A surprise deluge divides Camp du Nord

Like all rainfall, it started with just a few fat drops falling from a grey sky that afternoon.

The campers and team had no way of knowing this storm was about to cut camp in half.

Nor did they know that it would bring out some of the very best in the people and community at camp.

It was the season’s first session, a Tuesday — June 18. Karen Solas, a camper and former board member at YMCA Camp Northern Lights, was back for her eighth summer as a camper at YMCA Camp du Nord.

“It was a lot of rain but not extraordinary. I recorded the rain pouring off the roof because it was seriously intense, but it never crossed my mind that it was that extra.”

Karen had been in the camp store getting ice cream with her kids. “The power flickered, but it stayed on. ... It only rained about an hour or so, and then the rain slowed down, so we decided to go outside and walk around.”

They couldn’t believe what they saw.

Walking down the path from the camp store, the Solas family came to Moose Drool Creek — now a rushing river, gushing over the path, soon to wash it away. To their right, the majestic Burntside Lake had filled to the brim. The beloved du Nord beach was almost entirely underwater.

Deep into the woods stood Slim Lake, a gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Known for cold, pristine waters, it is surrounded by steep hills and towering red and white pines. It had overfilled, sending cascades of water down the slope toward Burntside Lake and Camp du Nord.

The normal outflowing creeks, Moose Drool included, had become engorged. One such creek, otherwise unnamed, flowed down the hill, under the North Arm Road, and to a culvert, which it soon blocked. With nowhere else to go, the water ran down the North Arm, following a driveway leading to the Family Arts Center, platform cabins, and tent sites.

In moments, the water cut a deep gash in the North Arm, making it impassible, then washed away the driveway. The water fell into a ravine, crashing against the sides of the Family Arts Center (FAC) and the Angell Bridge as it did so, and finally flowed out into Burntside.

Camp had been cut in two.

Karen and her family came across the scene and could see the FAC surrounded by water. Everything east of there, including all of Pine Pointe Village, was unreachable from the western half of camp.

Program Director Cole Davis-Roberts said that in the morning, there had been a tornado watch, so there were already many people in the FAC. “Then the rain started pouring down.”

Thankfully, every person at camp came through physically unharmed. But people had been stranded. When the storm struck, families were divided on opposite sides of camp. The road out of camp was blocked. The septic had been overwhelmed.

At that moment, the du Nord community got to work.

SCOTT OLSON AND ANDY GIBBS

While campers were inside their cabins playing board games and waiting for the rain to subside, behind the scenes was a different story.

Camp Property Manager Scott Olson got a walkie-talkie call while he was at home getting his raincoat and boots.

“The roads were passable when I left, but I had to walk about a mile on the way back.” Upon returning to camp, he calmly expressed, “It’s flooding. Let’s get to work.”

Recounting her story, Karen found the team already at work when she came upon the FAC. Scott and Caretaker Andy Gibbons were hard at work, beginning to build a bridge out of picnic tables to help get people out of the FAC and back to their families.

It was just the first of many priorities the two would address that week.

“Scott and Andy deliver,” said Executive Director Andy Sinykin. “Their care for camp knows no bounds. Time of day, place, condition, doesn’t matter. They lead by example.”

COMMUNITY

Karen explained, “What stood out to me was how much confidence Scott and Andy instilled in everyone. They were like, ‘Yep, we got this,’ and there was never a sense that they were panicking. They had everything under control. They talked with everyone. Answered questions — it kept everyone calm. They involved campers and made us feel like part of the solution. It was good to feel helpful.”

Scott recalled that people — that week’s campers started asking almost immediately what needed to be done and how they could help. On Wednesday morning, more than 30 people volunteered to clean out the flooded program spaces, sanitize everything that had gotten wet, mop, and dig a channel to get the water out. At the FAC, people were digging out debris that had gotten washed under the building and moving rocks that had tumbled down 
along the shoreline.

Program Director Emily Weise observed, “We have the best campers in the whole world. The sense of community is unmatched. It is amazing 
to watch.”

“Scott had plans and backup plans, knew what needed to be addressed, and just did it. He made everyone feel like everything was totally fine,” Karen said. “Seeing how camp handled the crisis was confidence-inspiring. It’s one thing to have a good experience when things are going right. But it’s when things go wrong that show you what they are made of.”

Scott has been at du Nord for 35 years and is calm, easy-going, and humble. Hearing him recount the flood, one might think it wasn’t much more than a typical day at work. “Every day, we have a list of what tasks or projects we want to work on, but it’s always loose because priorities change when things come up. We roll with it.”

GOING HOME

Despite early concerns that campers might be stuck at camp days longer than the scheduled departure, by Friday, the road was restored, and, other than a few areas needing additional clean-up, camp was 
back to normal.

Andy Sinykin shared, “I know that there’s so much care and passion — love — for camp, in any situation, that near and far people come out to support us. There are many hands that keep camp healthy and strong — both staff and campers.”