In the afternoon we took a break from all the activity to celebrate Robin Hood gives back day. Our guest speaker was Randy Pierce from 2020 vision quest. Several of the brass members had the opportunity to hear him speak this past fall at an Appalachian Mountain Club meeting that was held here at camp, and we knew that we had to bring him back to speak to our campers. Randy is a blind hiker and marathon runner. He has hiked all 48 of the 4K footers here in NH during the winter and Mt Kilimanjaro with his seeing-eye dog. He also competes in marathons all over the country and has run the Boston Marathon.  Randy also plays on a blind basketball team and has organized a blind baseball game with some blind players who will compete against the NH Fisher Cats. He spoke to Jr. camp first and then to Sr. camp and after each speech, he held demonstrations on how he “sees” the goal when he plays sports. Even some of our campers were able to make baskets just by listening to where the rim was and throwing the ball in the right direction, and they were blindfolded!
I had the pleasure of showing him around camp and I must admit that I questioned how I was going to show a blind man camp but it was the best tour I have ever given. He could tell we were near the stables before I could even tell him, he heard the horses hooves and smelled the hay. It was the same as we approached the waterfront, he could hear the water lapping on the beach and the kids splashing around.  When we went to archery he could hear the quiet sound of the strings on the bows being pulled back. It was amazing to witness this as a sighted person.

Be sure to ask your campers about this experience when they get home, I am sure they will have a different perspective about blind people and their abilities.