Pictures from July 14, 2010 (password required)

Just as breakfast was ending, the hair salon was opening!  Several of our staff created some wacky hairstyles for whoever wanted one; everything from small braids to BIG HAIR!   They sure looked hilarious!  Assembly followed to what was to become a beautiful day!  The weather was partly cloudy all day, high in the mid-80’s, and a great breeze!  What a wonderful day at Camp!

Holy cow are we ever busy!  These boys are running in so many directions it is amazing!  It sure is a lot of fun!  Yesterday was a big treat for some of our paddlers.  We arranged for a group of the guys to meet up with Wayne Dickert, former Olympian and Head of Instruction at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC).   They worked the river and received some top notch instruction at the gates.  Training that will set them up for success at next week’s Camp Cup event on the Nantahala River.  It was a great day!

Today was a huge day for our Mini II boys!   After breakfast they headed over to spend the entire morning on the high ropes course.  They spent the afternoon in their normal activities, and finally met up for a night in the woods formally known as their “cabin overnight.”  The guys packed up their backpacks and headed out to Lower Rocky Top Shelter, one of five Appalachian Trail style shelters we have on the property.  They will spend the night feasting on the favored “pita pizza” then wash it down with some good old fashioned s’mores!  We’ll get to see them roll in just before breakfast to get washed up just in time to eat.   I am looking forward to the stories.

Tennis had a special treat this afternoon as they headed down to town to enjoy some instruction at Brevard Racquet Club and experience the game of tennis on some top-notch clay courts.  Swimming also had an afternoon trip out.  The swimming staff took a group of guys out to Hooker Falls in Dupont State Forest.  It was a leisure event swimming below the falls and playing around in the huge pool. A perfect trip on for a sunny afternoon.

The cavers headed out after lunch for our first-ever “caving overnight.”  The guys will head into the cave tonight, then eat dinner, sleep, and hike back out!  Hopefully, we’ll have a few pictures to show you tomorrow.  The mountain bikers headed out for three days over in the Tsali National Recreation Area in the Nantahala National Forest.  Three full days of riding on some world class trails!  Our advanced paddlers head out early tomorrow morning for a two-day trip up to the New River Gorge in West Virginia.  The fun never ends!  Have a great night and feel free to leave some comments if you feel the urge.

Don Gentle

Pictures from June 14, 2010 (password required)

The week started out with a bang today with six trips heading out in every different direction.  The caving trip was the first down the road at 8:15 this morning.  They took a new group of boys to Worley’s Cave for a day of playing in the dark and getting muddy!  Next out were the climbers.  They headed to Cedar Rock again and were able to dodge the afternoon rain and still get some climbing done at the rock.  The paddlers had to work around some water release schedules after they found out that Duke Power would not be releasing water on the Green River today.  Unfortunately, they don’t let us know until the morning of the release as to whether they will give you water or not.  They made a quick alteration and headed to Section 8 of the French Broad.  There are some great pictures from today’s trip.  Mountain biking was next with another trip over to DuPont.  They spent the whole day hitting the trail.

The last two trips out today were our first backpacking trips of the session!!!  The boys spent the first week learning some of the skills necessary on overnight trips like what to pack, how to pack it, setting up tarps and tents, how to where your pack and even how to read maps. Now it was time to use those skills on the trail.

The two-day backpacking trip was lead by Chase and David who took some “middler” aged hikers off to the Pink Beds.  Pink Beds is an easy trail with many cool bridges, and unique flora and fauna that is supported by the surrounding mountain bogs.  There’s even a beaver dam!  It should be a lot of fun! 

The second backpack trip was a three-day trip to Middle Prong Wilderness.  Middle Prong is up high in the Pisgah National Forest with an elevation of about 5200 feet.   It has been so hot down at camp, the boys were very excited once they jumped out of the van and felt the noticeably cooler air.  Middle Prong is named after the “middle prong” headwaters of the Pigeon River.  The guys will change some elevation throughout the hike, which will create a good challenge.  They plan on finishing at Sam’s Knob, which is an awesome hill up in the High Pisgah Meadows just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  If you are ever up here from mid-August through Labor Day weekend, you should make a point of hitting Black Balsam and the High Pisgah region up on the Parkway.  The blueberries are amazing!  No blueberries for our guys, but they should have an excellent hike!

This evening begins the first of five “Chill Night” trips.  Tonight Halfway and Lookout cabin groups will have an evening where they head to the natural waterslide called “Sliding Rock” in Pisgah National Forest.  The mountain stream water is a chilly 55 degrees, but is a lot of fun!  The boys will then head for ice cream at the locally famous Dolly’s Dairy Bar.  The name “Chill Night” is quite appropriate given the activities.  It will be chilly, but a ton of fun!  I’m sure you will hear about Dolly’s on closing day.  There are always several families that head off to see this “famous” ice cream stand.

More excitement tomorrow!  Enjoy the pictures!

Don Gentle
Associate Director

We just had our third annual Father/Son Weekend here at High Rocks this past weekend!  This year we hosted about 28 families.  The weather was great, with only a little rain here and there until Sunday.  Activities included the High Ropes Course, Climbing Tower, Archery, Riflery, Canoeing on the lake, a French Broad Canoe Float, Dupont Waterfall Hike, tennis, soccer, and mostly a lot of fishing!  It was a great success and was much warmer this year than the previous two. 

We sure had a lot of fun getting to know some new campers, dads, and potential campers.  Follow the link for a full picture gallery of the event.  Father-Son Pictures