A longtime High Rocks camper/counselor was married in a beautiful ceremony on May 14th in Savannah, GA.  Chris Bankoff (89-95, 01-04) wed Ananda Reavis in front of a crowd that was packed full of High Rocks campers, staff, alumni, and even a founder!  The event was held at the Ships of the Sea Museum and Gardens in downtown Savannah and went off without a single hitch. The groom was his handsome southern self and the bride was stunning! The happy couple met in Los Angeles where they both live and work in Santa Monica. The honeymoon is to include a return to New Zealand where Chris’s proposal took place in sea kayaks as befits his outdoor roots. Congratulations to you both!!

Two weekends ago, I found myself in Charlotte in support of our county’s travelling volleyball club as they battled it out in the Regional Tournament. Whilst in town, I caught up with old High Rockers Strickland Parks, Ben Little, and Crystal Clusiau. In a weekend built around watching sporting events be it volleyball or March Madness, Ben had the brainwave to participate in something more active. He, his father Gray (another old High Rocks camper) and I all signed up for Duke Energy’s Race to the Top held at the Duke Energy Center building downtown that Saturday morning. The basic premise is that racers are released one at a time, every 15 seconds, and proceed to run to the top as fast as possible. Mind you, the “top” is the 50^th story. 1, 194 steps stood in between the start and finish! Funnily enough, the first 10 stories or so were actually the hardest as you tried to find a rhythm to carry you through the ordeal. We all began with perhaps too much gusto as we took the stairs two at a time in our excitement to get going. While Ben was able to mix that strategy with some single-step stories, I quickly downshifted to a one step at a time jog which I was able to continue to the top, much to my surprise. By the top half, your mind began to play tricks with you and stairs, or whole stories, would go by in a blur. Upon completion though, the sense of satisfaction (and relief!) was huge as was being in the nearly unfinished peak of such a massive building. Luckily, they had arranged for elevators to take participants back down, otherwise I might still be up there.

 The event was put on to raise money for the Levine Children’s Hospital. Local businesses had pitched in to supply all kinds of race refreshments, full Italian meals, fresh fruit, and some sweet quick dry shirts. One street had been blocked off for the contestants and spectators to enjoy music and watch the huge TV screen put up on the opposing building. They had not told us (or I had not realized) that TV cameras would be at the start, the 10^th, 26^th, and 50^th stories so everyone outside could watch you struggle up the stairs in real time. It made for hilarious footage but I am glad I didn’t have to watch myself go up. This was our first ever tower run and I think we all enjoyed it enough to do it again in the future. There is a host of tower runs around the US and the world. Here is a link if you are interested in learning more about races near you: www.towerrunning.com

Both Alum super excited about the OU and UNC matchup!

We were all pretty excited about last nights’ NCAA basketball game with University of North Carolina vs. Ohio University.  I was pretty psyched most of the week, thinking there may be an outside chance the OU could pull this off.  Many of you may not know, but I went to Ohio and Hank is an alum of UNC.  Rarely do these to schools EVER play each other in any sport, let alone basketball.  This was a great opportunity for some inter-office excitement!

Zoob and I had several camp folks over for the game, including Hank and Townsend.  The game started out as expected, but toward the end I was super excited as Ohio pulled ahead!  What a crazy game!  Hank continued to jab throughout most of the game as I danced and screamed.  In the end they did their best and UNC came out ahead. 

Hank wanted to be sure that everyone also saw this picture as well…

Reality sets in... Don is shamed...

Camp is almost here!  I can’t wait!

-Don

September 14-16, 2012

Come enjoy a weekend of friends, activities, square dancing, and a campfire! We are celebrating fifty-five years of High Rocks on September 14-16, 2012. Spread the word to fellow High Rockers. Housing, activities, and meals are provided by camp for all adult alumni.

Attendees are welcome to begin arriving throughout Friday afternoon for check-in and casual entertainment. The festivities will officially start with dinner on Friday at 6:00pm and run through Sunday breakfast at which point guests can stick around or begin their trek home.

Due to the large number of attendees expected, housing will be offered for adults only and grouped by gender. We will attempt to house people with peers and please feel free to make cabin requests. If you would prefer independent accomodations, there are a number of hotels and B&B’s in the area. Even though it is after Labor Day, we recommend booking early as weddings and special events keep September a busy time in Brevard.

To register, please go to:

www.highrocks.com/pdf/2012RegistrationInformation.pdf

After completing the Krispy Kreme Challenge at NC State the last thing we wanted to do was hop back in the car for a 4 hour drive. What better way to burn off 12 donuts consumed in less than 10 minutes than track down our High Rocks staff in Chapel Hill and impose on them for a Saturday afternoon. Although the weather was gray and rainy, these guys were the consummate hosts in showing us mountain folk around their hometown. As always happens with High Rocks, the longer we stayed, the more past and present staff began appearing to say hi until we had quite the reunion going. We look forward to seeing nearly everyone back this summer and thanks again for a great weekend!!

