Rafting Spectacular

Today was the first of our rafting trips for the session, our big adventure out on the Nantahala river. We asked all of the middlers and seniors if they would like to go and came up with a huge list of excited girls. One option was to go over on Monday night and camp at our outpost. Rockbrook owns a 40-acre outpost camp located just past the Upper Nantahala Gorge in Macon County that is set up with simple cabins, a bath house, dining hall and campfire ring. It adjoins the National forest (about 2 miles from the Appalachian trail) and is only about 15 minutes away from the rafting launch site. We took 3 buses to the outpost to enjoy a nice dinner, time around the campfire with s’mores and songs, and a good night’s sleep out in the forest. The next morning we met our guides (Clyde, Sid, Billy, Sam, Andria and Leland) and launched the rafts for a perfect sunny trip down the river, complete with plenty of splashing and screams bubbling up on the rapids. A second group of campers met us for a picnic lunch before heading up to start their rafting trip in the afternoon. We had great weather on this trip as well, happily avoiding the thunderstorm that passed by to the north of us. These whitewater trips are loads of fun and for many girls a highlight of their outdoor experience at camp.

By the way, Leland and Andria have written several books on whitewater boating, one on North Carolina rivers and another on some of the best whitewater in North America. Check them out over at Brushy Mountain Publishing. Good stuff.

Meanwhile back at camp, we were rock climbing, really climbing. Our lead climbers, Maddie, Abby and Mallory organized several groups of Juniors and Middlers for a trip up to Castle Rock. Some of the girls who signed up were brand new to climbing, so for them, just fitting the equipment— climbing shoes, harnesses, and helmets — was a part of the fun. But of course the real treat comes from making progress up the rock, from getting past a tough part, and often, from reaching the top and turning around to see the view. Even the littlest girls are great climbers. They’re so strong and agile, and generally fearless, they just zip right up the rock with very little hesitation.

Dinner tonight was a surprise event for the girls. It started with costumes, as is usually the case at Rockbrook. This time we all turned ourselves into a giant game of Clue. Like the classic board game, versions of Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, and Mr. Green could be seen eating dinner together. Afterwords, the girls broke into their cabin groups to play a camp-wide game of Clue where, like the board game’s mystery that’s solved by following clues discovered in different rooms, the groups ran around camp to find different clues. Each station, the group had to perform a task of some sort before receiving their next clue. Quick name all the RBC activities, or make up a song about trees, or stand in a human pyramid, and so forth. The clues led every cabin group to each of the different stations and finally to the solution— where Sofie was hiding. By the end, there were prizes for everyone, but it was Junior cabin 4 who ran the fastest and performed their tasks the quickest to win overall.

Don’t Forget to Write!

Receiving mail at camp is a huge deal to the campers. Everyday, someone from our office drives to the Brevard P.O. and wheels out a shopping cart full of cards and letters addressed to the girls at RBC. Even with our “no package” policy, there are usually a couple of hundred pieces per day! Then during lunch, we sort the mail and deliver it to the campers’ mailboxes so it will be ready once they’re dismissed from lunch. It’s always so exciting to check your box and see something there. Part of this excitement, I think, has something to do with the simple (mostly) technology-free living we enjoy at camp. Being away from screens and the external stimulation they provide, camp is more immediately interactive. It emphasizes real relationships and sensuous experiences, but is also completely “here and now” and relies very little on the outside world. Receiving mail reminds us of what’s going on outside in the “real world.” It provides some reassurance that everything is fine back home and it’s OK being at camp. Mail shows us that the folks back home are just as excited we are about us having this much fun at camp. Oh, and can you see why a real, hand-written letter is vastly superior to a “quick email?” Mail can really mean a lot!

Today was a perfect summer day (warm, dry and sunny) for a perfect camp day (packed with action, plenty of giggles, and bright-eyed surprises). Clyde, Kristen and Abby took a group of Middlers out kayaking on the French Broad River. Jeff and Leslie took a big group of Juniors hiking to John Rock in the Pisgah National Forest. Thalia offered one of her very popular yoga classes to the seniors. Everyone paused for a cinnamon streusel muffin. And then it was back to weaving baskets in the creek near Curosty, working on backhands on the tennis courts, flips in gymnastics, and climbing to the top of Castle Rock. There always seems to be time to squeeze in a quick game of tetherball too. During the free swim time before dinner, the new water slide was running nonstop.

