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| Castle Rock trail head from Big Bear Blvd. near Big Bear Lake California |
As many of you know, I have said summer is about beginnings and endings. I stole that of course from a life long friend, Brain Crater, who was a great influence in my camp career.
For over a dozen summers, summers began at Castle Rock in Southern California and ended at Castle Rock. (I have written about that before.)
This summer (2024) I got to spend serving with Camp Get-A-Way in a advisory capacity. My role as Camp Director is to help develop best practices, training, and most importantly, apply my 40 plus years of experience to the needs of this great program for families with children who have mental health challenges.
As I look at serving these famileis through that lens, I can't help but apply the lessons from my previous BLOGs and a life time of learning in my capacity as a Youth Development Profesional.
Here are the Top Five most read BLOGs from alferreira coaching. All happen to be from my series of Fifty Nifty Years in the United States (that celebrated my life and journey as an immigrant to the United States.
5) 2010 - Leadership Curriculum and A Copy of a Fax of a Copy of A Fax of a co... A lesson on "traditions" and empowering others from my BLOG on Fifty Nifty Years in the Unites States.
4) 1980 - Thank a Teacher for A Pile of Leadership Lessons A early lesson in Leadership and Mind Set and from the Fifty Nifty Years in the Unites States series.
3) 2012 - What Gift Is This Person Giving Me? A lesson on how negativity or gate keepers impact the role of the leader and how altering your mindset changes their gift. An entry from my Fifty Nifty Years in the United States.
2) 1986 - Wally Vision (and Leadership) Another entry from the Fifty Nifty Years in the United States and how impactful vision (a learned skill) can serve others.
1) 1985 - Leadership Lessons from the "Real Thing From my series on Fifty Nifty Years in the United States about Bill Gagliardi's influence on my life as a leader.
I hope you all had a great summer and learned lessons that served you (and others) well.
Castle Rock view at sunset.
Here is a version of the story of Castle Rockyou may have heard as a camper attending Camp Bluff Lake. (From KBHR News on Big Bear Lake, CA, May 3, 2014)
"The Legend of Castle Rock - Rising out of the mountains at the southwest end of the lake, standing like a sentinel keeping watch over Big Bear, is Castle Rock. There is a Serrano Indian legend that surrounds Castle Rock from a time long ago when Big Bear was known as Yuhaviat, which means ‘pine place’.
The legend tells of a beautiful young girl named Wyhnemah who once lived in Yuhaviat. All the young men of the tribe were constantly competing with each other for her attention, but she only cared for one young brave named Pahwek. He was a hunter and whenever he was gone on hunting trips to get food for the tribe, Wyhnemah would climb to the top of Castle Rock and watch for his return.When she would see him in the distance, she would climb down and run to meet him.
On one such trip, Pahwek did not return when he was supposed to. As the days and weeks went by, Wyhnemah came to realize that something was terribly wrong and that he would never be coming home. Not wanting to live her life without her true love, she climbed to the top of Castle Rock one evening and with a prayer on her lips, Wyhnemah stepped off the edge to join Pahwek forever in the happy hunting ground."
