Author Archives: Jeff Carter

Jeff Carter is the Director of Rockbrook Camp for Girls in Brevard, North Carolina. He attended Davidson College, earned a master's from Harvard University, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in the History of Religions. He has taught at Vanderbilt University, Davidson College, and the University of South Carolina. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Nigeria, is an All-American college athlete, and a published author. Beginning in 1988, he worked for eight years as a camp hiking and rock climbing guide before becoming, with his wife Sarah, the owners and directors of Rockbrook.

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June 23, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

It’s a Highlight

It’s a highlight of the summer, the largest opening day of a session with 210 campers, 78 staff members, parents, grandparents, a good number of little brothers and siblings all arriving at Rockbrook this morning for the start of our second session. More importantly, today is a highlight of the year for many of the campers arriving, because they’ve been waiting since last summer to return to Rockbrook, to see their camp friends, to take a deep breath of the woodsy mountain air, to sing their favorite camp song in the dining hall, and to get busy with all the fun activities of camp. And for new campers, today is a highlight simply because it is their first day of their time at camp. The directors, Sofie, Chase, and Grace, the program staff and the superb group of cabin counselors assembled this session are all equally excited to welcome everyone to camp. You could feel it as girls and their families arrived all morning; this is a amazing bunch of people and we all are pumped up for a great session!

Throughout the morning, those campers who arrived early jumping right into things by taking a hike to Rockbrook Falls, the largest waterfall on the camp property, learning to make a new patterns of friendship bracelet, greeting a couple of the camp horses, brushing up on their tetherball skills, or simply getting to know each other relaxing in one of the many red porch rocking chairs around camp.

It was easy to guess this year’s t-shirt color because just about everywhere today you saw girls wearing the same heather green. Likewise, the girls all proudly wore their wooden name tags. These tags, following a long Rockbrook tradition, are thin slices of dried Mountain Laurel strung simply on a piece of vinyl lanyard, but each is designed and decorated by every camper’s counselor and is presented right when the girls arrive at camp. Some girls add to the decoration and collect them as souvenirs of their years at camp (so many wooded camp name tags hanging in girls’ rooms at home!).

After a comforting lunch of Rick’s homemade, baked macaroni and cheese, salad and fresh fruit… and pausing to sing Happy Birthday to Katie …the girls gathered in their cabins for brief meetings. These are opportunities to get to know all of the cabin mates, but also for the counselors to discuss cabin chores, the daily camp schedule, and important safety rules. Next, everyone began a rotation between camp tours, swimming demonstrations, and games in each age group’s lodge. By this time the weather had turned cloudy and a slight drizzle was falling now and then, not thunder or lightning, but the occasional burst of raindrops that would last for ten minutes or less. This made our swimming demonstrations a bit chillier than usual, but you would be surprised how this barely slowed down these girls. With encouragement and support from their counselors, coaching from all 8 of the lifeguards, reassurance from Sarah and the other directors, and cheering from their cabin mates, most girls easily earned their swimming tags and were quickly wrapped in towels chatting wildly about how “freezing” the lake is.

Just before dinner, the entire camp assembled in the gym to enjoy an introduction to all of the Rockbrook activities presented by the counselors. Each team of instructors took the stage to perform a skit or song related to their activity. In most cases, if their activity involves special equipment, it was featured in the skit. In this photo, for example, we have the paddling instructors singing and dancing decked out in spray skirts, helmets, and PFDs. We’ve found this to be a great way for the campers to meet the activity instructors, get a glimpse of their enthusiasm for their activity, see some of the cool craft projects available, and understand what’s involved in each activity…all in preparation for the time tonight when they will sign up for their first set of four scheduled activities. There are always fun new aspects to the activities (this year, the new Nature Nook out in the woods, for example), so this assembly gives both new and returning campers ideas about what they’d like to do while at camp.

As we settle in here at camp, I hope you begin following along by checking the online photos available each day in your parent account, reading and sharing these blog posts, liking our Facebook page, and even following us on Twitter. There’s always a lot going on at Rockbrook, and these are the ways you can keep up a bit.

P.S. Don’t be shy about commenting on these blog posts! We love hearing from you.

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June 20, 2013March 5, 2020 • Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

Nothing Quite Like It

Ending a session of camp, as we did today at Rockbrook, is a strange feeling of heartache because we have to say goodbye to all these amazing people, but also of deep satisfaction because we know we’ve shared something special over these last few weeks. As parents arrived today to pick up their girls, many saw tears and sadness for having to leave their special place, their camp, their haven filled with some of their best friends and so many fun things to do. Rockbrook is for these girls a place where they can be at peace, with themselves and with the people around them. As I hope you’ve sensed from these blog posts and the photo gallery, we stay busy, and usually pretty silly, most of the time around here, and it feels great. All of us know that there’s just nothing quite like camp. So that’s the other feeling coloring today: gratitude. We are all so thankful for simply being together in this magical place, so thankful for this remarkable community we know and love.

So thank you everyone! Thank you for sharing such wonderful girls. Thank you for supporting Rockbrook. Thank you for being a part of our camp family. We will miss your girls, but also look forward to seeing them again next summer.

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June 19, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

So Adored

For quite some time now, Rockbrook has remade its “Horse Show” held at the end of its sessions into something non-competitive and more celebratory. Instead of riders set against one another, we allow girls of all abilities to show their skills and to be recognized for their equestrian accomplishments. With other girls from camp watching, they may simply canter around the ring, walk over poles, or wow everyone with an impressive jump. We provided cool red ribbons for all of the participants who rode in the show today. For others, the equestrian staff also brought out one of our Welsh ponies, whose name is Cool Beans, to let the girls paint him with bright hand prints. Cool Beans was pretty patient (cool!) through all of this, and with multiple different color hand prints all over him, looked fabulous (cool!) too.