The Krispy Kreme Challenge 2012. 5 miles, 12 doughnuts, 2400 calories, 1 hour...

A couple weeks ago several of the High Rocks crew ran in the Krispy Kreme Challenge that took place in Raleigh, NC near NCSU.   The race is not your average running race.   From the start, you run about 2. miles to the nearest Krispy Kreme doughnut shop.  You then begin to eat 12 doughnuts as fast as you can.  Once you are finished with your doughnuts, you have to turn in your empty box.  Finally, you run back to the start the hard part).  The idea or challenge is to do all of this within an hour…

Zach Nichols is my Krispy Kreme hero!  He ran and ate and ran AND finished in 39 minutes!!!  Hank and I were passed on the way to the doughnuts, but then turned it around by throwing down our doughnuts lightening fast, only to be caught by John and Woody in the last half mile!  I’m still proud that my doughnut eating skills pulled through for at least a little while.

The moral of the story is that Kirspy Kreme doughnuts on Sundays during the summer are all part of the education and adventure we present for our campers every year!   I feel like my summers at camp helped me win this race! Long live Camp High Rocks and congratulations to all who participated.  Zach Nichols, John Carpenter, Mark Birdsong, Don Gentle, Hank Birdsong, and Woody Noland.

I’m off ot get a doughnut…

Don

John Carpenter, Morgan Williams, Hank Birdsong, and Woody Noland represented High Rocks in the race and everyone felt good about their runs. While we did not repeat our costumed performance from the Halloween 5K, it was nice to feel aerodynamic again and everyone’s final time dropped significantly without dragging a fat suit around the course. Hank and Morgan did especially well with Hank finishing first in his age group and Morgan second in hers. Congratulations to all the runners and go Team High Rocks!

If anyone feels like joining the High Rocks squad, there is a special race coming up in a few months. The Krispy Kreme Challenge (www.krispykremechallenge.com) is held on Feb. 4, 2012 and presents a unique twist to a 5 mile run. Participants run 2.5 miles, eat a dozen glazed donuts, and run 2.5 miles back. It takes place on the N.C. State campus and has quickly grown to more than 7500 runners supporting the N.C. Children’s Hospital. Not only have Hank, Don, Mark, John, Zach, and Woody all signed up already, but there are alumni (Scott Collins and Strickland Parks) committing as well. All CHR people within a reasonable area, come join in the ridiculousness!!

Woody Noland, Ben Little and John Carpenter chose what seemed to be a less-than-perfect costume for the race, but definitely one that turned a lot of heads!

Woody, Ben, and John

It was certainly a lot of fun.  Woody also described the sensation of feeling like you wrapped in plastic food wrap.  I sweat layer of sweat all inside the suit…nasty!  Can you imagine trying to run ins those suits???

Congratulations to all the High Rockers and Keystone Camp staff that came out for the event.  Life at camp is always fun!

The High Rocks and Keystone Crowd ready to race!

We will keep you posted about the upcoming “Reindeer Run” in December!  I can’t wait to see what the the outfits might look like!

Don

Holy Cow!  What a busy fall!

First of all, I’d like to just tell everybody how BEAUTIFUL it has been at camp!  We’ve got the leaves changing, and the view around the lake is just amazing.  Also, here and there we are getting days of a perfect 75 degrees along with nice and chilly nights.  There’s just something special about wearing a t-shirt during the day and still enjoying a fire at home at night.

The folks here at High Rocks have been going in all different directions!  Hank and Townsend have been traveling in Virginia and eastern North Carolina.  Don and Zoob have been all around Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.  Woody has already been to Charleston and also done some rounds down in Texas.  It has been really great for everybody to catch up with camp families and meet some new folks too – it’s an exciting time of year when we start planning for the next summer!

We’ve just finished up our last LEAP group of the fall.  It’s always sad when the last group leaves… camp is so different when there aren’t any kids here.  We’ve been getting camp ready for the winter – the maintenance fellas have been hard at work winterizing the cabins, blowing leaves like crazy, and even taking down our waterslide (don’t worry – it’ll go up again in the spring).  While the winter brings on a whole new feel to camp, it’s always just good to slow down a little bit, put on the thinking caps for next year, and get prepared for the spring, summer, and fall once again.

We hope that everybody is having a great fall, that school is going well and that you’re thinking fondly of camp.  We miss you and can’t wait to see you again!

Crystal Clusiau

crystal@highrocks.com