Fill ‘er Up!

July 7, 2010 by Woody Noland

Pictures from July 7, 2010 (password required)

Today was camp at its ridiculous best.  With a total of seven trips out of camp, it was almost a quiet day here at High Rocks with all kinds of personal instruction and opportunities happening in activities. While classes are normally quite small, you cannot beat a counselor for every camper in hiking learning about water purification or each canoe having their own private instructor on the lake. The day seemed to fly by with any free moment filled by much touted Camper/Counselor tennis matches and a viewing of one of the semi-final World Cup matches.  After dinner, the Juniors took advantage of the warm evening to play a refreshing game of canoe fill-ups. The Middlers disappeared down to the soccer field for a hectic game of three-way soccer and the Upper Middlers warmed up their throwing arms for some dodge ball in the gym. 

The Seniors and Upper Seniors combined in the dining hall for the first ever High Rocks Old Folks Bingo Night.  With the example set by several staff members, the guys showed up at the doors in a wild variety of costumes ranging from the infirmed, the snow-bird, the old maid, and even one with a metal military helmet and cape (not sure how it fit in but added to the flair).  With baby powder for properly grayed hair and cheerios to keep score, the game was on.  Wonderfully tacky prizes, tense moments of victory/defeat, and adolescent interpretations of old folk sayings kept the hilarity high throughout the evening and guaranteed a future bingo event.  Tomorrow night will see the other half of camp costumed and in the bingo hall.

Climbing today took advantage of the blue skies and bone dry climate to head over to the South Side of Looking Glass where the boys reported a great day out. Just enough of a breeze kept things comfortable and they spent the majority of the day working the rock. Two different river trips shot out of camp early this morning. Some older guys took a trailer full of kayaks and C-1s over to the Section 9 of the French Broad for a hard day of catching eddies, working holes, and generally brushing up on skills in preparation for their trip to the Ocoee tomorrow. The second crew took canoes over to the Tuckaseegee to practice on some more advanced water and bigger rapids than they have seen this session. 

The mountain bikers rode hard in DuPont today and had several stories of some rather epic downhill sections which combined steep descents and technical moves to push the guys out of their comfort zones.  The cavers brought back plenty of mud and stories of tight crawls that seemed to grow smaller with each telling over the dinner table.  Hiking was also busy with the first three-dayers returning for some much needed showers from their trip to Mt. Mitchell.  Some of the youngest campers headed out for an overnight in High Pisgah where they planned to top out on Sam Knob for some spectacular views and take serious satisfaction in a tough piece of trail conquered.

With a bit of time to reflect on everything the guys accomplished today, it is amazing at how much can be fit in less than twelve hours.  The campers and counselors both are working hard to take advantage of every moment available, with those spare down times filled by stories of things accomplished and challenges yet to come. This second week is the moment where campers have settled in and are now becoming aware of how much they can accomplish with the time ahead.  It is an exciting time full of creativity and possibility.  I look forward to seeing what happens tomorrow!

Woody