This news was upsetting to campers both current and former, and many wanted more information.

Mike Humes, who operates the camp and owns the 60-acre campus on the shore of Upper St. Regis Lake, told the Enterprise COVID-19 restrictions were the reason for the camp not opening this summer, and that camp might not open in the future unless he can find someone else to run it.

Humes said he’s looking to get out of camp leadership and to take on an assistant role.

CRAJ was cancelled last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, as most summer camps were. But as other camps reopen this year — Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted COVID-19 most restrictions more than two weeks ago — CRAJ is staying closed.

A group of Camp Regis Applejack campers prepare for a paddle. CRAJ is not opening this year because of COVID-19 and will not open in the future unless it’s owner can find a new camp leader. (Provided photo — Camp Regis Applejack)

“This decision has not been made lightly and it is understood that the effects are upsetting and difficult,” a post on the camp’s Facebook page says.

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Response

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In the replies to the post, generations of campers said they were heartbroken by the closure.

“I’m beyond gutted,” Christopher Marsh wrote. “CRAJ was such a big part of my life for four years, so many memories, lifelong friends.”

“Very sad news,” Rachel Munch wrote. “Forever grateful for every single summer I was fortunate enough to have spent at CRAJ. The most magical place that brought me many of my most fond memories and cherished friendships.”

“CRAJ presented itself to me at a time I was needing a change,” Susan Hammock Hanger Turner wrote. “It was the perfect answer at the right time. The camp and campers helped me to unwind and move my life in a different direction.”

The comments also provided a communal space for campers to share memories and for former counselors to connect with campers they met decades years ago.

Others were frustrated with the late cancellation, lack of information and drastic change in summer plans.

Camp past and future

The camp has had fewer campers in recent years.

In 2017, Humes told the Enterprise camp enrollment slowed down around the time he was diagnosed with cancer a few years prior, and that his intent was to find a partner to build the camp back up.

“I would rather be an assistant volunteer helper and have someone else actually take over the operation of the camp,” Humes said recently.

At a camp alumni picnic at the campgrounds on Sunday, he said some former staffers expressed interest in helping out, but he said he hasn’t yet found someone to take on that leadership role. Interested people should get in touch with him or one of his family members through the camp.

Humes said he’s unsure of what the future holds for the campus, but added, “I’d love to see it continue as a youth camp.”

Humes said this decision is hard on his family, too. His mother and father started the camp, he operates it and all three of his children are involved in it now. This would have been their 75th year of operation.

Humes said CRAJ is one of the only diverse private camps in the area.

From 2011 to 2017 the camp did not get a camp permit from the state Department of Health since it consistently hosted fewer than 10 residential campers. The DOH said CRAJ acquired a camp permit again for the summer of 2019. Humes said he was going to get one for the 2021 season.

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COVID

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Humes said he held out hope that camp would work out this year so he could run one more season, but state guidelines didn’t change. He said that is the reason for the late cancellation announcement.

He said it was the public health impact of the pandemic that led to the camp cancellation, rather than financial side. New York’s regulations would not allow day campers to be blended with residential campers, which he said is key to how the camp operates.

Humes also said it was hard to find staff for the camp because with heightened employment competition, especially among restaurants, the available workers have all been claimed already.

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Refunds

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The CRAJ Facebook post said any tuition campers already paid will be refunded in full. Humes also said he was refunding travel for counselors who are now out of a job, including a plane ticket for one who came from overseas.

However, not everyone says they have been refunded.

Amy Beth Kessinger’s daughter was supposed to be a junior counselor and she said they have not been reimbursed for the costs of getting to camp — flights, car rentals or missed work.

She said her family has been offered to stay a week at the camp, but called it a “ghost camp” and said the offer was “tone deaf.”

Humes said he’s been recommending his staff members to other camp colleagues and sending prospective campers in their direction, too.

Second year scrapped

Anita Estling’s son attended CRAJ as a day camper for only one year in 2019, but she said it was a memorable experience.

“(I) almost thought that the discounted rates were too good to be true,” she wrote in an email. “It was just idyllic. … My son and most of his friends had a wonderful time there.”

They were all ready for camp this year, and her son had gotten more of his friends signed up.

“My son was looking forward to a return to the camp,” Estling wrote. “He enjoyed the counselors, the stops at Donnelly’s (Ice Cream) on the way back home on Fridays, and most of all the sailing.”

But the cancellation brought back the sour feelings from last year.

“The cancellation really upended what we had been looking forward to all year: a return to normalcy at a safe, comfortable, fun place,” Estling wrote. “I feel even worse for the overnight campers and staff who were affected because they had plans to travel from other places for this.”

CRAJ said on Facebook that people can visit the camp this summer to see it one more time, but the buildings will be closed.