Fun at the Rockbrook Lake

Camp has been beautiful and sunny today which made the lake a particularly fun place to be!  Girls were busy taking classes in canoeing, kayaking and swimming and enjoying the refreshing temperature of the lake!  After the morning of classes, free swim was quite popular as lots of girls came down to take a dip or hang out with friends.  Since the lake is in the center of camp it is always quite a hub of action!

This afternoon our free swim was extra fun as we had a gentle rain storm during the swim time.  It only lasted for a minute but it was a beautiful sight.  After the brief rain the girls were back to playing in inner tubes, swimming laps for the mermaid club and playing categories.  Categories is a very popular game where campers take turns calling out a category such as “favorite food” to their friends as they jump in the water.  You then are supposed to yell out an answer before you hit the water.  The campers get very creative and enjoy stumping each other with their funny categories.

As you can see there is never a dull moment at the lake!  Rain or shine we always have lots of fun.

Digging into Camp

We’ve often remarked that camp really helps girls grow in several important ways in so many important ways. Being away from home in a camp environment, campers benefit from the variety of new activities offered, the positive role models they see, and the new relationships they form with other girls and staff members. This has been particularly clear this week at camp. With the first few day’s jitters now gone, the roar of singing in the dining hall has gotten louder, the confidence riding horses, climbing rocks and hitting tennis serves. Likewise, as skills have been improving the activities are becoming more impressive— bullseyes in archery and riflery, line-straight kayaking, and super complicated crafts. Everyone seems to be really digging into camp.

Down at the lake, the canoeing and kayaking instructors have been working with the girls to prepare them for the upcoming river trips planned. This involves getting geared up, and learning the different strokes to maneuver the boats, as well as knowing a few strategies to follow if your boat were to capsize. For kayakers, this means being able to “wet exit,” pulling the grab loop on your neoprene skirt and sliding out of the boat (while upside down!). It’s challenging at first, of course, but fun for the campers to learn these basic skills, and really exciting when they begin to become second nature.

The Hi-Ups, rising 11th graders, took a trip with Jeff up to Dupont Forest for a waterfall hike. They started at the bottom of Triple Falls and climbed each face of the rocks until they made it almost to the top. It took a little bushwhacking to pull through the last bit, but they enjoyed the high view on the easy trail back down. After talking about it, we decided this was “real adventure,” something that required extra concentration and strength from us. It was amazingly beautiful, but also powerful and just a little bit scary. We had a great time!

Don’t forget to stay in touch as the session continues. You can always give us a call at camp, but please add your comments to these posts and share them with your friends. We always love hearing what you all have to say!

Hide and Seek and Skits

Today for breakfast, Liz really hit a home run with her chocolate chip scones. Fresh from the oven, we gobbled them up along with the blueberries, yogurt, cereal and OJ Rick had out for us. This light breakfast made a nice change from the eggs bacon and grits we had yesterday. Since we’re talking about Liz’s baking, the muffins were again a unique combination— white chocolate, coconut muffins. They were sweet with just a hint of coconut in each bite. Of course, the girls had no trouble enjoying those either!

Saturday morning is like other mornings with the girls moving through their newest sets of activities. Down at archery, Mandy got a group of juniors all excited by adding balloons to the targets. There’s something about trying to shoot a smaller target like this; she two different girls get a bullseye. Whenever a camper shoots a bullseye at camp, she joins the “Bullseye Club” and is recognized at lunch when the archery counselor announces her name.

At the lake, in addition to the normal swimming classes, the paddlers were working on their kayaking and canoeing. They meet to gather their paddles and life jackets (PFDs) on the stone patio under the Middler Lodge and then select boats at the water’s edge.  Practicing strokes on the lake, maybe paddling a course set up by the counselors, is a great way to prepare for a river trip out of camp.  It’s also fun— maybe you’ve seen this in the photo gallery —to swamp your canoe intentionally, and then climb up on the turned up bottom of the boat.  It’s not easy to balance two, or even three, people like that!

