the flames burned out and campers returned to their bunks for the night, Owegans big and small felt a sense of gratitude for having witnessed something so powerful.
