Pictures from July 14, 2011  (password required)

The two-day hike enjoying a little more of the forest before heading to Dolly's

It was a much cooler day in camp today with cloud cover and temperatures in the high 70’s.  The cooler weather was a welcome change from the warm temperatures earlier in the week.  I know some of you will be jealous of our temperatures and I remind you that the mountains are a wonderful place to be in the summer- coming from a girl that grew up in Columbia, SC!

Today was another busy day in and out of camp.  The paddlers went to section 9 of the French Broad River near Hot Springs.  The climbers went to the nose area of Looking Glass Rock in Pisgah.  The mountain bikers road in Dupont this afternoon.  The two day hike in upper Pisgah finished with a foggy morning hike to their pick up point.  This afternoon we had a large group of boys that headed over to Camp Illahee for tennis and soccer with the girls.  It was a popular event and the boys enjoyed the mixed company!  In addition to all the trips out of camp it was an active day in camp with an evening horseback ride in addition to regular scheduled activities.  Another busy but great day!

I was struck today about how many decisions the campers get to make for themselves on a daily basis.  From the simple decisions on wardrobe selection and what they will eat at mealtime to more complex decisions about arranging their activities and trips out of camp.  Many of the older boys have become pro’s at making sure they are getting their goals accomplished while they are here.  The younger campers often need a little more guidance and support from their counselor while being offered so many choices.  It is great to see the campers maneuver through the choices and learn more about themselves and what they really enjoy!  The beauty is that no on ever gets closed out of an activity at High Rocks.  There is always room for everyone!

We are excited to see what choices that campers will make tomorrow!  Until then I hope that you will enjoy the pictures this evening. 

Zoob

Pictures from June 27, 2011  (password required)

The Three-Day Hike heads out to High Pisgah!

Even though we are starting to hit the countdown, there is a lot of awesome stuff happening in camp this week.  Many activities are sending out some advance trips.  The boys have been working hard on their skills and are now seeing the fruits of their labor in great two-day climbs, three-day backpack trips, more advanced whitewater, and even awesome pottery that is finally ready to be glazed.  We are still full speed ahead with six trips out of camp today. 

It is one of my favorite times of the session to see the guys stuff come out of the kiln at pottery and ceramics.  They were getting ready to glaze several things and send them back in the kiln for one last fire in the next couple days!

Tomorrow hosts equal excitement with another full-load of trips out.  The arts and crafts guys are working on the finishing touches of their projects, and I even saw some guys working hard at the gates course this morning for a possible solo boat test.

We sure are having the time of our lives!  Looking forward to seeing all of you on parents’ day!

Don Gentle

Pictures from June 17, 2011 (password required)

Campers enjoying the view from John Rock in Pisgah National Forest. You can see a good shot of Looking Glass Rock in the distance. We climb there often.

The end of the first week is nearly upon us and today was the first taste of what the next two weeks will be like. With four full camp days under their belts, campers are now experiencing some of the rewards for their hard work and get to show off some new skills. In-camp was in full swing with guys refining their strokes in our canoeing gates, regularly hitting bull’s eyes in riflery/archery, confidently guiding horses along cool new trails, and producing some remarkable projects in pottery and woodworking. Appetites are continuing to increase and almost everyone is sleeping until the wake-up bell as the crew hits that healthy, active camp stride.

Our tripping schedule was loaded today, a foreshadowing of what is to come. Cavers headed out before most people made it up to breakfast armed with coveralls, helmets, headlamps, and excitement running high for the tight crawls and mudslides to come. Climbers were not far behind with a crew bound for the Nose of Looking Glass in Lower Pisgah. Reports were the weather was perfectly conducive for a long, cool day of testing newly learned moves on real rock. Mountain biking headed out with a group of guys intent on putting some serious miles under their wheels, and judging from their tired, satisfied faces at dinner; mission accomplished. Canoeing took the first full day trip of the summer to the Green River which presents tons of technical, challenging rapids for the tandem canoe. Partners practice ferrying, catching eddies, how to read the water, and what to do if you happen to encounter a rock. Another group of guys that looked proud but eager for some downtime this evening. The hikers rounded out our tripping contingent with a jaunt over to the Holmes Educational State Forest where they learned tree identifications and stream ecology. The campers were eager to get a hike in as well and so ended up summiting a nearby mountain at record speed. Once on top, the trip practiced several styles of fire building before descending nearly as fast.

All of camp is showing signs of a week well spent and a new idea of what can be achieved in the next two weeks. The weekend will provide a much needed break with the focus put on goofy fun and spending time with friends before the pace picks up again on Monday. Please enjoy the photos this evening and check back in tomorrow!

Woody Noland
woody@highrocks.com

The Puddle Pals” (Hillside & Connestee) – Capture the Flag
“The Hobbits” (Lakeside & Foxhollow) – Rope Swing/Waterslide
“The Flying Cheesecakes” (Flattop & Chalet) – Dodge ball

“The Titans” (Windswept & Outpost) – Waterslide/Rope Swing

“Group 7” (Halfway & Lookout) – McCallie Ball
 “Shallow Pop Culture Reference” (Pinnacle & Holiday) – Chambers Ball

Pictures from June 16, 2011 (password required)

The bouldering cave is such a great place to practice climbing moves or just warm up.

