A Day in the Life of High Rocks

June 15, 2011 by Don Gentle

 Pictures from June 15, 2011 (password required)

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