Pictures from July 17, 2011  (password required)

I know it is hard to break tradition, but after years and years of Olympics, we decided to try it a little different this year. Now before all you traditionalist start picking up the phone right now to call me let me tell you a little bit about the new format. It still has the same Olympic flair as the past, just a new twist and new games or “trials” as we call them.

As I mentioned last night, we started with an introduction for the boys with a cool march up campfire hill with tiki torches, music and mystery. Dan lead a “Council of the Elders of High Rocks” and explained how the boys would be training for “battle” and put through several “tests” that would help them with the potential future siege of their lands. It was super cool. We then started all the pageantry with skits and dialog (like past Olympics) that began after morning service. The “trials” began after lunch with events like jousting, mote crossing, the stone throw, the caber toss, dragon boat races, and even a castle siege.

The guys spent the rest of the morning making their flags and building their castles. Lunch was in pure medieval spirit with no silverware, and then the trials began after rest hour.

The pictures will tell the rest of the story. The day finished with a castle siege. The boys took three-person water balloon launchers, and loaded them with tennis balls to try to destroy the makeshift castles.

We also have some great pictures from the dance with Rockbrook Camp last night!  What a busy weekend!  Back to skill building, trips, and more camp fun tomorrow!  Have a great night

Don Gentle

Pictures from July 10, 2011  (password required)

We had an awesome Sunday!  The weather held out for the most part allowing us to have our morning service by the lake and then some choice option for the rest for the morning.  I took the lead on the morning service and talk with the group about “What makes you tick,” a short lesson on figuring out what you like in life and then doing really well.  We had a great discussion on the necessity of trying things, overcoming fears, and getting the most out of camp.

I enjoyed my evening at Camp Illahee last night with the younger guys and girls.  It’s always a little more of a challenge, but I feel like everyone had a good time.  I always enjoy heading over to see my friends at Illahee and watch them put every little piece of white gravel back in place.  They work hard over there and it always looks beautiful. 

So after visiting with Laurie Strayhorn and Gretchen Greene last night, I got to spend some time with Gordon Strayhorn here at High Rocks for our annual High Rocks Illahee Game Day!  This event is an entire afternoon of fun and games with the girls from Camp Illahee.  We had a western sort of cowboy theme along with new games and events billed as the “High Rocks Illahee Round Up.”  We wrapped up the afternoon with an awesome cookout on the lawn and then it was time to say goodbye to the girls and get ready for campfire and the week ahead!

Don Gentle

Pictures from July 08, 2011  (password required)

It is Friday and that means the last day of trips for the first week of camp. After several days spent knocking the rust off of skills built in previous years, it was time to head out and put them to use. Five different trips headed out today which is not quite our maximum but definitely left camp feeling somewhat quiet and relaxed. The climbers were up before anyone else and had already eaten and left the property before the other campers came staggering to the Dining Hall for delicious sausage biscuits and gravy. With our weather pattern heavy on afternoon showers, the climbers are working to enjoy every moment of dry rock and sunshine and had a great day out on the Nose of Looking Glass. The cavers also had a fun time at Worley’s Cave in TN, with some of the younger guys finding some tiny cave salamanders no bigger than your thumb nail. The sheer amount of mud coating their coveralls and shoes upon returning to camp was testament to their exuberant assault on the slides and tight crawls found inside the cave. Canoers were off to the Tuckasegee for a full day of solid intermediate whitewater. With our regular rainfall the river levels have been perfect, allowing for exciting water features and a slight cushion over those sneaky shallow rocks. Our hiking trip headed to Pisgah for a loop up and over John Rock complete with some gorgeous views from the top and a nice rock face to have lunch. The group then checked out the Pisgah Forest Fish Hatchery which is always a favorite due to the feeding frenzies campers can create with the available fish food. The hatchery grows nearly 500,000 trout a year and offers informational tours on the area’s stream ecology and wildlife. Our last trip of the day was a mountain biking expedition over to DuPont State Forest. The group based out of Sky Valley and had a very busy day riding multiple loops. The highlight however was in running across groups of Army soldiers conducting wilderness survival training in full gear and armed with fake guns. The guns appeared authentic and inspired great interest in our young bikers, creating lots of conversation back at camp.