Tonight’s evening program marked the return of Auction, a special all-camp event we haven’t had in a few years. This session we went traditional and decided to make it a “Western” themed event. This meant all the girls came dressed in their best western garb… cowboy hats, boots, overalls, hair bows, bandanas and plenty of plaid. Each cabin sat together in the dining hall and was given a handful of RBC bucks to make bids on mystery prizes. Jerry, our Director Emeritus, ran the event as the auctioneer. Some of the prizes were sweet, like a cake or ice cream treat, while others were a little less exciting, like a tray of veggies or new toothbrushes. There’s plenty of suspense once a cabin won a bid, and just as much laughter and cheers when the prize was revealed. It’s funny how there were enough prizes for every cabin to win both a yummy and a silly prize…   Good fun.

Everyone’s Birthday

Visiting the equestrian center these days is a real treat. It’s just alive with big action and big smiles. The girls who selected riding as one of their activities are now well settled into the daily lessons. They know how to get dressed properly (helmet, boots, etc.), in most cases, how to lead their assigned horse out to one of the riding rings, and even how to mount. The riding staff is doing a wonderful job in the mounted lessons keeping each camper engaged and excited.  As the session progresses, it’s neat to see how much everyone’s confidence and skill has improved. It’s also fun to hear the campers talk about their favorite horse at camp, someone they’ve ridden a lot and gotten comfortable with. Maybe you’ve already received a letter from your daughter and heard about one of the great horses she’s been able to ride.  Learning to communicate with a special horse, and learning to trust him or her, is one of the most rewarding parts of horseback riding, and it’s happening just about every day around here.

Also, today was a big day for whitewater rafting on the Nantahala river. We took all the middlers and seniors who wanted to go on either an overnight camping/rafting trip or on a day trip down the river. The Nantahala is famous for being rather chilly (somewhere near 50 degrees) even in the heat of the summer, so we were lucky to have bright sunny weather for both trips. Great weather like this makes it much more fun to splash and play while rafting, even at times jumping in on purpose when the guides say it’s OK. Rockbrook is the only girls camp with a permit to raft the Nantahala (we’ve had it since the 1980s), so we also can hire our own seasoned raft guides. On this trip Clyde, Sid, Billy, Leland, Michelle and and Andria guided the boats, making up a team with more than 85 years of combined whitewater experience! These folks truly are the best. Rafting trips are always very exciting for the girls, and also pretty tiring, so it was no surprise to see most everyone conk out in the bus on the ride back to camp. This kind of adventure and fun needs some rest too!

Back at camp in time for dinner, there was a big surprise waiting. Birthday Night! This is a special dinner where the dining hall is rearranged so that everyone can sit according to their birth month… twelve big tables, one for each month. It’s really fun for campers and counselors to sit together and get to know better other girls from different cabins and age groups. This time, to give it a even more Rockbrook flair, we had a theme for the dinner: Candyland. And never missing a chance to dress up, this sparked some very creative costumes from the counselors and campers. They dressed as different types of candy and characters from the Candyland board game. In addition to lollipops and gumdrops, we saw the Duke of Swirl, Mr. Mint and Gramma Nutt. Even Sarah dressed up as a Hershey’s chocolate kiss with almonds! The highlight of the night though was the cakes, the homemade cakes Alison baked for each month that she then decorated as scenes from Candyland. They were both beautiful and delicious. There were some pretty huge pieces of cake for the girls in some months. Yum!

Dance the 80s

What do you do when you need a camp dance idea, something to mix things up a bit and get the girls excited? This past summer, one of our favorite dance nights was when we all flashed back to the 1980s. Through music, costumes, dance steps, even pop phrases, we went back in time and held our favorite retro decade dance party. Looking the part is half the fun, with baggy t-shirts hung from one shoulder, jazzercise tights and sweat bands, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and lots, and lots of really big hair. It was so fun to see the girls really get into it. Plus, for some reason, this girls knew a lot of 80s songs— 867-5309 Jenny, Mickey, I Want Candy, Lucky Star, etc. (Hmmm, now that I think about it, maybe they’ve been watching the TV show Glee…?). They also could bust out a bunch of dance moves from the 80s, like the Thriller dance for example. By the end of the night everyone was hot and sweaty, but also really enjoying themselves.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there weren’t any boys at the dance. This was an all Rockbrook, all girls dance, and probably even more fun because of it!

