Are You A Kayaking Girl?

Are you a kayaking girl? Do you love fitting all the gear— helmet, PFD, skirt, and paddle —and squeezing into the boat? And the best of all, do you love getting out on the river and playing in the rapids? Catching eddies, surfing waves, and just playing on the water?

Maybe you do, or maybe you’ve always wanted to, but either way camp is the perfect place for kayaking. For example, just about every day down at the Rockbrook lake, girls enjoy kayaking classes. One of the camp whitewater staff members will be teaching basic paddling techniques, but also important skills like steering your boat, controlling your paddle, and learning what to do if you capsize your kayak. If you know all this, it’s still fun to get out on the lake and practice your stuff, and if you’ve never worked on your roll, then this is a great way to get started learning it.

In addition to kayaking on our lake, Rockbrook girls are running the local whitewater rivers too! Every week we offer several day kayaking trips to the Green, Tuckaseegee, French Broad or Nantahala rivers. This is a chance to take the skills learned at the lake and put them to use on moving water, to learn more about reading the rivers (“downstream V !”), and honing your ferrying and eddying techniques. Around here, every kayak girl is having a blast!

A Magical Colorful Day

After more than a week of completely dry and rather warm weather, we had two hours of the opposite last night right before dinner. It was one of those storms where a fast moving front, with a solid blanket of rain and not so much wind, pushed past us, and in just that short amount of time we had almost an inch of cool rain fall. This didn’t really phase the campers much, since extending the last activity period and staying inside until dinner is simple enough, but the gravel roads around camp (a little less than 2 miles of them!) needed to be scraped and smoothed. This photo of a canoeing class this morning shows another remnant of the storm— the Rockbrook lake’s brown, almost coffee-like color from the silt washed down the creek. All of the rivers around here take on this color after these big, deep washing storms, so Rockbrook’s stream-fed lake is no exception. In about a day, the silt will settle and the deeper, dark lake color we know will return.

Waking up at Rockbrook, after an evening storm like that, takes on a magical quality. It starts with shades of gray and a gradually brightening of the sky. Everything is almost colorless as a thick fog, born from the cool moisture in the air, envelopes us. The sounds of birds awakening and the rich, organic smell of the forest remind you of the all the life hiding in the mist. At 8:00am the more human sounds of camp begin to mingle. A sleepy Hi-Up comes down to the dining hall porch to ring the wake up bell, a sound that girls at Rockbrook have heard for 90 years. It doesn’t take long for campers and counselors to begin trickling out of their cabins toward the dining hall. Meanwhile, it’s getting brighter and brighter, and everything is becoming more colorful. There are girls’ voices, sounds of cabin doors closing and tables being set with plates, cups and flatware as the sun pokes through the fog and the flowers on the grassy hill beam brightly.  Rockbrook is set for another wonderful day.

Today was a big day on the Nantahala river for most of the Middlers and Seniors at camp. Yesterday we asked who would like to go whitewater rafting, and almost everyone signed up for either an overnight trip that included camping at our outpost near the river, or a day trip. The Nantahala is an ideal river to raft, perfect for beginners, but with enough bigger rapids to keep everyone excited. Our raft guides met us at the put-in with all of the RBC equipment so when the buses of campers arrived, they could hop right out and get suited up with lifejackets, paddles and helmets. Some of the girls looked a little nervous about the trip— perhaps it was hearing how cold the water is that worried them —but that was balanced by the overall excitement of the group and soothed by the raft guides. They calmly and cheerfully explained all the safety protocols, and coached the girls about how to paddle and stay in the raft during the trip. These are veteran raft guides; each one has more than ten years of whitewater experience and working with kids.  The trip down the river takes a couple of hours alternating over rapids and calm spots, deep and shallow sections, rocky and clear stretches of the river.  This photo shows one of the games the guides sometimes play.  It’s called “Hood Ornament” and it’s when the campers take turns riding on the front of the raft, like the figurehead of a ship.  Going over some of the smaller rapids, this can be a bumpy, face-splashing ride! The weather was perfectly warm and sunny today, making these trips loads of fun and what will be for many of the girls a highlight of their outdoor experience at camp.

Back at camp in time for dinner, the girls were surprised to learn that it was “Birthday Night.” This is a fun special dinner where a group of counselors throw a camp-wide birthday party, complete with decorations, music, costumes and of course birthday cake. They rearrange the dining hall so that everyone can sit at a table according to their birth month. The kitchen, mostly Alison our dedicated baker, prepares by baking 12 cakes, one for each month, and then with some help from the Hi-Ups, they are decorated to match the night’s theme: Candyland.  With the counselors leading the way, the campers were encouraged to dress up in a “candy-related” costume.  Of course, that can mean just about anything, but I did see at least one M&M and a couple of recognizable candy canes.  There are a few shots of cakes in the photo gallery… lots of colorful decoration!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the amazing muffins Alison baked for us today.  She broke completely new ground with her “Lucky Charms Muffins.”  Just for the fun of it, she took a granola muffin recipe and substituted part of the granola with the cereal making a colorful variation.  You could still recognize the pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers. They were magically delicious!

