Pictures from July 26, 2010 (password required)

Each age group picked a group name tonight that they will use all session. This group is the "Insane Cow Posse"!!

August 26, 2010

 Pictures from July 17, 2010 (password required)

Adventures on the New River in West Virginia

The last Saturday of the session!  Of course next Saturday is parents’ day, but that is quite a different day.  It’s hard to believe we only have a week to go!  I know many of you are excited while some of you are just starting to enjoy the peace a quite.  However you feel, we hope that you realize that these four weeks during the summer is not only fun, but part of your son’s education.  We have saturated these boys with knowledge, physical endurance, creativity, socialization, and many skills.  We pair that with a whole lot of self reliance, teamwork, perseverance, friendship, and fun to complete an experience matched nowhere else but High Rocks!

In about ten days I will ask all of you to take part in a very important study; one that not only affects High Rocks, but many of the amazing camps here in the mountains of North Carolina.  The study is designed to show the economic impact of summer camps in our mountain communities.  You may not know it, but summer camps in our area are getting hit from all sides including permitting, building codes, school calendars, and even the DOT.  As a founding board member of the North Carolina Youth Camp Association (NCYCA) I have committed to helping North Carolina camps in many ways.  One particular way the NCYCA is currently helping is this Economic Impact Study.  Help us give camp a say with legislatures by showing your support of this study and the importance of summer camp!  Be on the lookout for the e-mail a week from Tuesday.

So, back to camp!   I woke up this morning to once again continue a long tradition of camp directors here at High Rocks making pancakes for the whole crew on Saturday morning.  Dan Noland did the bulk of the work, but I was definitely a strong second.  We made more cakes then the boys could eat!  

I stepped out of the kitchen and into assembly to get these still-sleepy boys ready for the day.  I enjoyed leading the morning motion song and the excitement of getting them jazzed up for the day!  The morning continued with a group of boys heading off to a wonderful horse show, pirate day down at the climbing tower, a treasure hunt in sailing, and other cool games in paddling and archery.  The boys of hiking made some sort of Mexican crepe all morning.  A wonderful sort of pancake smothered in butter, toasted in a pan, then covered with cinnamon and sugar.  It was a great time in activities today.

This afternoon around 5pm the boys headed back to the cabin for a much needed shower and a change into clean clothes.  We then enjoyed a nice dinner on the lawn and wrapped up the night hosting the girls of Keystone Camp to a square dance!  What a great day!

There are some great shots from the three day whitewater trip on the New River in West Virginia.  A great trip for a group of our most experienced paddlers.  Have a great night!

Don Gentle

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 28, 2010 (password required)

Mini-I Campers (Hillside Cabin) at the Barn

What a great day this has been!  We have a wide range of ages and abilities at this session.  The Mini-I campers are the youngest group, bringing lots of energy and excitement.  The upper seniors bring a wealth of experience to camp and look forward to being camp leaders.  The mix of ages and experiences make for a wonderful camp community.

 The campers visited all of the activity areas today, except for our “Upper Senior” age group (Pinnacle, Lookout, & Halfway cabins). Since the Upper Seniors average five years of experience at High Rocks, they didn’t need to learn about the activities. Instead, they participated in the ropes course, the waterslide and other group activities.  Campers in all of the age groups have now chosen their activities.  Tuesday will be the first full day of activities. I will try to send your initial letter from camp on Tuesday or Wednesday. In the letter I will have your son’s schedule and will tell you a bit about his counselor.  At this session we have 145 campers and 78 staff members. Most of our staff are returning counselors or former High Rocks campers (68 of the 78 staff members). If you haven’t had a chance to look over our wonderful staff yet, be sure to look over our 2010 summer staff page.

Most of today’s pictures are from this afternoon.  We will normally post pictures by 9pm, but circumstances may occasionally delay us until later.

As we add to the blog throughout the session we might refer to evening age-group activities. Just so you know where your son’s cabin fits in, here are how the age-groups line up (youngest to oldest):

“Juniors”- (Hillside, Connestee, & Holiday IV)
“Middlers”- (Lakeside & Foxhollow)
“Upper Middlers” – (Flattop & Chalet)
“Seniors” – (Windswept & Outpost)
“Upper Seniors” – (Lookout, Halfway, Pinnacle & Holiday I)

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.

