The 2026 High Rocks Camp season was off to a great start this morning! I had so much fun welcoming our June Campers! Of course, there was plenty of excitement/nervousness around. Even for the staff today, we all felt a little excited/nervous as it was opening day for all of us here at High Rocks as well. We may all be returners the rest of the summer, but today it was our first day of camp too! I always find that this day gives me a sense of relief and purpose! The staff are trained and ready to go. The facility looks great! And, the boys are so excited to be here too.
Our staff was so great today. They really had it covered in every direction. I really felt like my only job was to catch up with families. I love all the familiar faces and I really enjoy meeting the new families as well. It really is an exciting day.
It has been quite a winter of projects and tasks. What it takes to get to this day is really amazing. I really hope the boys enjoy our new Level Up progression program. It should realy help them focus in on their activities and have fun.
I think I am most excited to see these guys get back on the rope swing. After a 2025 hiatis after hurricane Helene, it is finally up and running and better than ever!
After lunch, we moved right into some fun activities including field games, swim tests, and even some age group meetings. The big deal this afternoon was selecting our activity schedules for the session. While the activities they sign up for are a ton of fun, we also want them to “work” through a progression. It’s a learning process that has been around since our inception. The work/reward balance is enjoying the success and even being invited on cool trips where we can test our new skills. We will get into some more of that later.
We will send out an email to you about your sons’ schedules around lunchtime tomorrow. You can also find his up-to-date schedule on my.higrocks.com along with trips he has taken during the session. We ask the boys to choose five different activities. They can change just about any time they like, and they always get into the activities they want. Again, look for an email and update around lunchtime tomorrow.
After some great evening activity field games, we all headed back to the cabins for some showers and a wrap-up to the day. Each cabin had a small cabin meeting to go over some ground rules and highlights to finish up the day just as the lights out bell was ringing.
IMAGES AND GALLERIES
Option 1: High Rocks Photo Gallery (Free)
The High Rocks Photo Gallery is completely free to log in and browse through the daily photos. For new families, login information was sent this afternoon! For returning families, your login from last year will work. You can use the “forgot password” link if you need a new one. Send me a quick email if you need assistance.
Like in previous summers, each nightly blog will link to the daily photos posted on the High Rocks Photo Gallery!
Option 2: Waldo Photos (Paid – Facial Recognition & Downloads)
Waldo Photos uses facial recognition technology to automatically find photos of your son in our daily uploads and text them straight to your phone. Cost is $39.99 per camper for the session. You can see all the same daily photos found in the free gallery, just on Waldo site with their automated features and high-resolution download access. Sign up here!
When Will Photos Be Uploaded? Around 9:00 pm each night, we will post the blog and photos to the free High Rocks gallery. By 11:00am the next morning, we will upload the same photos to Waldo for facial tagging.
For a full breakdown of both services, you can visit our updated Blog & Photos Page.
Over the course of the session we will include some daily excitement, maybe a little lesson of what we do, and bit about why we think High Rocks is so important! It is going to be a blast!
It is an honor and a privilege to host your son here at High Rocks. We will do our best to give him the best possible experience summer camp has to offer. If you ever need anything, please reach out. It is going to be an amazing three weeks!
-Don Gentle
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