Ready to Paddle and Bid

“Who wants to go rafting?” That’s the question we asked all the Middlers and Seniors, and with little surprise, we had almost 90% of them sign up to go on a trip to the Nantahala this week. There were two options, a day-long trip that would leave camp after breakfast to return before dinner or an overnight-trip that would spend the night over at Rockbrook’s outpost camp near the river. Both are big adventures, with the overnight being even more so. The outpost is very remote (It adjoins the national forest and is not far from the Appalachian trail)— no cars, people or city lights for many, many miles. It’s a real treat to spend time out there sitting around the campfire, gazing at the stars, listening to the whippoorwills, enjoying the cool night air, and enjoying the social energy of being together. Monday night we had over 30 people out there, and while we made s’mores, I think we sang the entire Rockbrook songbook around the campfire!

And the rafting! Wow, it feels good these days. We too, like most of the southeast, have been experiencing some hot weather (For us that means highs just above 90 and lows just below 70), and this makes whitewater rafting all the more enjoyable. Each raft for these trips is guided by one of our seasoned guides, and is “powered” by 5 or 6 campers decked out in helmets and lifejackets ready to paddle. The 2-hour trip down the river is exciting right from the beginning with the first large rapid, “Patton’s Run,” around the first bend. Every rapid means a boat of happily screaming campers, the raft bouncing up and down, and plenty of splashing cold water to keep everyone cool. Between rapids, there’s time to trade places in the boats, maybe play a name game or sing a song, and even jump in the water for a super quick swim. And, you just never know when a splash war will break out between rafts. After successfully navigating a tricky rapid, often a boat will do a “high five” with the paddles proudly in the air. Sometimes campers will take a break from paddling and ride on the front of the boat as the “hood ornament,” something guaranteed to get you some serious splashing. It’s no wonder those two hours go by like 30 minutes!

Back at camp, the place was buzzing with activity, girls doing what they love and in lots of places, trying something new. At the very least, they may have tied a friendship bracelet before, for example, but not in such a beautiful place (like on the porch of the hillside lodge) or with so many friendly, supportive, nice people. Weaving a basket is fun, but so much more fun with your feet in the creek and good friends along side giggling in conversation.

Speaking of the creek, that short, open stretch of running water by Curosty, it has been a favorite hangout these days during free time. One thing the juniors like to do is have flip-flop races. Each girl takes off a shoe, drops it in the water simultaneously and then watches as they float down the stream. Of course, it’s important to catch them at the other end because that water ends up in the lake. If you miss your shoe, you’ll need a canoe to get it back!

Tonight’s evening program was a western themed, all-camp auction, a special event where our very own auctioneer, Jerry, “sells” surprise items to the cabin groups. Each cabin has $1000 of RBC bucks to bid, but what makes it exciting is that they don’t know what they are bidding on. Last night it might have been a yummy snack like chips and salsa, or it could have been something like serving your counselor breakfast in bed. Other prizes included glow sticks, sun glasses and tooth brushes! Some cabins were very careful with their money, waiting for the bid prices to begin lower before jumping in, while other cabin groups bid as high as they could, spending all of their money on a single item (of unknown value!). It’s easy to imagine the girls’ excitement when they win the bid and the prize turns out to be something great… hands-in-the-air-screams. Usually, each cabin can win two different items, and generally at least one is a snack of some kind. Either way it was loads of fun to dress up in out western garb, hear Jerry’s auctioneering, and enjoy the surprises unveiled to every winning bid.

More than Entertainment

This morning we had to say goodbye to our friends in the first July mini session. Across the board, the campers and counselors have felt this session fly by. We’ve been having the kind of fun that’s completely absorbing, and the kind of days where it’s easy to stay busy. And when there are this many cool people around to play with, the days click by without you even noticing. This closing day is particularly difficult for everyone because some of us, the full-session campers (and all of the staff, of course), are staying behind for 2 more weeks of camp. The mini sessions are great for younger campers and girls who are new to Rockbrook, but after a few years of coming, it’s completely normal to start attending for longer if possible.  We hear it all the time from campers on closing day, “Next year I’m coming for the full session!”

During the check out procedure today, one mother made a thoughtful comment worth sharing. After seeing her daughter in the photo gallery, reading this blog and the letters from her counselor, she remarked that what was most valuable about being at Rockbrook was not the activities, but the warm relationships her daughter had with everyone here. She didn’t really care if her daughter went down the water slide or rode horses as much as she had hoped. What mattered was that she felt comfortable, safe and had plenty of good people to be with. She thanked us for providing such a wonderful community. That was great to hear! Sure we spend a lot of time offering top-notch activities everyday, and making sure that there is always something fun to do, but it’s true camp is so much more than all of this. Rockbrook is a beautiful place and it’s tons of zany fun, but it’s the people and feel of the place that make it truly special.  We’re focused on making Rockbrook a great experience for our campers, far beyond just entertaining them.

