In what has almost become a foregone conclusion, today was another beautiful, high pressure day in the mountains. I literally have new members of camp asking if it ever rains here, and looking at me skeptically when I say it does!
While the plants may be parched, it does make for some very active camp days with the whole program clicking this last Tuesday of the session. After a sausage biscuit breakfast with all kinds of fruits (including watermelon!) the camper crowd dispersed into the day with many missions to accomplish.
Trips went out of camp in several directions as the morning meal was concluding. The paddlers launched on a Tuck trip with bluebird sunny skies once more. The guys had a big day on the water with a number of fellows paddling closed boats on bigger water than they have negotiated before. As you can imagine, this resulted in excellent teaching moments and opportunities for some repetition as they practiced moves that sometimes went awry. There were also a number of other camp groups on the water with leaders well known to our people which resulted in some fun conversations in eddies as fellow paddlers bonded on the water.
Our mountain bikers took a group of young riders for a morning in Dupont. Their mission, to make it to Wintergreen Falls and back. Not only did they accomplish this, but they also had some time to explore in the pool below the falls, evening finding some hefty crawfish! This afternoon, another group of paddlers ate a fast lunch and headed to the French Broad for a run from the headwaters of the river. An excellent intro section for people new to moving water, it opened some eyes to what they have been working for, and what may lie in store for them in the future. Our two-day rock climbers return from their trip to Hidden Valley this evening, though it will be on the later side of the evening and their stories will have to wait until tomorrow.
Today was Lakeside’s crack at the high ropes course which was received with some noisy cheers by the young guys. Camp was busy and had a party vibe going on in addition to all of the activities. The Camp Auction continued to give good fun moments left and right. Lakeside II got to “harvest” from the Candy Patch with our program director, Lakeside I had “Biscuits with Biscuit” and it was quite literally that. There was an impromptu hydration station with music before lunch with a large giraffe sprinkler. Many campers quite reasonably wandering up and wondering what in the world was going on.
In an alliterative stroke of genius, our photographer was roaming camp calling for shots of “Tuff Tuesday”, hitherto an unheard label for this most labeled of days. You will see sprinkled amongst the daily pictures several examples of our guys looking “tuff”. Most of them can even keep a straight face!
Tonight, there were two cool and different events going on. Our 10th grade guys have worked to organize and run a big game for our younger age groups and had their crack this evening. We also had a full-on session at the Mud Pit for all of camp this evening. The mud is carefully curated all day with sprinklers and willing feet to stomp it into a beautifully churned and fluffy pile of mayhem for the guys. Add line dance music and have a host of frisbees/balls to chuck about, and you have yourself a mud pit party that has to have lights turned off for people to go home.
And turn off they did as the sun set on another excellent camp day. The realization that only two full days remain in the session has everyone scratching their heads as to how that happened so quickly. Please enjoy the photos from today, and the highlight video from last week. We will see you back here tomorrow!
Woody Noland
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