I've had the chance to travel plenty in my time, but one of my favorite places on Earth won't be found on any "must-see" lists. Even though it's known to only a small community of people, I think anyone who had the chance to see it would agree that it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. It didn't hurt that such a place was tied to one of my fondest memories, either.
During my college years and early twenties, I spent my summers as a Camp Counselor at a sleepaway camp nestled amongst the Carolina foothills. The camp itself was what you would expect: a large lake where the campers would swim and canoe, wooden cabins, an amphitheater, and a wealth of activities for the privileged children who attended the camp year after year. I was quite fond of the place, especially the people I grew close to, but one area of the camp held a special place in my heart.
Located a short hike away from the camp proper was a second lake. If it had a real name I never learned it, as the campers and counselors alike just referred to it as the "New Lake". The lake itself wasn't large, perhaps a few acres. A trail from the camp wrapped around it's perimeter, and the trails through the woods around it led to various campsites and overlooks the camp used for overnight trips and day hikes. The edge of the lake closest to camp was flat and lined in parts with beach, while the far side butted up against rock wall, some of which was quite high. There was a zip-line into the lake from the ledge of one of the rock walls that was a popular attraction for both the campers and staff. Rumor (more like camp legend I suppose) amongst the male campers and staff was that it was a rite of passage for the girl campers to ride the zip line topless, or nude if you believed some people.
But as much as all of this added to the beauty and mystique of the New Lake, none of those were why it became one of my favorite places in the world. On the near shore jutting out into the lake was a long white dock. The end of the dock extended almost to the middle of the lake, and was lined sporadically with ladders. On a clear day, the perfectly still lake would reflect everything around it. If you sat on the dock, it was like you were surrounded by the trees and the sky. It was even more amazing at night. The mirror-like surface reflected every star, and if the moon was full it bathed the whole scene in a soft blue glow.
Unless a camp group was spending the day there, it was always blissfully silent at the lake. The occasional chirp or song of a bird would break the silence, but it was almost as if it were a sacred place they knew to stay away from. You could have gone back in time for all you knew, as it seemed like there were never any planes or helicopters flying overhead. Nighttime was even more serene, and you could feel the darkness closing in on you. Crickets would sometimes sing, but like the birds they seemed to avoid it.
I discovered the lake during my first summer as a counselor. Our group had gone camping and spent some time on the lake while we were out there. A few days later, after a stressful day, I found myself hiking there, not knowing why exactly. I had walked out onto the dock and laid down on my back. The starry sky engulfed me and the silence heightened my senses. I could hear the faint lapping of water against the dock and the gentle sounds of wind blowing through the trees. My mind felt at ease, and when I finally got up to walk back to my cabin I felt whole and renewed again. Ever since that night, I had returned here often, always by myself, when I needed some peace and tranquility.
So, it came to be that two years later I was back out on the dock, laying down on a towel I had brought, staring up at the stars. The moon was full, and I could see everything almost as clearly as if the sun were out and I was looking at the picture through a blue filter. At first I just sat and let the silence surround me, and then I lay down on the towel and slipped my headphones over my ears, hitting play on my CD player and starting a mix of acoustic guitar songs a friend had burned for me. The first chords hit, and I drifted away into my own thoughts.
I had arrived at the lake earlier than normal that night. My co-counselor and best friend Jeff had seen the stress on my face while we were putting our campers down to bed. "Go man, I got this. Really, go, it's been a long day. I can handle this." Jeff had insisted, and I thanked him, grabbed my Discman and towel, and headed up the trail. Jeff was a good guy. We worked well together and always knew when the other needed some time away. We had been paired together halfway through my first summer when my first co-counselor quit, and had been inseparable since.
It really had been a long day. Jeff and I had been woken up early by the sound of retching; one of our boys had gotten sick on the floor. While Jeff took him to the clinic, I cleaned up and got the other boys ready for breakfast. Our group had a new Unit Leader this summer who was overseeing the entire Pioneer Camper section. The campers in our unit were late Elementary School to Early Middle School age and our area consisted of sixteen cabins in total: eight boy cabins and eight girl cabins. The new Unit Leader was in his first summer at the camp and had brought his own ideas about how things should be run. He was constantly riding the counselors, and his act had already grown stale two weeks into the summer. For whatever reason, he had been especially hard on Jeff and me, often assigning us extra duties and work while criticizing our methods. That morning he had made our cabin stay after breakfast for cleanup and then failed our cabin's inspection after we had raced back to clean it up before the campers had to go to their first activities of the day, making us re-do the entire thing after ripping the sheets from the bunks and knocking things off the shelves he felt weren't organized enough.