In camp our activities continued apace. Sailors had a very windy day which allowed for exciting runs before the wind and narrowly avoided capsizes. In horseback riding, campers got a chance to practice riding bareback and had a great time learning to balance without the aid of stirrups. The tennis courts were swamped with our afternoon rain shower and a new game was created which was heavy on aces and lots of splashing. Down in crafts the groups were presented with their awards for the Iron Camper projects causing tons of laughter at the ridiculous titles but resulted in a lot of creativity in the individual efforts.

All in all, a great way to wrap up our first week. I hope you enjoy the pictures from today and please tune in tomorrow for news of our first Saturday and the Illahee square dance!!

Woody Noland

Head Counselor

Nothin' sweeter than the waterslide on a HOT day!

It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through the session.  Tomorrow is “bed switch” day so everybody that didn’t get a coveted top bunk on opening day will get their chance.  Tonight at dinner more than half the camp was away on some sort of event.  Pinnacle, Halfway, Lookout and Holiday Inn are all at Sliding Rock followed by Dolly’s Ice Cream.  About 25 campers are on an evening horseback ride that ends with a cookout at Townsend’s mom’s house (one of the camp founders- Jane Williams) and 10 campers are still out on a 3-day hike.  Tomorrow will be another active day with six trips out of camp.

My day has been a constant stream of campers and staff asking “How’s your eye”?  Yesterday I spent rest hour and the afternoon clearing a section of the lake between the cabin field and the bridge.  The area has been overgrown for years & I wanted to clear it out for hikes and fishing.  The area was covered in poison ivy, so I was prepared with gloves, long sleeves, and jeans.  Everything was going along well & I made good progress until I was on the mower going back & forth over a weedy area.  I felt a sting on my face then saw hornets all over me.  I took off across the pasture, threw off my sunglasses, and wiped hornets off as best I could until I was a safe distance away.  The total damage was minor.  I got two stings to my collarbone area, two on my arm, and one on the white of my eye.  The eye was quite the curiosity as I went around camp & said “want to see something cool?” Lots of oohs & ahhs & does it hurt??   Fortunately, there was minimal swelling & I’m back to normal now (mostly) -never a dull moment at camp.

I was planning on heading out to work on another trail project today, but I sent out my crew with Dan Noland instead so that my eye had another day to heal.  Trails are a constant process on 1100-acres of property.  We are opening an old section midway down the road that will be very helpful to horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bikers.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

We continue to have wonderful weather with an occasional afternoon shower.  Our one big storm earlier in the session hit us with a lot of wind & some hail.  No major damage here but I just found out that a nearby camp had softball size hailstones during the same storm!!

Enjoy today’s pictures and keep the cards and letters coming- the campers love to find something in the mailbox!!

Hank Birdsong
hank@highrocks.com

Pictures from June 18, 2011 (password required)

It’s Saturday!  This is such a fun day of the week – everyone is in camp today and each activity likes to do something fresh to spice things up a bit.  The climbers enjoyed a day of ascending the tower to the beat of techno music; canoeing played some fun lake games where the kids all got wet; hiking went Americana with “car camping day” where they cooked around a giant fire and two-burner stove with pie irons and hot dog sticks; the horseback riders had Gymkhana, where they play games on horseback and get to eat doughnuts; and the swimmers played a game of greasy watermelon (they also finished the melon off at the end of the hour).  All in all, it has been a busy and fun day.

Earlier I was thinking about what I should write about for the blog today.  My thoughts are that many of you have gotten letters home about camp, but that there are probably some boys who haven’t written home yet at all – so, this morning I sat down to chat with a random sampling of fellows so that I could pass the good word along.  Here is what they had to say:

John told me that climbing has been his favorite part of camp so far because he loves the feeling of being safe and also getting to do really awesome things.  When I asked him what he is looking forward to, he was quick to let me know that he is eagerly anticipating the 2-day climbing trip to the Obed in Tennessee.

