(yes, this is bringing up a really dead thread, but since I've been looking for YEARS for the original singer of On the Loose (which I too learned at camp), I am now a very happy camper).

The lyrics which I know (though there are a few variants that I've heard, particularly of the pine boughs line):

ON THE LOOSE
(Judith Keller)

CHORUS
On the loose to climb a mountain
On the loose where I am free
On the loose to live my life
The way I think my life should be.
For I've only got a moment
And the whole world left to see
I'll be looking for tomorrow on the loose.

Have you ever watched the sunrise
Turn the sky completely red?
Have you slept beneath the moon and stars
With a pine bough for your bed?
Do you sit and talk with friends
Though a word is never said?
Then you're just like me and
You've been on the loose.

On the loose to climb a mountain…
There's a trail that I'll be hiking
Just to see where it may go
Many places yet to visit
Many people yet to know
So in following my dreams
I will live and I will grow
On a trail that's waiting
Out there on the loose.

On the loose to climb a mountain…

So, in search of love and laughter
I'll be traveling through this land
Never sure of where I'm going
For I haven't any plans.
So in time when you are ready
Come and join me, take my hand,
And together we'll share life
Out on the loose

On the loose to climb a mountain…