A Whole New Adventure

July 29, 2013 by Don Gentle

July 29th Pictures

I sure did enjoy seeing all of the excited parents and campers this morning!  The beautiful weather continued through the day as we got into lunch all the way through evening activity.  We are so excited to have your son here for these next couple weeks! Our staff is enthusiastic about showing these boys new skills and adventures in the company of some great boys.  While we could easily fill to over 200 campers every year, we have made a point to be a small camp that only has a couple boys from the same city in a cabin.  We also have the same number of staff as other camps with more than 250 campers.  We want everyone here to have an incredible experience. For many of you, your boys are beginning a whole new adventure that we hope will shape his life for years to come! Hold on for the ride!

The campers have already visited each of the activity areas this afternoon.  Tonight after dinner, they each picked their schedule for the session.  Tomorrow everyone will head right into a full day of activities after assembly. Hank will try to send his initial letter from camp on Tuesday or Wednesday. In the letter he will have your son’s schedule and will tell you a bit more about his counselor. For this session we have 150 campers and 84 staff members. Most of our staff are returning counselors or former High Rocks campers (69 of the 84). If you haven’t had a chance to look over our wonderful staff yet, be sure to check out our 2013 summer staff page.  It is an incredible group of mentors!

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.

When sending letters and emails to your son it is helpful to ask about the fun things at camp rather than dwell on how much he is missed at home!  Campers enjoy receiving funny cards as well as letters.  I’ve already heard several funny riddles that the boys shared with me from mail that was delivered around lunch.

The link above will take you to today’s picture gallery. It is a password protected area, so please enter the password you were given on opening day or what was mailed in the parent guide.  There is no username required, just enter the password. The page should open to a new window that is just a slideshow.  You will notice that our new website and picture gallery is very user friendly on most any device, including phones and tablets.  In order to enjoy your viewing experience of the gallery, please take these recommendations:

• Once you get to the page, scroll down until you see the bottom of the slideshow window.  Click on the last icon on the right, it will allow the slideshow to expand into the whole window. Use this option for desktops and standard laptops.
• For tablets, phone devices, and other screen enabled devices, tap the middle of the slideshow once to enlarge it.  This will also give you navigation options.  Typical swipe navigation will work as well.
• The slide show has a self-play option, but you can advance through as fast you wish by using the navigation or swipe options.
• Don’t forget! If you want streamlined access to the blog on your mobile device, download the High Rocks App from iTunes or Google Play.  Once you install the app, just click the “High Rocks News” icon to get to the blog page, and then click on the picture link.
• If you have any problems getting the picture gallery to work, please e-mail me at don@highrocks.com .  There have been a few issues with internet explorer and it’s compatibility view.  If you get just a blank denim screen, turn off “compatibility view” under tools.  I highly recommend the Google Chrome browser, if you have not tried it.

Be sure to visit often to check out pictures as the session progresses. Feel free to add any comments to the daily posts as well. I will try to get the blog and pictures up around 9-9:15 pm each night.  Some nights could be later if we are out having fun on our evening adventures.  I’ll do my best to stay on schedule, but I find my time with your sons to be the top on my list.

We’re looking forward to a great session. Enjoy the Pictures!

Don Gentle
Associate Director