Patrick immediately told me that horseback riding has been the highlight of his week.  He loves riding Thumper, Molly and Barclay and is very excited about going on a trail ride during his activity hour on Monday.

Blake couldn’t choose just one favorite part about camp – his answer included horseback riding, the Rock-it (our inflatable water attraction), climbing and tennis.  He’s really excited about the prospect of heading out of camp on both canoeing and climbing trips this week.

Scott had a hard time deciding his favorite part, but the first thing he came up with was how much fun he had on his cabin overnight to Rocky Springs shelter.  He is also really enjoying canoeing and looking forward to the Green River trip this week, but concluded his comment by saying, “I’m looking forward to everything!”

When I talked to Sam he told me that he liked all of his activities – not one in particular, he just liked them all.  He said that he is excited about going out on trips, especially when he’ll get to go out for some mountain biking.

Luke told me that he really likes going out on climbing trips, and that he enjoys having climbing in the morning because it’s a really good wake-up.  He is also planning on going on the 2-day Obed trip and is really excited about getting on the rock.

The last camper I got to talk to this morning was Max, who, I’d like to mention, I saw fold and throw a very impressive paper airplane a couple days ago.  His favorite parts of camp so far have been riflery and pottery.  For the week coming up, he is especially looking forward to doing a woodworking project.

I’m sure you can gather by the responses I got that the boys are staying active, having lots of fun, and getting to experience a lot of different things this session.  I expect that today will be awesome in camp – between the fun in activities, sodas at dinner and a square dance tonight, it’s hard to go wrong! 

I hope you all enjoy the pictures tonight – check in with us again tomorrow!

Crystal Clusiau

crystal@highrocks.com

Pictures from June 12, 2011 (password required)

What a great opening day for our 2011 season!  The clear blue skies were interrupted briefly by some afternoon showers, but the activity level was uninterrupted.  There were lots of happy faces around camp today.  The only exception was my expression when we discovered there was a typo on the parent handout.  Closing day is on FRIDAY, July 1. 

Most of today’s pictures are from this afternoon.  We will normally post pictures by 9pm, but circumstances may occasionally delay us until later.  We try to post around 100 pictures each day, but may post more on some days, like today.

The campers have already visited each of the activity areas during the day and then picked their activities tonight.  Monday will be the first full day of activities. I will try to send your initial letter from camp on Monday or Tuesday. In the letter I will have your son’s schedule and will tell you a bit about his counselor. At this session we have 147 campers and 75 staff members. Most of our staff are returning counselors or former High Rocks campers (58 of the 75 staff members). If you haven’t had a chance to look over our wonderful staff yet, be sure to look over our 2011 summer staff page.

Please remember not to send packages of any sort. Packages will not be delivered to campers (if there is a birthday, call us for instructions). If you need to send a forgotten item of clothing, medication, etc, call our office first & then send the item to the attention of our office staff. Our office staff will open the package & deliver the item.

Enjoy the pictures- we will try to post by 9pm each day, but it can be much later, or even the next day. Sometimes the pictures are from the previous day, sometimes they are from earlier in the same day.

It was a pleasure seeing so many returnig faces as well all the new families today.  We’re looking forward to a great session. Be sure to visit often to check out pictures as the session progresses.

Take care,

Hank Birdsong
Camp Director

ps- Did I mention that closing day is on a Friday??

The Green Salamander

North Carolina has the highest salamander diversity in the world, with at least 66 species known for the state.  Only one of those 66 species is listed as Rare and Endangered and that is the Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus). 

A Green Salamander had been found in the Camp High Rocks namesake rocks a few years ago.  On March 4, Alan Cameron and Steve O’Neil, both volunteers with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, came to Camp High Rocks to try to confirm that Green Salamanders were still here. 