Tournaments and Halloween Dinner

This morning our tennis, archery and riflery “teams” traveled to Camp Carolina to challenge the boys in a tournament. This is a long tradition for both camps. We select 3 girls from each age group (Juniors, Middlers and Seniors) for each of these sports, and get together for a friendly competition between the genders. It’s fun to see us load up the buses because we bring our own equipment— our sharp shooting riflery team with their guns, the strong, steady archers with their bows, and our tennis girls carrying their rackets. Many of the girls wore their matching Rockbrook t-shirts to build up a little team spirit as well. Most of the girls are a little shy at this event, with the possible exception of some of the seniors. We can report several excellent showings and high scores, with a couple of bullseyes and aces in our column, but overall the Carolina boys won the title this session. It was a fun morning to show our stuff, and next year, we’ll have even more to bring!

Back at camp, the day’s muffins caused quite a stir.  Liz created yet another original flavor she decided to call the “Rockbrook Double Whammy.”  They were chocolate chip and sprinkles!  Sweet, colorful little cakes, fresh-baked and oh so good!

Dinner was out of this world… for a couple of reasons.  First the food was absolutely delicious.  We had mounds of homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  The potatoes were so creamy and the chicken seasoned just perfectly, the girls kept coming back for more and more.  In case you haven’t noticed Rockbrook girls like to get dressed up in costumes, but not just costumes you find on a shelf in a store.  They like to create costumes, and tonight was an excellent example of that as everyone came to dinner for “Halloween.”  This is really a lot of fun because the cabins work on their costumes together, mixing and matching different “elements” to achieve a certain effect.  That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised if you see something you sent with your daughter being worn by someone else.  Tonight we had zombie brides, cats, Egyptian princess, witches and so many other unfathomable characters.  You’ll have to check out the photo gallery to see how all this creativity turned out.  Awesome stuff!

Disney World Banquet

Tonight the second session banquet was finally revealed to all of the campers and staff members at camp. After weeks of working and keeping everything secret, the CA campers (9th graders) transformed the dining hall into Disney World, and called it “A Day at Disney World.” The dining hall became Animal Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom, and Epcot Center. The campers entered through the porch decorated like a monorail, and found themselves on Main Street USA with Cinderella’s Castle, Space mountain, and toward the back, the Animal Kingdom Tree of Life. There were Disney attractions and rides painted on every inch of wall space! Music from the parks, and dance numbers with the characters really added to the feeling of actually being at Disney World.

It was particularly impressive to see the costumes the CAs had prepared. They had 31 different Disney characters, including: Chip and Dale, Ariel, Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse (of course!), Princess Tiana, Peter Pan, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Mad Hatter, Jasmine, Captain Hook, Pooh Bear, Mary Poppins, Pocahontas, Piglet, Goofy, Aladdin, Minnie Mouse, Lilo, Belle, Tinker Bell, Cinderella, Alice, Wendy, and Simba… just to name the main ones! They were all so realistic and well-suited for the girls playing each part. Many of the younger campers even thought several of the girls were the real characters. We really had Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella at Rockbrook! The character were also signing autographs, just like at the Magic Kingdom.

For dinner they served “Magical Mozzarella Sticks” and “Goofy’s Corny Corndogs” as appetizers, “Mickey and Minnie’s Pasta Palooza” with chicken for the main dish, and “Razzle Dazzle Crispies and Cotton Candy Kisses” for dessert. Of course there was plenty of candy and other treats on the table too (like a souvenir banquet sticker and decorated cup).

The CAs often say they’ve just put on the “best banquet ever,” and in this case, we think they are right up there at the top of the list. It was amazing, excellent fun.

Jump, Flip and Weave

We’re seeing great horseback riding down at the barn this session. Cara, our Equestrian Director, has been keeping everyone busy with three and sometimes four simultaneous riding classes going on each activity period of the day. The beginners have been riding our smaller ponies (e.g., Annie and Cool Beans) and learning to walk, start and stop them on command. Intermediate riders are working on their posting and canter technique. It seems everyone wants to learn how to jump too, so when the riding staff thinks they’re ready (being able to canter securely, for example), campers can begin learning jump techniques as well. There are several new skills involved in jumping, and the girls really work at it a long time before they actually jump an obstacle. What a thrill when a girl clears her first jump!

Everyday down at the Alpine Tower, groups of girls are tying into a belay rope and balancing their way to the top. Starting behind the gym, the walk leading to the tower is a magical, winding path through the woods with ferns, mosses and wonderful big trees. The tower is hidden in the woods and is such a surprise when you first see it along the trail— an impressive 50-foot structure of thick telephone poles bolted together in a complex triangular pattern of two inverted pyramids. There are ropes, cables and climbing holds arranged on each pole creating different routes to the top. Altogether, there are almost 100 different ways to climb up! The view from the top platform provides a nice birds-eye view of the treetops and of the “tiny people” on the ground. Coming down is also part of the fun. The belayers slowly lower the climbers on their belay ropes (which are rated to hold 7620 pounds, by the way!), stopping part way to let the girls do a “spiderman” flip if they want.

