Wake Up with Hillside
July 18, 2019 by Don Gentle
I was super excited to get up to the dining hall this morning. While I typically make it up there fairly early for our daily meeting, I wanted to be sure I caught some of the mini guys coming in from their cabin overnights. As luck would have it, I was even able to catch a few pictures. My favorite part was catching the youngest guys of Hillside make their journey back to their cabin after their very first cabin overnight at High Rocks. While they looked a little tired and weary, they did not hesitate to join in on the morning wake-up bell. As chef Nate finished ringing the bell with his tiny nephew in hand (Woody’s boy Tripp), he helped them with a count down that followed with a high pitched “Good Morning High Rocks!” The Hillside boys were so excited. As they walked away I even heard one of the guys say “I wondered where that noise came from in the morning.” Priceless.
The day was another wonderful and adventure-filled day. We had a small group of guys that had earned a two-day trip on the Chattooga River. They will spend two days on this wonderful Wild and Scenic river and sleep just off the banks of the river tonight. I was pretty excited for them.
We also had another climbing trip out the door today. The boys headed out to Looking Glass Rock in Pisgah National Forest to pull up on some of the amazing granite routes that this monolith offers.
Our mountain bikers had a small trip over to DuPont State Forest for the morning. The boys ripped it up on some world-class trails just 15 minutes away. Our swimmers took the opportunity to hit a great swimming hole over in DuPont this afternoon.
The coolest trip of the day was the river snorkeling trip. That’s right, a few guys were able to head out to the Davidson River in Pisgah National Forest to snorkel around to see all the cool life in the river while learning a little more about the riparian aquaculture that surrounded them.
One of the most astounding events of the day was the perfect score a boy in archery. He scored a perfect 50. That is five arrows inside the ten ring. It’s so remarkable that they even called on the radio to have someone come over to photograph it. Hard work pays off!
Tonight we enjoyed some time on the rope swing, water slide, a little fun on the lake, some games on the tennis court, and one age group was enjoying some excellent dodgeball. We have a lot of excitement coming up this weekend. I can’t wait to share it with you!
Don Gentle