Day 5 of camp and everyone has forgotten how life outside of camp works without a bell. Campers have gotten their activity schedules down to a science knowing exactly what items they need to bring and which activity switches allow enough time to grab a snack from the dining hall.  It is so fun to see campers taking control of their schedule and really taking control of their experience at camp. 

We had more trips out of camp today with a hiking trip that went to John’s Rock in Pisgah National Forest.  The camper’s got to enjoy a terrific view after a steep hike to the top.  Canoeing had two trips to the French Broad River today.  Rock Climbing had campers climbing at Horseshoe Rock.   The members of Windswept cabin got to enjoy the ropes course this afternoon.

The last of the cabin overnights headed out tonight with Foxhollow, Chalet, Connestee, and Windswept cabins.  The boys were excited as they loaded their packs with the ingredients for delicious pita pizza’s and smore’s.  Counselors trust the boys to carry most of the food items but volunteer to carry the chocolate bars just in case.  Tomorrow morning I am sure we will see a lot of sticky, dirt covered boys hiking back into camp with epic tales from their cabin overnight.

The boys have managed 5 days without electronic stimulation and really don’t seem to notice.  It is so fun to see these boys get into the flow of camp and experience so many new things.  New friendships are being formed both in the cabin and in activities.  The days have been packed with games and activities.  The busy days have made way for great sleeping on nice cool evenings.

I hope you will enjoy the pictures this evening!

Zoob Gentle
zoob@highrocks.com

 Pictures from June 15, 2011 (password required)

Learning the Basics of Belay with Climbing Head, Chris Dorrity

Greetings from High Rocks!  We woke up this morning to a delightfully cool day and a temperature of 56 degrees. Talk about your great sleeping weather!  The lake was still and the fog dense. As I headed up for our early morning head staff roundtable, I was lucky enough to see some the first overnights of the session hike back into camp in the morning light.  Many of the guys still had remnants of last night’s dinner and s’mores on their face and shirt.  The guys got unpacked, ready for the day, and excited about breakfast at a clean table that was made for them.

As the morning bell rang just a few minutes later the calm and quiet was gone and the camp day was immediately in full swing.  Of course, I did hear rumors of those boys at Hillside up early again to get a jump on cabin clean-up.  The excitement of the day is just too much for them to sit tight in their beds right now; hang in their cabin counselors… 

Breakfast made way for assembly where the excitement continued to brew with fun motion songs and hilarious commentary from the days cabin inspection reports.  The boys sprinted with excitement from assembly to their first activity.  The waterfront came alive!  One group of campers headed for the first river trip to the French Broad River, as others tried their skills at fishing.  As the sun warmed the air around the lake, the wind slowly increased, so the sailors rigged their boats and hit the lake.  The “Rock It” sat quiet and still until Choice Period when it was once again a big hit.

The climbers headed for the south side of Looking Glass Rock; it was a beautiful day on the rock.  A caving trip to Worley’s Cave was also a huge hit.  Tonight four more cabins haad their cabin overnights, Hillside went to Lower Rocky Top, Lookout went to Still Oaks, Halfway went to Dogwood Den and Lakeside went to Rocky Springs.  Here the boys will cook Pita Pizzas and have s’mores over a campfire before sleeping in their sleeping bags in the shelter.  This is a lot of fun and a great bonding experience for the cabin group.

The campers have really settled in quickly and I have had so many staff mentioned to me that this is a great group of boys.  They are polite and courteous, happy and active, and seem to be very focused on getting the most out of the time they are here.  We have been very pleased how well everyone is doing but please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Enjoy today’s pictures! There’s a ton!

Townsend Birdsong
townsend@highrocks.com

 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 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

 Pictures from June 10, 2010 (password required)

Our first trips on the French Broad River for the beginner and intermediate paddlers headed out today.  After three one-hour sessions on the lake the first groups headed out to begin their paddling progression on the moving water.  The French Broad begins its journey just south of Brevard and continues all the way up through Asheville and into the Tennessee River system, before it finally dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.  Our beginner and intermediate paddlers put-in just below the steep headwaters to practice their new skills on gentle moving water. Today they practiced essential skills like eddy turns, peel-outs, and ferries. These maneuvers will help them work with the water to put the boat where they want it to go on the river. Our goal is to have these boys continue to master and enjoy the sport one step at a time, until after several summers the boys are paddling some of the best whitewater in the Southeast. 

We had two groups head out on the river today; one in the morning and then another group in the afternoon. The morning group is featured in today’s photos, be on the lookout tomorrow for the afternoon group.  Many of these guys will progress on to the lower Green River next week for their first all-day trip.  Keep an eye out next week for more river pictures.

