By Martinique Davis

Canoeing at Trout Lake, climbing the tower at Faraway Ranch, inner-tubing down the San Miguel and hiking the wilds of the Telluride region typifies summer camp at Telluride Academy. But take a closer look and you?ll find much more than just outdoor adventure. The Telluride Academy's recipe for the perfect summer camp contains a healthy dose of playtime fun, a generous serving of imagination and a smidgen of discovery. And the icing on the cake is the Academy's most secret ingredient for fun: a few shakes of summertime magic.

Thirteen 6-to 7-year olds uncovered this magic during the Telluride Academy's two-week Flower Fairies camp. I had personally spent many a summer day in Telluride searching for these secretive flower fairy creatures myself, and as camp counselor, I thought I was more than prepared to share my own wealth of knowledge with the participants. But after two weeks of chasing the little girls across watery fairy playgrounds, into hidden fairy rings and through secret fairy hideouts, it became clear that it was they who were showing me where the real flower fairies can be found.

On the first day of camp, we spent the day looking for fairies in Telluride's most heavily populated fairy community ? the winding footpaths etched across lower Bear Creek basin. The girls didn't have to look far to find clues hidden around every bend in the trail; they pointed out mysterious fairy writing bored into sticks, logs and trees, recognized hollow stumps and cavernous knots of tree roots as fairy homes, and noticed fairy waterslides in tiny streams and fairy umbrellas in overhanging leaves. After building their own fairy house near Lower Bear Creek Falls, the girls settled into the leaves to close their eyes and call upon the flower fairies for a visit. We read a story that called upon the girls' imaginations to see their favorite characters, who gave them tiny flower clothes to wear and helped them use their newly grown wings to fly out into the fairy world. And despite our warning that the girls should keep their eyes closed, one camper, Georgia, admitted she peeked and saw a little blue fairy.

"I did too!  I did too!" the others echoed, as we gathered our things and left the new fairy home for the Bear Creek fairies to explore.

The next morning, almost half of the girls individually told me that flower fairies had visited them in their dreams the night before.

That week we also discovered magical fairy dust on a high meadow at Faraway Ranch, sprinkled in a sparkling trail that led us to the Faraway Fairy Circle. After our fairy tea party, the girls noticed that fairies must have been flying overhead, for there was fairy dust in everyone's hair!

While we spent much of our days out on the prowl for fairies, we also spent hours each day creating our own personal fairies -- with daily arts and crafts projects that slowly transformed all thirteen girls into their chosen flower fairy. Bluebell, Columbine, Poppy, Pine Tree, Willow, Snapdragon, Lavender and Pansy slowly came to life as the girls diligently crafted flower petal skirts from felt and fabric and fairy crowns from faux flowers and curling ribbon. At home I wrestled with wire and tuile, fashioning 13 pairs of tiny fairy wings. We were preparing for the last day of camp when the when the Flower Fairy Queen would come to turn us all into fairies!

Perhaps the girls were expecting a smaller Fairy Queen than the life-sized one that appeared in the rainbow fairy dust circle at Lower Bear Creek Falls. They were quick to point out this Fairy Queen's wire, tuile and elastic wings, and her hot-glue-gun-crafted fake flower and lace skirt. But the majority of newly-winged Academy flower fairies kept the number one flower fairy finding tactic in mind; to see the fairies, you must believe in them.

"I believe in fairies! I believe in fairies!" they chanted, following their fairy dust sprinkling. 

When their parents came to pick them up on the final day of camp, I overheard one mother ask her daughter and friends if she herself would be able to see the fairies. In their high, girlish voices, the girls responded in unison, "If you believe!"

This week marks the final days of Telluride Academy's summer programs, which officially end on August 19.  More tower climbing, canoe exploring, river rafting and, of course, flower fairy finding will come next summer when the Academy opens its doors for its 25th season.  Stay updated by visiting their website at www.tellurideadacadmy.com. See you next summer!