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

Pictures from June 22, 2010 (password required)
note: today’s pictures span several days

Paddling on the Chattooga River

 We had another active day at High Rocks! Seven trips were out & there is an evening horseback ride, so nothing is slowing down around here!! Pictures today include some that a few staff members have been taking over the last week, so the pictures today encompass several days.

It’s hard to believe there are just two more program days left in the session!  Be sure to check this blog tomorrow for the last day of pictures and information about parent’s day.

Parent’s day is FRIDAY, beginning at 10:00am; please plan to arrive between 9:30am & 9:45am.  Parent’s day will last until after lunch.  Please plan to stay for the morning & see your son demonstrate his favorite activities!  More details will be in tomorrow’s posting.

 Take care,

Hank Birdsong

Pictures from June 21, 2010 (password required)
note: today’s pictures span several days

Mountain Biking Across Upper Pasture

What a day at High Rocks! Six trips were out & we still had all of our regular activities too!!  This last week is the culmination of the skills our campers learned in the first few weeks.  Lots of trips will leave camp each day this week and in-camp activities will be continuing their skill progressions until the last day of camp.  For many campers just being away from home for three weeks is the biggest challenge.  For others the biggest challenge might be attaining a goal in an activity.  Our ongoing goal is to be sure that High Rocks contributes to the growth of our campers.  Fun and adventure are a big part of our program, but we have other goals for our campers that we hope they will carry with them into the future.  Taking a few steps towards independance, treating others with respect, developing self-confidence, being a contributing member of a community- these are some of our goals for our campers.  

Mail can be slow to arrive in Cedar Mountain. At this late date in the session, I recommend not sending any more letters.  Any letters sent after today probably will not arrive until after the session is over. We will continue to deliver letters, emails and faxes until Thursday.

Several camps in the Brevard area will end on Friday, which means full hotels and restaurants on Thursday evening. If you will be in the area on Thursday night, it would be a good idea to have supper reservations unless you plan to eat fast food. Here are some possibilities, most take reservations:

Nicer local restaurants (not chains), all are downtown, except Sora-

Sora – 828-883-9808 (Hank’s Favorite) Japanese / Sushi (near Wal-Mart)
Jordan Street Cafe – 828-883-2558 (Townsend’s Favorite for supper)
Falls Landing – 828-884-2835 (Seafood- we eat there often at lunchtime)
HobNob- 828-966-4662 (Don & Zoob’s favorite)
The Quarry- 828-877-2244
Marco Trattori- 828-883-4841
Square Root- 828-884-6171

Not fancy, but lots of food-

Twin Dragons Chinese Buffet- kids like it, lots of food, lots of variety
Cielito Lindo – Mexican- Fast service, no reservations needed

More restaurants are listed on www.brevardncchamber.org

You should be receiving a letter from your son’s counselor soon. Townsend was proofing them over the weekend & most went in today’s mail.

Wednesday will probably be the last day of pictures. We will all be fairly busy with numerous end-of-session details on Thursday and Friday.  Many of you pre-ordered a flash drive of pictures from the session.  The USB flash drive is a 4-gigabite drive with high quality versions of the lower-quality pictures we have included on this website.  If you did not preorder a flash drive we will have more available for sale on closing day as well.

Take care,

Hank Birdsong

Pictures from June 19, 2010 (password required)

Danny helping Fisher with the final details of his lamp in wood-working.

This Saturday was a lot of fun in camp.  We kicked the day off with pancakes prepared by guest grillers, Scott Sullivan and Dan Noland.  We then had a rip roaring, fun time the rest of the day!  On with the activities!

Starting over at the climbing wall, we begin with the zany “Pirate Day” where campers “storm the tower” and staff members defend it by throwing water down on them.  The boys have a blast as they get soaking wet!  The event ends each hour with a selected camper climbing to the top of the tower with the pirate flag as a cape and lays claim to the Climbing Tower at the top!

Horseback riding had a similar pirate day event with trail rides staged around a treasure hunt.  The boys would have to follow the clues along the way in order to find the buried treasure!  You will also see some “Celebrity Barn Staff” in the pictures today.  The barn has selected staff from other activities to come down from time to time and be a celebrity rider.   I must say, Woody, our head counselor, looks quite sharp in riding gear.  Chris Dorrity, our head of climbing, also made an appearance this week.

