Leaving on a Jet Plane

By Pati Egan

In 1972 you could take a Camp trip on a jet plane – well, at least one way. You even got an official Camp Ondessonk duffel bag to pack your clothes.

This was the beginning of Frontier! Ondessonk’s travel program for high school students. The first trip was in 1970 and went to Colorado. The Campers had a choice of flying to Denver to begin the trip or flying home from Denver.

The trip was very reasonably priced. It included such highlights as a four and a half-hour horseback ride.

A climb up Long’s Peak (weather permitting).

A free day in Estes Park. Tents at the base camp in Rocky Mountain National Park. All meals prepared by the campers. A drive by school bus to other points of interest such as Milner Pass and the Trail Ridge Road.

Campers could fly from Camp to Denver or take a scenic cruiser bus from Denver to Camp.

What does all this have to do with the Peter Paul & Mary song “Leaving on a Jet Plane?

One team-building activity the Frontier Campers participated in was creating a song that would be sung by them the night before they left for their trip. In turn, the Campers and Staff sang a song to the Frontier group. Peter Paul and Mary songs were frequently sung by staff in the Staff Lounge. The guitar players and staff (and any campers who knew the song) would sing this song to the departing campers. This was one of Camp’s long-standing traditions, and this song was used until the trips ended around 1986. The word “Greyhound” was substituted for jet plane. The Colorado trips were the only ones who took a plane. I think by 1976 the plane travel ended.

Even today, when old staff get together and old songs are sung around the fire pits, “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – or “Greyhound” – will surely be sung. The Frontier Program is just a memory, but the good times had by campers & staff live on forever.