Pictures from August 3, 2011  (password required)

Greetings from Camp High Rocks! The second full day of activities has been just that…full.

All of the guys in Holiday Inn cabin spent the morning on the ropes course, & Pinnacle had their chance in the afternoon. Time spent on the ropes course is an opportunity for campers to get to know their cabin mates, work on different types of trust among the members of the cabin group, and have a great time. As with all activities at Camp High Rocks, we subscribe to the “challenge by choice” theory on the challenge course, which means we encourage the campers to participate in the activities, but the choice is ultimately theirs. The picture above shows the last element of the Ropes Course- a 450′ long zip wire that begins 42′ in the air!

Tonight Halfway, Windswept, Outpost & Lookout cabins are going on their cabin overnights. Each cabin will hike to a different shelter on camp and spend the night. The guys will get to cook their own pita pizzas (with counselor assistance) and enjoy s’mores for dessert.  After a night of camping they will be back to the main part of camp for breakfast in the dining hall. Cabin overnights are always a favorite of the campers! Every cabin group will go on an overnight by this weekend.

This is just a quick note about homesickness for those parents who may be ‘campsick.’ Our objective is to have a very active program with little “down time”. Our past experience tells us that as campers are acclimatizing to their new surroundings they will be fine as long as they are active. For a few boys to experience some homesickness is normal. Homesickness is nothing to be alarmed about and usually passes quickly. Homesickness is usually limited to slower times of day, such as rest hour or immediately before bedtime. If you get a letter or postcard that sounds a bit down, you can bet it was written during rest hour. These letters usually reach their destination by Wednesday or Thursday of the first week (but could be even later). Ironically, campers have usually become immersed in the camp experience and forgotten about homesickness by the time their letters reach home.

So, if you receive a letter from your son saying the he is not enjoying camp and would like to come home, do not be alarmed. Chances are that we have him ‘under our wing’ and that he has already moved beyond his homesickness and is enjoying his camp experience to the fullest. If you get a less than positive letter, feel free to call or email our head counselor, Woody Noland (woody@highrocks.com).  He does a great job of following up with the campers that might need a little boost. More times than not, Woody is already aware of any campers that are “down” and has already been working with them and their counselors. Letters from home should be encouraging and express how proud you are of his independence & that you look forward to seeing what he has accomplished when you come to camp on Parent’s day (August 13th).

• “Moldy Geezers” (Hillside & Connestee) are playing a game on the Cabin Field.
• “The Muggles” (Lakeside, Foxhollow) are at the waterslide.
• “The Inferno” (Flattop & Chalet) are in the Gym playing Chum Ball.
• “Howling Hounds” (Windswept & Outpost) are headed out for their cabin overnight.
• “Uncle Jonathan’s Corn Cob Pipe” (Holiday Inn & Pinnacle)  are heading to “Sliding Rock” and Dolly’s Ice Cream.
• “The Lazer Snails” (Halfway & Lookout)  are headed out for their cabin overnight.

Have a wonderful evening and enjoy the pictures!!!

Take care,

–Hank Birdsong
Camp Director

 Pictures from August 2, 2011  (password required)

We have over 90 boys signed up for mountain biking and boy are they excited! Our staff are so awesome that we are still able to have excellent ratios, incredible instruction AND a bike for every camper!

Hello from Camp High Rocks! Today is our first full day in activities, and camp is in full swing.  The weather continues to be outstanding!

You will see a lot of great pictures of the boys participating in their chosen activities. Today, the campers are learning the basic skills and methods of the activity and will follow a progression throughout the session, continuing to build more skills each day. Our goal is for each camper to progress in his skills through a session and then from year to year. When I was talking to some of our oldest campers during the four-week session last week, they said that this year was their best ever! That is exactly what I want to hear – that each year was even better than the previous year!

Yesterday, the boys and their counselors thought up age-group nicknames. Rather than just calling them “group 1,” or “juniors,” we have the age groups come up with a fun name that usually precedes a chant or song. You’ll have to wait and hear the chants from your boys on parents’ day, but the group names are listed below.

• “Moldy Geezers” (Hillside & Connestee) are at the water slide.
  “The Muggles” (Lakeside, Foxhollow) are playing Danish Rounders on the Activity Field.
•  “The Inferno” (Flattop & Chalet) are playing a game on the Cabin Field
• “Howling Hounds” (Windswept & Outpost) are in the Gym playing Chum Ball.
• “Uncle Jonathan’s Corn Cob Pipe” (Holiday Inn & Pinnacle) are playing a game on the Soccer Field
• “The Lazer Snails” (Halfway & Lookout)  are heading to “Sliding Rock” and Dolly’s Ice Cream

Tomorrow we start our cabin overnights with Halfway, Windswept, Outpost & Lookout cabins.