Our climbers headed over to Cedar Rock in Pisgah National Forest for some great climbs.  The Mountain Bikers took their first out of camp trip to Dupont State Forest.  Again, most of these guys will head on to bigger and better trips in their respective activities as the session progresses.

Tonight is the last night of cabin overnights.  Blaire and Townsend were out with their camera again tonight.  However, they got back late so you will have to wait until tomorrow until you can see those.

Tonight’s age group activities:

“Juniors”- (Hillside & Connestee) are participating in canoe fill-ups.
“Middler 1”- (Lakeside & Foxhollow) are playing capture the flag.
“Middler 2” – (Flattop, Holiday & Chalet) Holiday & Chalet are headed out on a cabin overnight. Flattop is playing capture the flag.
“Upper Middlers” – (Windswept & Outpost)  are headed out on a cabin overnight
“Seniors” – (Halfway) & “Upper Seniors” – (Lookout) are going off the water slide.

Have a wonderful night and enjoy the pictures.  There are some great paddling shots as well as some High Ropes Course pictures.  Tomorrow is another day in paradise!!!

Don Gentle
Associate Director
don@highrocks.com

Ryan with a nice sized trout

I took a day off last week to catch up with staff member Ryan Donovan.  Ryan has been running our mountain biking program for four years and will return for his fifth (backpack summer)season this summer.   We decided that a morning on a mountain trout stream would be a good way to hang out.  Ryan has been an avid fisherman since childhood, so I took him up on the chance to learn a few tricks about fly fishing for trout in North Carolina.

The Davidson River is probably the most noteworthy trout stream in our area.  Trout Unlimited rates the Davidson River as one of the top 100 wild trout streams in the United States.  Ryan first asked me if I wanted to fish for smart trout or dumb trout.  I didn’t really care.  Then he said, “Do you want to fish or catch trout.”  “Well, catching trout would probably be a whole lot more fun,” I said.  Given that information, we headed out to the East Fork of the French Broad River, which is a hatchery supported stream in North Carolina.  The Davidson is a great river, but the trout in the Wild designated areas see a lot of fishermen, and they are quite smart. 

Even though the weather was a little rainy from time to time, we had a great day!  I learned a lot about various presentation and drifting techniques.  Ryan and I took turns on different hot spots as we waded upstream together.  In the end we each caught a few trout and had a lot of fun taking in the mountain scenery.  We even witnessed a few stonefly and March Brown (Mayfly) hatches, as the first days of spring were approaching.

Don's trout. Not so big but good looking, right?

We are very fortunate to have great staff like Ryan.  In his “real life,” Ryan is the operations director for the Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education program at Brevard College.  I would say he’s a rock climber by choice, but he actually possesses a mastery of skills in a number of disciplines.  He says he really enjoys the shift to mountain biking during the summer, since he does spend a lot of time teaching rock climbing, and keeping up with the day to day operations of such a busy program during the school year.  The summer presents new challenges for him, and a welcomed change.  He enjoys the mentoring of staff, and teaching campers about such a great sport.

Along with his fishing, climbing, and mountain biking leadership, Ryan is also a Leave No Trace Master Educator.  He teaches outdoor leaders how to train participants the principles of LNT in the field.  Leave No Trace is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and stewardship of the outdoors.  Check out http://www.lnt.org/ for more information.  

It sure is great to have such wonderful natural resources so close to camp.  Maybe we’ll get the chance to take a few of the guys out to the East Fork this summer in our fishing program.  I am getting so excited about the summer and the camp season!  See you all very soon.

Don Gentle

Rafting on the Nantahala River!!!

Our last program of the 2009 camping season just left on Friday, Oct 23^rd.  Camp High Rocks hosted ten different middle and upper school programs during its spring and fall LEAP seasons this year.  We host some of the best private and charter schools from throughout the southeast!  School programs this year included:

• Ravenscroft School, Raleigh, NC, 8^th Grade
• KIPP WAYS Academy, Atlanta, GA, 6^th Grade
• KIPP Believe, New Orleans, LA, 6^th Grade
• Pace Academy, Atlanta, GA, 9^th Grade
• Trinity Prep, Winterpark, FL, 9^th Grade
• Durham Academy, Durham, NC, 10^th Grade
• The Summit School, Winston-Salem, NC, 9^th Grade
• St. Andrews School, Savannah, GA, 12^th Grade
• The O’Neal School, Southern Pines, NC, 7^th Grade
• Ashley Academy, Johnson City, TN, Grades 5-8
• Tampa Prep, Tampa, FL, 6^th Grade

Each school participates in its own custom designed program that focuses on particular goals and outcomes based on our own philosophy and the needs of the school.  Activities include backpacking, rock climbing, canoeing, whitewater rafting, high and low adventure course, stream ecology, and a number of other fun events.  We use our 1100-acre facility along with nearby Pisgah National Forest, and beautiful Dupont State Forest.

 The 2009 season was an amazing group of programs and an incredible staff of caring adults!  We look forward to next spring when we will start it all over again!  For more information about the High Rocks LEAP program, visit http://leap.highrocks.com.

Don Gentle

don@highrocks.com