Also today, a group of full session Middlers and Seniors took a day trip down the Nantahala river. We took our time and left after breakfast with a lunch and several snacks packed in the buses. Peaches before rafting! It wasn’t long after lunch and we had five rafts of excited girls splashing down the chilly rapids of the river, learning to slap a “high five” overhead with their paddles, laughing and singing along the way.  While it was hot and sunny for the first part of the trip, it started to rain for the last 30 minutes or so.  It wasn’t thundering, so we just kept on rafting, and surprisingly, the rain was warmer that the river water, so the girls didn’t skip a beat.  It was just all the more fun!  We were all totally soaked by the end, but after changing into dry clothes it was a comfortable bus ride back to camp in time for dinner.

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!

Let’s Go Kayaking!

Let’s queue up some adventure this summer at camp with whitewater kayaking! If you haven’t tried it, you are in for true high adventure… challenging thrills, the exciting surprises, and a solid dose of the power and beauty of nature.

There’s some really cool kayaking gear to learn about and a first step of simply getting comfortable paddling the boat, but then campers spend time on the Rockbrook lake practicing basic techniques for kayaking, like what to do if you tip over (“wet exit” or even “roll”).

Heading out to some of the local whitewater rivers is the next step. We have to master maneuvering through the river’s rapids… crossing fast-moving water (“ferrying”), stopping in a pocket of calm water (“catching an eddy”) and pulling out of an eddy (“peeling out”).

Girls love kayaking camps because there’s always something new to learn, a new river to paddle, and a new challenging rapid to conquer… perfect summer time adventure! Let’s go!

You Can Kayak

Camp Kayak Adventures!

One of the great things about camp is being able to try out activities and sports you’ve never been able to try. Outdoor adventure sports are a good example of this. For example, take whitewater kayak adventures. There are so many things about kayaking that make it difficult for the average teen girl to go out on a whitewater river. You need specialized equipment (whitewater kayak, padding, spray skirt, life jacket, and helmet), transportation (getting to a river “put in” and back from a “take out”), and instruction (a competent and experienced teacher), not to mention a whitewater river with a range of rapids to run. Bringing all this together is an absolute minimum if you’re going to enjoy a safe kayak adventure trip.

Camp is really the best way to be introduced to an adventure activity like whitewater kayaking. At Rockbrook, we’ve got everything you need. Plus, we’re located in the perfect place to try multiple rivers. You can learn the basics of kayaking on our lake… how to use the gear, roll and/or wet exit the boat, and paddle efficiently. Then, we’ve developed good steps to add just the right amount of challenge as we head out for trips on one of the local whitewater rivers (more than 6 different ones!).

No matter how old you are, and no matter what your experience is with whitewater, you can kayak.

Rafting and Birthday Night

We took our first whitewater rafting trip of the session today. After breakfast, two busloads of middlers and seniors packed up for a day on the river. The girls tend to be a little sleepy on the drive over, but once we enter the Nantahala River Gorge, they really perk up. We had a picnic lunch (chicken wraps, pretzels, and fruit) at the Ferebee Riverside Park and took a little time for everyone to lather up the sunscreen, since it was a warm sunny day. A few minutes further up the river we met our regular RBC guides. Rockbrook is fortunate to be the only girls camp with a permit to run the Nantahala river, allowing us to hire people we know as guides (for example, Clyde our adventure director led the trip) and to use our own top of the line self-bailing Avon rafts. Several of the girls on this trip had never been rafting before, so it was fun to see their excitement as they geared up with PFDs, helmets and paddles. Part of the water making up the Nantahala river is controlled by Duke Energy as it’s released from a deep nearby lake to generate electricity. The girls notice this because the water is so very cold, and everyone is thankful for a warm sunny day. The trip lasts a little more than 2 hours and finishes with a final large rapid called “Lesser Wesser” or the “Nantahala Falls.” This photo is that rapid. It’s a thrilling way to end up the trip.

Dinner tonight was a special event called “Fiesta Birthday Night.” A group of counselors put on the event by decorating the dining hall with posters, table centerpieces and piñatas, and picked out a playlist of Latin music. The kitchen helped also by preparing steak fajitas, rice, beans, cheese and homemade salsa. But since it was also Birthday Night, we rearranged the dining hall into 12 large tables, one for each month so everyone could sit with people sharing their birthday month. This is a fun change from sitting with your cabin, and allows everyone get to know other campers and staff members in camp. The highlight of course is the cake! Liz, our amazing baker, was hard at work all day making twelve different cakes so that each month could have their own. You’ve never heard so many different people wished “Happy Birthday!” at the same dinner!

The after dinner Twilight activity today was an impromptu “photo shoot.” Counselor Mary from Nashville grabbed a camera and took a bunch of silly “glamor” shots of campers posing out on the hill. Several girls were dressed up for the Fiesta Birthday Night dinner and others changed into something especially for the photos. Some posed, others jumped, while some hugged each other and still others just smiled nicely. It’s always fun to get your picture taken, especially when you’re at camp and being your most silly self. That’s one of the great feelings of being at camp. The girls can relax and be open and silly enough to do things just for the fun of it, even if it might be a little embarrassing in another context. Have you worn a fake mustache lately?