Due to limited time that day they were unable to find any Greens in that rock cluster; however, they did find one adult Green in a smaller cluster of rocks in the forest just on the other side of the horse pasture, and definitely on Camp property.

Most kinds of salamanders are at least partly associated with water or damp conditions under logs and leaf litter.  But the Green Salamander has absolutely nothing to do with water in its entire life, which can last 10-15+ years.  They spend most of the winter, spring, and fall in rock crevices, and in the summer months most of them are up in trees.  It is easiest to find them when they are in the rocks.  The large granitic balds that are so common here in the mountains are shunned by Greens as they are too hot, sunlit and dry.  Greens need crevices in rocks that are shaded by overhead foliage like mountain laurel, rhododendron or other dense tree cover.  This helps maintain a high humidity and cooler temperatures in the crevices.

So why should we be concerned with preserving such a small and seemingly unimportant creature?  These salamanders were living in these forests hundreds of thousands or millions of years before humans ever came on the scene, and that gives them the right to continue to live there without human interference.  Also, given the documented decline and rapid extinctions of amphibians worldwide, it is more important that ever to conserve our native amphibians as a part of our state’s natural history.  Amphibians are crucial to the natural ecosystem and benefit humans directly (e.g., research in medicine).  Further, and probably most importantly, because of their sensitive respiratory systems and complex life cycles, amphibians serve as ‘bioindicators,’ alerting us to negative changes in our environment.

Pictures from August 13, 2010 (password required)

Heading out on a cabin overnight

What a great week we’ve had with a group of campers completely new to High Rocks!  We are ending the week with a campfire story told by long-time staff member Dan Noland.  We may have pictures of that tomorrow.

Parents’ day will begin at 9:30am tomorrow morning (Saturday).  Please plan to arrive tomorrow between 9:00 and 9:30.  We will load trunks at the gym and park all cars on a field just past the gym.  All parents, siblings and friends are invited to join us at that time to tour camp with your son & then join us for a slideshow and refreshments that will begin at 10:30.  The program will conclude around 11am. 

At some point before leaving please be sure to “check out” at the camp office.  The office will have a packet that includes an address list, cabin picture, store account refund, and a “jump drive” with pictures from the session (if you preordered one).  If you didn’t preorder a “jump drive” we will have extras available in the camp store.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.

Hank Birdsong

Pictures from August 12, 2010 (password required)

Another great day in camp!  The boys spent some more time in horseback riding, climbing on the tower, hiking, and canoeing this morning and afternoon.  Our morning choice period had options including the waterslide, archery and riflery, candle making, and fishing.  We had a little thunderstorm this afternoon, that shortened our 3pm class a bit, but the guys still had time for most of their afternoon activities.  The skies look clear for tonight’s cabin overnights.

Tonight all the guys will head out for an overnight on the property.  One benefit of having over 1100 acres of property is that you can get away from camp without getting out of camp.  Each of the groups will have a short hike to an Appalachian Trail-style shelter.  They will spend the evening exploring, eating pita pizzas, and cooking up marshmallows for s’mores.  After a little time around the campfire, the boys will sleep out in the shelters, and then hike back into camp just before breakfast.  It should be an exciting time for everyone!

We sure have had an exciting week!  I have really enjoyed getting to know your sons and watching their accomplishments.  For some of these guys, their biggest accomplishment has been spending an entire week here at camp.  For others, it could be getting to the top of the climbing wall or going off the zip line.  Personally, I still get excited about the zip line!  Most of all, these boys have gained some independence, a few friends, and even some resiliency.

In the next day or so, you will be receiving a letter from your son’s cabin counselor.  Many of these will be e-mailed so that it arrives to you in a timely manner.  It should give you just enough information so that you can have an idea of what your son did this week, how he related in the cabin, and even some of his accomplishments

Where do we go from here?  As you might have guessed, six days is actually a fairly short amount of time.  Our Starter Camp is just that, a good springboard for one of our longer sessions.  These longer session offer more activities, a longer amount of time to build skills, and many opportunities to go on trips out of camp, like whitewater paddling, rock climbing, multi-day backpacking trips, and even mountain biking and caving as an activity. 