Over in the fiber arts cabin, “Curosty,” the girls are hard at work weaving. Our arts guru Kimberly has set up the looms to make belts at the moment, yarns and string woven into different colorful patterns. These table-top looms have 4 levers to press that change the warp and allow the shuttle to alternate through the “shed” (the space between the warp layers). It’s a little challenging to maintain an even amount of tension on the weft, but with practice that becomes easier. It’s fun to make a narrow project like a belt because it doesn’t take long to see progress as the woven pattern emerges. Seeing them at work, it’s easy to predict that weaving will become a lifelong hobby for some of the girls. That’s so great.

Dinner tonight was a special themed restaurant night called “A Night at the Oscars.” We sent out word for everyone to arrive at dinner dressed in their best red carpet attire, so we saw all manner of glamor, camp style. Outrageous wigs, audacious make up, sparkly dresses, and very fancy shoes emerged to transform the girls into parodies of Hollywood stars. The counselors, of course, were also dressed up, and as they served their cabin (a Restaurant Night camp tradition), they would impersonate certain famous actresses or movie characters. The food was also special: eggrolls, bacon-wrapped scallops, and Danish Havarti, bread, and Spanikopita. Liz had lemon bars for dessert too. Yum! The whole meal was a sea of energetic creativity, and very big fun.

We Swim, Dress Up and Slide

It’s hard to say which flavor of muffin is most popular at camp. With Liz, our baker, creating so many new varieties from scratch— not to mention the traditional kinds— there are too many to choose from. There’s blueberry, but also key lime muffins, cranberry walnut, but also chocolate chip, and sprinkles, and white chocolate almond! Liz arrives at 6:30am each morning and gets to work right away to have the muffins baked and cooled by the mid-morning muffin break. Since there are more than 300 people (campers and staff members), that’s a lot of muffin trays, papers and individual dollops of batter to prepare! The muffins are always so good the girls literally run to the dining hall when they hear the bell announcing “Muffin Break.” For everyone at camp, Liz is a hero!

In fact, the entire kitchen crew are heroes at camp. Rick and his crew are really working hard to create great balanced meals for us, and this isn’t “camp food,” pre-processed, frozen, nuggets of whatnot fried and served with ketchup. Nope. All the main dishes are homemade, from the pizza dough, to the pancakes, to the chicken and dumplings. Rick puts together every meal’s menu, so for dinner yesterday we had baked tilapia, wild rice and a spinach salad. Each tilapia fillet was spiced individually, and the salad included a homemade sesame salad dressing. It’s also amazing how Rick takes time to make special vegetarian options. So for example, he made vegetarian dumplings combining green tomatoes, goat cheese and a light sauce with the dumpling dough. It was a pleasantly surprising combination, and with a big green salad, made a great meal. Sorry to talk so much about the food at camp, but after being away for a couple of nights camping, it’s hard not to!

Wednesday we took cabin photos before lunch and during rest hour. Gathering everyone in each cabin, dressed in their camp uniforms, and taking their photograph is a long tradition at Rockbrook. Part of the fun is that each cabin gets to select where it would like the photo taken and how to arrange each person. There are so many different places at camp to pose— on one of the many huge rocks, down by the lake, standing in a creek, or on a porch or set of steps. It’s fun for campers to keep their copy of their cabin photo and to collect them over the years in a scrapbook or camp photo album.

For Wednesday afternoon’s cabin day activities, the three lines split up. A few junior cabins went on short hikes to Castle Rock and Rockbrook Falls, but one stayed to put on a dress up fashion show in the Junior Lodge. Silly, silly stuff. Meanwhile, several cabins of seniors took a quick trip into the Pisgah Forest to take a dip in a swimming hole. The water was pretty chilly (like all the creeks and streams in these mountains), so it took a while for most of the girls to get wet. After dinner, all of the mini session Middlers took a trip up to Sliding Rock. Many of the girls had never been to Sliding Rock before, so it was particularly fun to see them zip down the rock and funny to hear them scream when they plunged into the cold water below. There are lots of photos of this in the RBC gallery. Naturally, on the way home, we had to stop at Dolly’s for a cone, a yummy sweet treat of some kind. Being all things chocolate, the Rockbrook camp flavor is still one of the most popular. It was a little bit of a late night for these Middlers by the time we got back to camp settled down, but we all enjoyed ourselves in true RBC fashion.