Have a wonderful evening and enjoy the pictures!!!

Take care,

Hank Birdsong
Camp Director

 Pictures from August 1, 2011  (password required)

 Pictures from July 28, 2011  (password required)

Our Starter boys (and Grace Gentle) wrapping up an awesome week of camp with the high ropes course!!!

Well we completed the last full day of activities today and it was AWESOME!  Climbing today had a new activity in which campers and staff while on belay worked to climb milk crates that they stacked one at a time.  The winning number was 18 crates high this session.  It was a fun new twist for the boys down at the climbing tower today.  Soccer decided it was time to work on headers so to practice their form they headed to the lake.  They practiced headers as they splashed into the refreshing lake water.    At Choice Period this afternoon many of the older campers and several staff played a tight soccer match.  Campers and staff were mixed on teams and it was a great afternoon of soccer with many fans to cheer them on!

In addition to the fun in camp activities there were many trips out of camp today.  Pottery visited many of the galleries in our area exposing the campers to many types of art and local artists.  Hiking took a group to rock hop near graveyard fields in Pisgah.  The campers had a blast and enjoyed cooling off in the cool mountain stream as they went along.  The paddling two day returned after padding section 9 of the French Broad today.   It was a great trip and the boys returned home tired but satisfied from a great adventure.  Climbing took a trip to Horseshoe Rock and it was a blast.  Mountain biking took many of the mini session campers on a ride in Dupont State Forest.  The boys had a great time and returned tired as well after a morning of riding.

The Upper Senior Age Group is enjoying a steak dinner at Hank and Townsend’s house this evening.  The boys have set a great example for the younger campers and have been a great help in all of the activities that they have assisted in through the apprentice program.  The steak dinner is a thank you for all of their leadership and hard work.  It is quite a spectacle if you can imagine 50 teenage boys and enough steak to feed them all.  Needless to say they consume enough food to sink a ship!

The rest of the cabin groups are enjoying Cabin Night in various locations around camp.  It is a final evening activity with just their cabin to play and then reflect on the session highlights as well.  Many choose to enjoy a campfire and s’mores while hanging out together.  The Starter campers are enjoying their cabin overnight this evening at the Lower Rocky Top shelter on the property.  They will stuff themselves with Pita Pizzas and s’mores around the campfire before falling asleep in their shelter.   Sleep should come fast for them after a big day on the ropes course, canoeing, waterslide and a round on the Rock it! 

What an aesome month it has been.  Thank you so much for believing in all that we do here!  We sure do love sharing our joy with your sons, be it a week, two weeks, or even a month.  It is certainly the time of their lives here at High Rocks.

This will be the last night of pictures.  Don’t forget Parents’ Day on Saturday.  Please wait until 9:15 to arrive.  We will get things going around 10:15 with demonstrations, displays, and lunch!  Don’t forget, if you enjoyed the pictures, you can still order a drive from Townsend.  Just email here at townsend@highrocks.com.

Have a safe trip; we can’t wait to visit with all of you!

Zoob

Pictures from July 27, 2011  (password required)

Another beautiful day today!!  No storms and temperatures were warmer, around 85 degrees.  We are finishing up our trips today and tomorrow.  A two day canoe trip to the Nantahala and French Broad section 9 left early this morning.  A day trip in climbing made it back for dinner here tonight.  Dinner oh yeah dinner!  It was fantastic.  Chicken Parmesan with rotini noodles, squash casserole, green beans, ratatouille and salad bar, homemade bread and spice cake.  Our kitchen staff is awesome!

The junior age group, including the minis and starters, headed to Sliding Rock and Dolly’s ice cream bar this evening.  They were very excited as they and Don headed down the road.  It is a perfectly warm evening for those boys to be cooling off on Chill Night.  I think Don looks forward to this as much as the campers.

The advanced riders are practicing their drill team presentation for parent’s day so try to be here on Saturday in time to see them on the activity field at 10:15.  We recommend an arrival time of between 9:15 and 10:00am on Saturday.  We will load your trunk as you drive by the gym and then everyone will park in the campfire hill field on the far side of the tennis courts.  The demonstration schedule will be given to you on that morning but your son a can take you any where he wants to go.  Wear your walking shoes!!

If you have not ordered a photo flash drive of all or the pictures from this session, they will be available on Saturday to purchase.  Our photographer has done a great job again this summer!  Thank you Bryan Ham!!  Please let me know if you would like for me to reserve one for you.  Just email me at townsend@highrocks.com .