The mountain bikers put on some pretend tattoos then dressed up a little rugged and ready for the road.  They set their bikes up with the classic clothespin-playing cards in the spoke to create a motorcycle-like sound.  Finally, the boys “drove” their bikes through camp to create a sort of bike gang harassment as they cruised through each activity.

Archery and Riflery each had special skilled events going on for their Saturday.  The archers each put multiple balloons on their targets, and then attempted to pop each one with arrows.  In riflery, the boys would pair up; one shooting, the other spotting with a scope.  The goal was to find the small camouflaged plastic dinosaur in the grassy hill.  The team has to work closely since only the spotter can usually find the dinosaur.  The spotter then tries to communicate the location to the shooter to create a winning combination.  It is a great skill in teamwork and communication that the boys really enjoy.

The hikers started out with some great fire building, and then the boys used the fire to roast marshmallows for s’mores.   What a way to motivate someone to get a fire started…add a little chocolate!

Arts and crafts started their ever-popular Tie-Dyes today.  The boys are always excited about these.

We have a dance tonight with another local girls’ camp from Brevard.  Keystone Camp will be coming over to square dance with us tonight.  It should be a lot of fun!

Have a great night!

Don Gentle

 Pictures from June 18, 2010 (password required)

Today was a beautiful day to be in Western North Carolina.  The weather was wonderful and the temperature was warm but a little cooler than recent days.   It was a great end to the tripping week and the boys are a little bit worn out after numerous trips and adventures in camp.

Today we had our first Kayaking trip to the Green River.  The boys have been working really hard and got to set out on the Green River for a new adventure.  It is always different the first time in a kayak.  The guys did great and I believe are chomping at the bit for more rivers next week!  Thee two-day hike from Sam’s Knob returned and there are some great pictures from that trip.  The Rock Climbing trip to the Obed also returned this evening after two great days of climbing. 

The climbers were the last trip to make it back, which makes for a great sigh of relief as a camp director.  We work hard at everything we do and our staff are amazing at what they do, but it sure makes me happy when that last van rolls into the lot for the weekend and everyone is home!

Tonight was skit night and were there ever some laughs!  The sillier the better on this night and the campers and counselors certainly did not disappoint.  There were scenes from America’s Next Top Model all the way to rapping fast-food cashiers.  What fun!

On with the weekend!  As we ready ourselves for a little mixed up fun again in tomorrow’s activities, kicked off with pancakes made by the directors and other none-kitchen staff.  It’s a tradition that has continued for decades here at High Rocks.  Some of you alumni will remember Mr. Will (Sumner Williams; Townsend’s dad) making pancakes for camp every Saturday, as time passed Hank and Dan Noland stepped in to help and later took over the event.  Today you can still see Hank and Dan with other “apprentices” learning the ways of the griddle every Saturday morning.

Tonight’s pictures highlight a group on the ropes course, some great waterslide shots from a swimming class, and finally all of cabin photos.

Have a great night!  Sorry we were late…

Zoob Gentle
Associate Director

Pictures from June 17, 2010 (password required)

Heading out to Sam's Knob, Pisgah National Forest

As we near the end of the second week, our guys are starting to see some of the returns from all the initial hard work they’ve been putting in. Campers that had never been in a canoe before this session made it onto their first Green River trip today and got a taste of a real whitewater river and the challenges that can present. The butterflies that build in each boy on the 45 minute ride over are in full frenzy when they first push off from the bank. Armed with new paddle strokes, counselor guides, and a partner to face the unknown with, each camper finds himself pushing through the nerves and slowly gaining the confidence in his own skills to face what lies around the next bend or around the next big rock. The excitement of the moment sometimes prevents each camper from realizing the boost such an experience can have, and it takes that same van ride back to camp or sharing stories in the cabin for the accomplishment to begin to sink in. This is that same bug that bites so many guys here, and can set them on a path for a lifetime of enjoyment in all sorts of endeavors.

This afternoon saw a group of tired, grubby guys show back up to camp after two days of mountain biking with a campout in between. Having ridden six miles in several hours, the group said they staggered in to their shelter for the evening where their gear had been dropped off earlier that day. Not only did they get to feast on a full Mexican dinner in the middle of the woods, but they also had a treasure note waiting for them which directed them into a nearby, ice-cold mountain stream where eventually a treasure trove of sodas was found floating in a pool. Fueled by stories of the day (and some sugar) the group stayed up into the night playing a Greek Mythology game of Mafia, a favorite around the campfire. The next morning they crushed a breakfast of pancakes before heading back onto the trail, and then back to camp victorious, and needing showers.

