August 4, 2015 by Dan Noland

The temperature tiptoed down into the upper 50s when the wake-up bell rang this morning, so breakfast saw more than a few people in sweatshirts and long pants, and the hot oatmeal gave even the Lucky Charms a run for their money! But the rising sun warmed us up quickly, and we have had another terrific day.

Some of the guys went out on trips for the first time, as the climbers spent the morning on Looking Glass Rock, a large plutonic monolith in Pisgah National Forest, and paddlers took on the initial section of The French Broad River. It is so much fun to see the looks on the guys faces when they get out of the vans on their return: happy, excited, proud, and tired all at once.

Others had their own special adventure in camp, as Flattop I spent the morning and Holiday IV the afternoon doing our extensive ropes course with culminating zip line. You can tell when the zip line is in action, because the varied whoops and yells campers make as they descend are audible from anywhere in camp.

Maybe I should say they are audible to ears used to the daily noise of camp, because mountain biking, climbing, tennis, swimming, paddling, horseback riding, archery and riflery, and crafts all make unique contributions to the happy camp soundscape. When they are simply walking across camp (and we try to keep them to a walk when we can), the guys can make quite a ruckus!

The junior camp boys are already fully integrated. Their day saw them starting in tennis, moving to climbing, then hiking, archery and riflery, lunch, fishing, sailing, and canoeing, while their evening activity was the water slide. Several of them were up before the bell this morning, but after such a busy day they’ll probably hear tomorrow morning’s bell from their comfy beds.

The waning gibbous moon will not be quite so bright tonight, and the katydid chorus will lull us all to a much-needed sleep.

May your night be as peaceful,

Dan

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