Travel safely and we will see you on Saturday. 

Townsend

Pictures from July 26, 2011  (password required)

There are several trips out today, as there are on most days during this session.  A climbing trip is doing a big day trip on Looking Glass Rock.  They headed out early this morning to attempt a four pitch climb that tops out at around 450 feet.  I say “attempt” not because I have any doubt they have the ability, but rather because of the rain storms that can pop up most any afternoon.  As I write this blog at almost 9pm they haven’t yet returned, but I know they are down from the climb and safe.  They called from the local Subway to say they would be back late & were getting supper.  The part they didn’t mention, but I know to be fact, is that after Subway I’m sure they will drop by Dolly’s Ice Cream for a celebratory ice cream cone (on the camp account).  It’s great to see a van pull into the parking lot & watch a tired crew unload.  As soon as I approach the van, multiple faces light up & start telling me about their exploits.  That’s a normal day at camp- kids achieving something that they will remember for years to come. 

This evening I joined in on a few of the evening activities.  There was activity in the gym and at the waterfront & on three different activity fields.  My last stop was at the soccer field where I joined in on a game of “World Cup”.   I walked back in to the office to write this blog, covered in sweat to be greeted by my wife, Townsend.  She usually just shakes her head a bit after she ascertains that I’m not limping and I haven’t pulled anything that’s too important.

The Starter Session guys that arrived yesterday were going full-out whenever I saw them today.  You’ll see several pictures of those guys in today’s batch of pictures.

Just three more days of activities in this session.  The campers are looking forward to demonstrating activities to their parents on Saturday.  Plan to stay through lunch if you can- it is a fun morning & the campers love showing off what they have learned.

Take care,

Hank Birdsong

Pictures from July 25, 2011  (password required)

Another beautiful day at camp!  We had a small opening day for our second group of awesome Starter Campers.  What a great group of kids and boy were they excited!  Everyone one of them was ready to go the minute they showed up!

I am still amazed how excited I get on a “parent’s day.”  Getting to meet parents and campers and see how excited and even a little nervous everyone gets.  But I also get to show them our incredible staff, and introduce them to this amazing place. I feel the same way when a prospective camp family comes up to see camp.  It’s my time to show them all the things I am excited about!  Like our staff that make this such a great community.  We are so fortunate to have such an amazing staff year after year  We put a lot of time and effort into getting and keeping great staff.  We have over 30 staff this year that have been here for five or more years; 15 that have been here more than ten years!  Then I get to show and tell about our 1100 acres of property!  Not only do we have miles of trails for horseback riding, mountain biking, and hiking, and 12 acres of spring fed lake water; we also have an incredible program that focuses on the individual.  By the time I’m done with my tour, I’m ready to grab the family and go have some camp fun!  Some might call it a job, it’s a really a pretty sweet way of life.  I get to mentor young men through awesome activities in a great community.

Speaking of work, we sure had another busy day today.  While some guys were coming into camp, we had a whole bunch heading out on some great trips.  A three-day hike took off for Joyce Kilmer today (I’ll tell you more about that awesome place when they get back).  The paddlers went off kayaking and canoeing on the Green River.  The climbers headed out with some of the younger guys to Pilot Rock. Finally, mountainbiking was out again to Dupont State Forest with another group of riders.  We are still moving full speed ahead as we head into the last week of the four week! 

Our Starter Campers will have a packed day tomorrow with rock climbing, horseback riding, hiking, and riflery/archery all before lunch!!!  There afternoon will include canoeing, fishing, and a choice period!  We’ll be sure to get plenty of picutres up again tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Don Gentle

Pictures from July 24, 2011  (password required)

What an awesome Sunday!  After a super fun night of square dancing with the girls from Keystone Camp just down the mountain, we had a little extra sleep in this morning.  It allowed some guys to get up as usual and come to the lodge, while others could sleep in a little later. We even gave them the morning off for cabin clean-up! Then, it was breakfast with all the usual fair AND Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Breakfast was followed by our morning service by the lake including a little reflection, some great songs and music, and then a few of our staff did a dramatic reading of “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss.

The boys had a lot of different options for choice period and free time the rest of the morning.  A good number of them headed down to the lake to enjoy the water in some form. Still others played their matches in the camper-counselor tennis tournement, while some played some disc golf, bouldered, got into some four square, or just relaxed.