The afternoon’s activity was a giant, all-camp game of hide and seek we call “Counselor Hunt.” All the campers assemble in the gym while all the counselors take 15 minutes to hide somewhere in camp. Some dress in camouflage and paint their faces to hide in the woods, while others just have really good hiding spots. Each counselor is worth 100 points for every year they have attended camp, so several are worth quite a lot, like Michelle who earned a cabin 1000 points. When it’s time to start searching, each cabin runs around camp together looking, and when they find a counselor, they bring her back to the dining hall to claim her points. Keeping the whole cabin together and literally combing the entire camp is a real workout, but the girls are so excited when they discover a hiding counselor.

For tonight’s evening program, the different age groups went to their lodges for various skits. The Seniors did “bag skits” where the whole cabin makes up a skit using 5 random items they receive in a bag. The Middlers did a spoof on a pageant (“Miss ——–” contest) and the Juniors did “Commercials” for silly products. This was a night of crazy, silly dressing up all over camp with each cabin joining creative forces. Good camp fun.

All-Day Outdoor Canoe Trip

“When I had done nothing less than run up the hill twice and play off a tennis match, I suddenly remembered I was going on an all-day canoe trip. I dashed madly down the hill again to the landing and found I had not been left, after all. Mrs. Carrier was to go with us, which made the trip simply grand. Only three canoes went, and the trip was a roar of laughter from beginning to end. Mrs. Barron and Miss Neely had never been down, so there were many new things for them to see.

We amused ourselves childishly all morning by jumping up and down in the bow and making waves. We had lunch at French Broad Landing, and my! how good everything was, from steak to caramel cake. That’s what comes of having Miss Neely along. Much to our sorrow, Mrs. Carrier had to leave us, but Doe came. We changed canoes after lunch, and Miss Neely was with Jane and me. We started the afternoon pleasantly by accidentally splashing some water on the next canoe, and then the fun began. Miss Neely tried vainly to shelter herself under a raincoat, but finally had to succumb to Jerky’s pleas to get in her canoe. Jo came in ours, and poor Doe had no-where to go. Jerky’s canoe, seeing themselves in danger, paddled ahead, and Miss Neely paddled for the first time in her life. A series of water fights ensued, and Jerky called back to us not to swallow any water, but I was beyond that stage. I talk so much that my mouth stayed open, and as I could not habitually think and splash at the same time, I consequently nearly choked.

We were paddling along with ease and agility, when we came together and turned each other over. Seeing our paddles floating away, Jane and I abandoned our canoe and went after them. From then on we stayed mostly in the river. We would hardly get settled when we would laugh so hard that we’d go in again. We were supposed to be at Penrose at four o’clock, and Late was there to meet us. Poor man, I know he wished he had lived up to his name, for we were an hour and a half late. Did we have a good time! Well, I should say! To say nothing of a hot late supper.”

—Mimi O’Beirne. July 30, 1927.

Traditional Summer Camp

Here’s a great old traditional photo of camp back in 1928. It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on, but it looks like a canoeing performance of some sort. Four girls to a canoe, synchronized paddle movements, it brings to mind dancing. You can see the stone Lake View Lodge in the background, and to the right, Vesper Rock. It’s so great seeing these old traditional summer camp photos!

Summer Camps 4 Kids – Canoeing

Speaking of canoeing, it’s still a summer camp activity we offer at Rockbrook. Like most of the adventure activities, we have a progression where kids first learn basic skills and safety procedures, and then move up to more challenging aspects. For canoeing, we learn the names and uses of the equipment (the boats and paddles, for example), then practice different paddling strokes and techniques to steer the canoes in the water. With all of that firmly in place, we’re off to one of the local rivers— the French Broad, the Green, the Tuckaseegee, or the Nantahala. Each offers its own unique challenges and whitewater thrills.