Remembering Riva-Lake: Women’s Weekend 2024 by Kathy Crighton

Women's Weekend

At Women's Weekend at Riva-Lake, the weather was beautiful. Sunny, pleasant in the early mornings and evenings, still quite warm during the day. We were so fortunate.

Here’s the deal: I am now 72 years old. I went to Riva-Lake for four summers sixty years ago, from 1962 to 1965, when the Elk River and the ravine were still there. I don’t know how many more times I will be able to make the trip. But I’m going to be there every chance I get.

Back then I stayed in Top Notch, Heave-Ho, and two senior cabins that were lost when the original Senior Hill was taken out to make room for Tims Ford Lake. This time I stayed in the cabin that was rebuilt on the site of Close-Up, which is now known as Jr. Lodge. (Back then we called the younger campers who stayed in Close-Up “Cliffs.” I understand they are now called “Munchkins.”) When I was 12, I never thought about being 72 one day. But I am proud to say that at 72 years old, I spent two nights in a cabin at Riva-Lake once again! I did spend some time on the Hill, visiting my old cabins. Wow. They are still there, just as I remember them.

Did I mention the new bath house? Wow. Awesome. Privacy – wooden doors that latch, and a space to change clothes. And a shower and toilet area for those with special needs. So much different from what we had sixty years ago! (And even more recently than that!)

I was at camp in 2022 for the awesome Centennial Celebration, and I learned then that the field in front of the stables would be torn up to install a new septic system. It’s done. The field has been restored. You’d never know the work had been done.

I want to give a big shout-out to the Board, that incredible group of women who love Riva-Lake so much, who were campers themselves, who have worked so hard over the years to dream and plan and raise the funds to restore the facilities so that this generation and future generations of girls can continue to have the awesome experience of camp.

Thank you to all who put this weekend together. It meant so much to me just to be able to walk these grounds one more time, sixty years later. Riva-Lake is a sacred place to me. I hold it, and all the girls and women who have walked these paths, in my heart.