The day had only gotten longer from there. Some time after lunch, the emergency siren had sounded. Jeff watched our cabin as I scrambled as fast as I could to the lake. The siren only sounded if a camper came up missing during a swim session, where they did buddy check counts every several minutes. If the siren rang, all available counselors had to report to the swimming area as quickly as possible to do a shallow water search, where we stood shoulder to shoulder, sweeping with our feet and counting out after each sweep. When this came up empty, I grabbed my team and we began a deep-water search. I had been designated as a search team leader as I was a strong swimmer had had been lifeguard certified. My boat had just finished searching a sector of the lake, with each dive dreading the thought of finding a limp, lifeless body, when the all-clear siren rang. We returned to shore to find out that unbeknownst to her partner, the missing little girl had left the swimming area to go back to her cabin for something. As we secured our boat I saw the little girl weeping as the camp director and her unit leader, both looking very stern, chewed her out for not following the rules.
The evening had not gotten any better, as our Unit Leader again had our bunk stay behind after dinner for cleanup. The evening activity I had planned for our group with a few other counselors had been somewhat of a disaster as a few of our less desirable counselors wouldn't take it seriously and couldn't keep their campers from misbehaving, essentially taking the fun out of the game. I was over it all by the time the activity had ended, and Jeff could sense it as we took our campers back to get them ready for bed. Of course, on top of all of this was something, someone really, that had been weighing on my mind the most: Chelsea.
I had turned twenty just before that summer had begun. My years on the swim team in High School and a consistent work out schedule had given mean a lean, muscular physique. I wasn't sculpted, but my body was well-toned and laced with muscle, and I was in the best shape of my life. My brown hair had grown shaggy, my eyes a bright hazel. It was to be my third summer as a counselor at the camp, a job I had loved since day one. Over my first two summers, I had hooked up with several female staff members. I really wasn't what you would call a player, but I was popular with the ladies. I had found that the women who worked at the camp weren't looking for long-term relationships; it seemed most of them were just looking for a good time and a summer fling. This suited me just fine, of course, and I had enjoyed myself quite a bit over the first two summers.
During staff orientation that summer, Jeff and I had been sitting together in the auditorium greeting old friends and eyeballing the new counselors, particularly the female staff. We were both glad to see there was no lack of pretty faces in the crowd, but when I spotted Chelsea I was instantly smitten. I saw her from across the auditorium being led around by Jackie, a pretty brunette counselor and a friend of ours. Chelsea's beauty struck me immediately and my hungry eyes studied her from afar. Chelsea had long dirty blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a dazzling smile. She had a petite frame with soft, rounded shoulders, firm full breasts, a narrow waist, curvy hips, and a spectacular round little rear end. That night she had been wearing a form-fitting button up sleeveless blouse with the top few buttons undone, exposing a tantalizing glimpse of her tanned skin and a hint of her ample cleavage. She had on short jean shorts, which accentuated her perfect posterior and her toned, tanned, extremely sexy legs. I wasn't the only one who had noticed, several eyes kept darting in her direction. Next to me I heard Jeff say, "Wow... are you seeing this too?"
I had the opportunity to meet Chelsea a few times during orientation and hung out with her a bit during free times since camp had begun. I found out that she had turned eighteen just before summer began and would be starting college in the fall. We were always with a group of friends and while she smiled at me often I found myself, for the first time since middle school, tongue-tied around a girl. I saw her around camp often and had to be careful not to stare. Her lovely hair alternated between hanging freely over her shoulders like it had that first night at orientation, being tied back in a ponytail, resting on the top of her head in a messy bun, or done up in braids which hung down over her shoulders. No matter how she wore it, she always looked amazing. Chelsea filled out our staff uniform like nobody I had ever seen. The standard light gray tee shirt bearing the camp logo emblazoned with "STAFF" across the back always looked painted onto her shapely body. Her large, firm breasts caused the logo to curve around their sides. She always wore her shirt tucked into her shorts, and it hugged her curves perfectly. The tiny blue shorts also looked to have been molded just for her. Her tight round ass protruded sexily, framed nicely by the tight fabric. Her brilliantly tanned legs looked long and sexy in spite of her diminutive stature. She usually wore a pair of blue and white Adidas sneakers, which never seemed to get dirty and either blue or white ankle socks to complete the ensemble. The colors really popped against her light bronze skin. She was a vision, and I knew that if I didn't make my move soon I would miss any chance of being by her side.
Two days earlier, I had the chance to do just that. I was walking a group of campers back from the climbing wall when we met a group of girls from the Senior camp that was heading back to camp from the horse stables. Chelsea, looking as beautiful as ever, was walking behind them. She noticed me approaching and stopped to wait, greeting my boys as they passed. We walked side by side down the path and struck up a pleasant conversation. It was mostly small talk, discussing our days and some of the latest camp gossip. I was astonished and pleased at how easy I found it to talk to her. Within minutes we had a nice rapport going, and when I made her laugh, she reached out and touched my arm, sending a tingle through my body. Too soon, it seemed, we came upon the side path leading to the Senior girls' cabins. Chelsea smiled broadly at me, waving goodbye. As I started to walk away, she called out behind me. "Hey, you going to be at the Social on Saturday?" When I responded in the affirmative, Chelsea smiled again and said, "Great, hope to see you there!"