We still have a full day of activities tomorrow!  We will wrap up the day tomorrow with a campfire, where we sing songs, listen to a story and reflect on the awesome week we had here at High Rocks.

I know some of you will be traveling tomorrow.  Have a safe trip.  We look forward to seeing you on Saturday morning.   Have a great night and enjoy the pictures.

Don Gentle
Associate Director

 Pictures from August 10, 2010 (password required)

Making tie-dye t-shirts in crafts

This was the first full day of Starter Camp and the boys didn’t waste any time.  With some guys waking up pretty early, we had a bright and early start. The wake-up bell rings at 7:45am & it takes the early risers a day or two to adjust.  The extra time did result in some very clean cabins to begin the day!

The morning was a rotation of Canoeing, Climbing, Horseback Riding, and the High Ropes Course.  On the lake, the canoers learned how to begin handling a tandem boat with a partner using forward strokes, the rudder, and many draws and cross-draws to get back on course. With a whole lake to explore, the learning happens almost without their knowledge as each cove or fish habitat presents a goal to reach and fresh motivation to paddle hard. Of course, after such exertion, the only suitable way to cool off is to flip your boat and swim it back to the dock, truly a favorite pastime here at camp.

In Climbing, the guys put on their harness and helmet, and then assaulted the three outside walls of our tower. The beginner wall starts with a sloped bottom half and tons of handholds to allow campers to gain a feel for climbing without causing too much stress searching for a spot for a hand or toe.  Soon the group was on to the intermediate side which was a much greater challenge and one the campers loved tackling.  With two guys climbing on each wall at the same time, there is time to rest tired muscles and cheer from the ground while the two climbers help each other through their difficulties much higher up.

Down at the barn, the Horseback Riders learned to lead each of their mounts out of the stall and down to a ring for the first time. There the riders mounted and worked on controlling the horse while moving around the ring. The size of the animals was the first hurdle for many of the guys, but once they felt the reins control this huge creature they were pumped!

Horseback riding began today

The High Ropes takes place over a two-hour block for one cabin at a time. The boys practice some trust exercises on the ground before climbing up ladders to the platform fifty feet in the air.  From the platform, they begin working around the elements by balancing on wires, crossing bouncy bridges, and cruising over a large telephone pole. To finish, each camper gets hooked onto a 450′ zip line and shoots off the tower to the group waiting below.

This afternoon was a similar selection to make sure all the cabins had a crack at each activity, with a little bit of Archery and Riflery thrown in. It amazes me at how focused these otherwise super-energetic guys can be while they are controlling their breathing and aiming for the bulls eye.  At the end of each hour, everyone was looking for people to check out their targets with much commotion over just about any bullet hole in the paper.

In the Choice Periods today there was Swimming, the Rock-It, Tie Dye shirts, Tennis, the Rope Swing, Sailing, a Hike to the Cathedral Rocks, and dozens of fish caught (some fish repeatedly jump on the hooks). The boys really enjoy getting a constantly changing menu of choices each morning and afternoon.  Some have found the waterfront and do not ever leave while others are all over the place, sometimes trying two activities in one hour. 

There are two age groups consisting of the two youngest and two oldest cabins. Today they came up with a name and cheer for their own group. Now, Hillside and Lakeside are the “Sidewinders” while Foxhollow and Flattop are the “Thunder Cats”.  This evening, the Sidewinders are in the gym playing several versions of dodgeball while the Thunder Cats are launching themselves off of the waterslide.  With huge soft Pretzels for snack before showers, the guys are heading back to the cabins worn out, excited, and ready for another early wake up!

Thanks for checking in, enjoy this evening’s pictures, and we will see you back here tomorrow.

Woody Noland