The Thing That’s Hers

Step into the Curosty cabin this session and you’ll find it populated by colorful owls. Curosty is one of our historic log cabins, home to the weaving and needlecraft activities, and on any afternoon the looms are in motion and a table of girls is turning humble potholder loops into a small menagerie. Little woven owls, and chickens too, roosting on the worktables and the fireplace mantel, each one built from squares a camper wove loop by loop, then folded and stuffed and gave a felt beak and a pair of googly eyes. One girl turned hers into a purse. The chickens are triangular, made by folding corners together. Really ambitious campers are joining multiple potholder squares together and making giant chickens! It started with an owl or two and a few chickens, and now we’ve got a whole flock. This is a great example of what I love about this place. There is always so much going on, and every girl is busy finding the thing that’s hers.

A Different Kind of Making

A short walk down the hill, in the wood shop, a different kind of making is underway. Girls have been shaping projects from maple and walnut and oak, and the most popular of the summer is the cutting board. Laura Shay, our woodworking specialist, walks them through the whole arc of it: smoothing and gluing strips of the different woods, working the edges down with block planes, sanding, and finishing with a light coat of food-safe oil. Sometimes they set their boards on the drill press to add a hole for a lanyard. It’s patient work, and it sends a girl home carrying something she can actually use.

A Little Nerve

Then there’s the Alpine Tower, which seems to hold an endless supply of interest this session. Our high-ropes tower stands 50 feet tall in the woods behind the gym, a system of logs and cables and ropes bolted into a pyramid shape, with each of its three sides offering a different set of climbing elements: swinging logs, a cargo net, an overhanging wall. Holds are bolted to the poles, and a girl works her way up by reading the puzzle of what to grab and where to step next. She wears a harness and ties into a strong rope that will hold her if she slips. After only a few steps she’s already high in the air, focusing, stepping carefully, and pulling herself up. Climbing the tower takes strength, balance and flexibility, plus a little nerve. These girls make it look almost easy, most of them reaching the platform at the top to enjoy the tree-top view of the forest up there. Some of them climb it blindfolded, just for the added challenge, feeling for the next hold they can’t see. And after every climb comes the best part, the swing out on the belay rope, sometimes intentionally flipping upside down, on the smooth ride being lowered back down to the ground.

The Whole Operation Is Humming

Meanwhile, down at the barn, the whole operation is humming. All 32 of our horses are working each day, carrying 81 riders through their lessons, which requires 4-5 lesson groups each activity period for a total of 16 lessons a day. You can see that the two riding directors, plus six instructors, and six grooms, have a great deal to look after. There are lessons for absolute beginners still learning to sit a walk, and lessons for girls skilled enough to jump, and in between there’s the Stable Club, popular again this session, where girls pitch in with the grooming and the daily care of the horses. Brittany McCathern, our horseback riding director, keeps the whole show running with remarkable calm.

You can see a good deal of this yourself. I hope you’ve been enjoying the daily photos in our gallery, and if you haven’t found your way in yet, give the office a call for access. It’s password protected, with a handy facial-recognition feature and free high-resolution downloads. The version you download is the full-resolution file, and it will look considerably better than the preview in the gallery.

One last thing about sending mail to camp. It’s genuinely a big deal around here, and sometimes parents appreciate some tips about what makes a great camp letter. Late last summer we published an article on how to write to your camper, with a few ideas for what to include and a few traps worth avoiding. I hope you’ll check it out. Generally, your letters should express your optimism about the whole camp experience and your pride about how your daughter is handling being away.

There’s far more going on here than a photo gallery or an occasional blog post could ever hold. An owl here, a cutting board there, a girl 50 feet up in the trees and another learning to post at a trot. That’s the shape of an ordinary day at Rockbrook, and every one of these girls is right in the middle of it, finding herself surrounded by great friends and absorbed in something she loves.