The morning rapped up with the introduction to the impending doom of the Zombie Apocalypse!  This would become an all-camp event for the entire afternoon where campers (mostly humans) and counselors (mostly zombies) would have it out through a series of missions, and skirmishes.  Humans would become zombies and the zombie numbers would start to rise, until the “antidote” was found and created to “cure” the zombies from their crazy state.  It was a first ever for this event and the boys really enjoyed it.  What an awesome day! 

Temperatures raged all the way to the mid 80”s today AND we had to have ice cream sundaes after lunch AND THEN a cookout after the “Zombie Invasion.”  Tomorrow it is back to the normal grind of activities, trips, and cabin clean-up…  I’m sure the commute to the dining hall will be in gridlock again.  Life is hard up here on the mountain…  I sure hope we can handle all that !

Have a great night!  We always do!

Don

Pictures from July 23, 2011  (password required)

Holy Cow!  I know we say this everyday – but it was another busy day!  Our horseback riding program started off the morning by taking a bunch of kids to a nearby horse show – they were back by lunch and definitely had a great time.  Canoeing also took an afternoon trip to the French Broad, which is a fun short trip for all of the guys.  All of the other programs stayed in camp today.  It was pirate day at the climbing tower (which is always a big, and wet, day), in-camp canoers were building forts out of their canoes and paddling them around the lake and all the other activities were jazzing things up a bit as well.

Sometimes I can’t help but wish I got to be a camper… It seems like it would be such a great time to spend my days doing activities I really love, getting better at different skills with daily practice, and getting to experience all of the fun games and events that the counselors are coming up with.  I know, I know – I’m lucky enough just to have a job here! So basically, I guess I’m saying it sure is an awesome place to be here at High Rocks!

So, in the spirit of wishing I could be a camper, I’d like to shout out to all the moms out there, who I think might feel the same way I do.  As you may know, High Rocks is hosting its first ever Mothers on the Mountain Weekend (in other words, Mom Camp) September 16 – 18^th this year.  It’s going to be a super-fun weekend with camp activities and the opportunity to get to know other camp moms.  It’s open to all High Rocks moms, and we’d also love for any mom who’s scoping out High Rocks for her son to come and check it out too.  There’s no better way to get to know camp than to actually spend a couple days here!  You can see more about the weekend at www.highrocks.com/camp/mom.html, and we’ll be sending more information in the mail this week.

There are some incredible pictures of all the guys finding ways to beat the heat.  I hope everyone is having beautiful weather and enjoying their late-July days, I know we are!

Crystal

Pictures from July 22, 2011  (password required)

The Starter guys heading out for their overnight on Thursday. What a great week they have had! I can't believe they go home tomorrow.

It is the third Friday of 4 Week and camp was frenetic with guys squeezing in the last full activity day before the weekend shenanigans take over. Fresh off a fish fry, our fishermen were feeling soft towards the blue gill and bass today with several hooked, but all returned to the lake for another day. Sailors have their routine so down pat that the boats seemed to materialize out on the lake with none of the usual prep time and rigging challenges. With another hot day in the mountains, the sailors seemed to be unable to stay on their crafts and required frequent pickups by their fellow crewmates, who in turn would then lose their own balance. Canoers were working hard out in the gates course and a steady stream of campers are working their way into boats of choice such as kayaks, C-1s, and edgy whitewater solo canoes. At choice period the lake was swarming with guys practicing skills in new boats, hopping in at free swim to cool down, or making sure the fish really were not hungry. Down at the climbing tower, campers are beginning to have the opportunity to practice lead climbing on the advanced side of the tower and are relishing the new, sometimes scary, challenge. All over camp the guys love using their newfound skills to push themselves further than they may have thought possible three weeks ago. This is the prime time for them to attain some of those long term goals set at the very beginning of camp and maybe even set a few new ones for the last week.

The out of camp program portion remained busy. Another Green River crew headed out armed with some decked boats, sunscreen, and tons of extra water. The hikers took a jaunt to the far edge of camp property to the Cathedral Rocks, a collection of enormous boulders that sit on the trail up to Rich Mountain. Our climbers spent the day on the South Side of Looking Glass and escaped just before a heavy afternoon rainstorm drenched the area. The mountain bikers returned from Tsali where they had ridden the past three days. The group was exhausted but delighted with themselves and arrived justifiably proud of the 32 miles they had accumulated on the trip. They also had stories of some lake swimming, delicious campfire food, and a seven mile night ride!

Tonight we have guys spending their last energies playing some capture the flag, dodgeball, canoe fill-ups, and two groups dressing up for an Old Man Bingo Night. With soft pretzels to wrap up the day, life is good! Enjoy the pictures and prepare yourselves for Pirate Day tomorrow!

Woody