Two more 2-Day trips went out today. The hikers headed up into High Pisgah where the weather is cool at an elevation around 6000 feet and the views are amazing. Sam Knob is a spectacular two – peaked mountain rising above the clear waters of Flat Laurel Creek and the surrounding meadows. A group of climbers were off to spend a couple of days climbing in the Obed Wild and Scenic River area. Boasting world class sandstone climbing, campers will have many different routes and levels of difficulty available to them in a very popular destination. With so much of the climbing occurring on private land, or tracts owned by the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, the campers also get a chance to appreciate the work and effort the climbing community puts into maintaining the sites, in the hope that they will continue to remain accessible.

The last trip today was a huge group of soccer and tennis aficionados who descended on a nearby girls’ camp, Camp Illahee, for an afternoon of co-ed doubles on the courts and a high energy game of soccer with the mixed teams constantly rotating. The buzz surrounding these inter-camp visits usually makes the trip before it starts, but everyone was all smiles and stories rolling back into camp.

Today in camp was one of the prettier days in a while with no rain or thunderstorms threatening, but the weather stayed cool enough to encourage lots of exuberance. Horseback riding did numerous trail rides through some of the rhododendron tunnels and open meadows of camp while climbers on the tower learned how to place gear to protect themselves while climbing on real rock. Fishermen continued to have success on the banks and some from canoes so they could track down the big bass hiding in the deeper areas of the lake. Improvisational comedy instruction was offered later in the afternoon for cabin groups looking to prepare for Skit Night on Friday. Lakeside and Foxhollow ate an early dinner before blasting off to Sliding Rock to commence their Chill Night. All in all, a busy day throughout camp and beyond with some tired fellas dragging themselves off to bed after a snack of large soft pretzels.

Check in tomorrow for more pictures, more news, and more fun!!

Woody

The Chattooga River!

Today was one of those days in camp when you look around and say something like – “Where is everyone?”  The boys have been putting their skills into full swing this week.  Today and tomorrow might be the busiest yet.   Over 60 people were out of camp today for lunch.  All of them on some exciting trip in the woods!  Canoeing, Caving, Mountain Biking, Backpacking, and Climbing all had trips out of camp today. 

I have been impressed with the self-reliance these boys have gained in just over a week of camp.  They have chosen their own schedule, they get up and sorted for the days challenges, make their bed, clean (yes, clean!) their cabin, and even decide on which trips they want to attend.  Independence and self-reliance are one of those subtle traits that kids learn at camp, most of the time they don’t even realize it.  From the very first day these boys are presented with the guidelines, parameters, opportunities and a means to create their own camp session.  Camp is filled with choices, and much like life will hand them, they can’t have everything they want all the time.  For example, just this week a camper was faced with making a choice between two different trips in as many activities.  I was in awe to see this same boy work with both activity heads to make the trips work out so he could attend each of them.  Again, this boy was presented with a situation where he worked within the system to create a desirable result.  Now, it does not always work out that perfectly but sometimes, if you work at it, you can reach your goal even when presented with a challenge.  What a life skill!

I wanted to go off on a tangent a little tonight to make you aware of some important things that are affecting our camp and many others in the State of North Carolina.  Some of you may remember when we contacted you about the nearsighted legislators that thought it might be a good idea to impose a sales tax on summer camps.  You might not know it, but summer camps are getting hit on all sides by regulation and permitting.   Things like building codes, school calendars, forest service permits, and even a health department required “NO Smoking” sign in the dining hall…as if!   In a few weeks we will ask you to take part in a really important study that can help give camps in our region a little credit.  The North Carolina Youth Camp Association (NCYCA) is sponsoring an Economic Impact of Summer Camps.  The goal is to quantify the direct and indirect impact summer camps have on the local and regional economy.  This study is an important tool to help legislators see how much camps do for the economy and the region.   Your input will be a very important step in the study.  Again, we will be getting information out in the coming weeks.  Please take a moment to fill out the online survey and help High Rocks and the surrounding camps have a voice and a tool to show how much we matter.  Thank you!

We have some great pictures of yesterday’s Chattooga River trip, some great horseback riding, and many additional shots in camp.  Have a wonderful night.

 Don Gentle
Associate Director
don@highrocks.com