Reflection from Ted Klopfenstein

The following is an excerpt from an account by Ted Klopfenstein about Camp 33:

"We lived in tents all summer at about 7,500 feet. I enjoyed this very much. We lived behind the abandoned Trap Door Grille Saloon on the main street in Nederland. We were not welcomed by the town's citizens, who numbered only a few hundred, until an accident happened to which we responded.

Five teen age girls from Shoshoni Girls Summer Camp, while hiking on the Continental Divide Trail, unwisely decided to take a shortcut back to camp and became stranded on a cliff near the Arapahoe Glacier at over 13,000 feet elevation. The town Marshall came to us at 9:00 p.m. during our evening Bible study to ask us for help. When he asked for four volunteers, seven of the 17 responded. We gathered supplies of clothing, blankets, flashlights, etc. and were hauled to the end of the road at 4th of July Park. From there we hiked on our rescue mission...

However, after that night and most of the next day we had a harrowing experience involving life threatening situations, including being rescued ourselves by the forest rangers. We safely returned the four girls we went to rescue...

The reason I mention this incident is that it proved to the town people that we were willing to go to dangerous risks to help when asked. From then on we were accepted and never had any more public relations problems with the town people."

--Taken from Our CPS Stories. Elkhart, IN: Prairie Street Mennonite Church, 1996. p45-7.