Today our drama instructors had a few jitters as they made final preparations for the performance of this session’s musical, The Jungle Book. They took over the gym early this morning to transform the stage into a jungle scene with trees, vines, rocks and other flowering plants. Throughout the session, girls have been learning songs, practicing choreographed dances, and memorizing speaking parts for several characters from the well known musical version… The bear, Baloo, the boy Mowgli, the python Kaa, the tiger Shere Khan, the girl Shanti, and plenty of monkeys and elephants. The entire cast sang versions of the classic songs like “I Wanna Be Like You” and the “Bare Necessities.” After the performance, which brought cheers and applause from the other campers and parents watching, I noticed more than one person humming along to one of the songs.

Tonight, our final night of the first session, was also the night of our closing campfire, our “Spirit Fire.” Dating back to the very first summer of Rockbrook in 1921, this special campfire is a time for everyone to reflect upon their time at camp, sing some of the “more serious” or traditional songs, and often get a little sad about camp ending. It’s a magical setting, with crickets chirping in the background, the sun setting into twilight, and more than 250 voices singing softly around a blazing fire. Some girls stand and speak at the Spirit Fire, happily and easily expressing their love for camp and the strong feelings of friendship they have for so many people here. It’s astounding to see how meaningful all of this is to them. The Spirit Fire is a special time when all of the excitement and fun of the last few weeks steps aside to reveal the emotional connections that make our time together so important, so good, and in the end, so adored.

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June 18, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

A Source of True Fascination

This lovely photo was taken as Karen, our head photographer, followed a group of Junior campers down to the lake for their “Nature” activity period. Each armed with fine mesh nets, Hannah their counselor/instructor, soon had the girls skimming the lake water to “see what they could find.” Finding living things in nature is, in fact, something we do a lot around here. It might be a black snake climbing a low branch, a spider crawling innocently along the top of the shower door, or a shiny snail leaving its glistening trail up a rhododendron leaf. Each is, or at least can be with a little encouragement and sincere enthusiasm, a source of true fascination. Instead of squealing at bugs, have you noticed the fine segments of their legs? Instead of avoiding tadpoles in the lake, how cool is it to see them swim? These are little natural miracles ripe with fresh detail and ready to capture the curiosity of a child. That’s what’s going on here at camp. In this brief time, these girls can pour themselves into the experience of nature, in this case, of catching a tadpole, giggling as it wiggles in a little cup, and clapping a little cheer as it swims safely back into the lake afterwards. With so many moments like this at camp, we hope they sink in a bit and your girls are just as curious and engaged throughout the coming year.

A rather different experience awaits the girls who elect to take riflery while at camp. Instead of marveling at the wonderful details of the natural world, riflery follows a more measured path. Shooting accurately and precisely requires consistency, a steady, practiced set of actions. The girls learn quickly that riflery rewards a gentle, yet confident hand, and it shows in their improvement. Bullets in the black… I’m sure you’ll see a souvenir target to prove it!

Tonight the CA (9th grade) campers revealed their secret banquet theme and opened a “Big Top Circus” for everyone by transforming the dining hall with wall decorations, streamers, and brightly colored tablecloths. The girls each dressed in a a different circus costume too with mimes, a contortionist, dancers, a fortuneteller, lion tamer, and ringmaster all playing a role. For the menu, the girls chose to serve hot dogs, soft pretzels, popcorn, corn on the cob, cotton candy, and soda.

As everyone enjoyed different courses from the menu and listened to classic circus music (like “Entrance of the Gladiators”), the girls performed skits showcasing their talents… Juggling and even riding a unicycle. They presented choreographed group dances, amazed everyone with several mimes, a life-sized puppet show, and even made a “Photo Booth” for the campers complete with silly props. Overall it was a fun, interactive party. We all danced and sang, laughed and posed for photos, all charged up on plenty of sweet candy treats. Thank you CAs for an awesome night!

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June 17, 2013May 27, 2020 • North Carolina • Jeff Carter

North Carolina Beauty

This part of North Carolina is home to the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River. These are the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southern Appalachian range and include the Great Smoky mountains. While Rockbrook is located along the eastern slope bordering the French Broad River Valley at an elevation of 2,600 feet, the highest peak in North Carolina is Mount Mitchell which stands at 6,686 feet. New Hampshire and Maine also claim tall peaks— Mount Washington (6,288 ft) and Mount Katahdin (6,268 ft) — but NC claims the number one spot. Among the highest peaks in North Carolina are two that are a short drive from Rockbrook: Black Balsam Knob (6,201 ft) and Tennent Mountain (6,056 ft). And for a group of Rockbrook girls, these peaks were a hiking destination today. At this elevation, the experience is one of looking out, and down at the hills and valleys below. At the same time, the sky feels very close because clouds are all around, above, below and right beside you. It’s a strangely stark, other worldly, almost numinous experience. Being in this part of North Carolina is literally so awe-some, the girls were (almost) left speechless! You can see that today the weather was rather unsettled with bands of clouds and even rain in the valleys blowing by, making the whole hike even more dynamic and dramatic. Very cool!

Meanwhile back at camp, where it was surprisingly wetter with a slight drizzle falling, all of the regular craft activities were bustling. All those colorful projects! Tying and dying. Twisting and pulling. Painting and marking. Gluing and sewing. Weaving and hooking. Here is a photo of the girls making Jewelry on the Hillside Lodge porch. This is a wonderful setting with red rocking chairs and a big broad table to spread out on. The girls have now progressed to even more complex friendship bracelet patterns— double chevron, arrowhead, heart, basket weave, and diamond, for example. With so many friends at camp, and family members at home who will enjoy a camp-made gift, there’s always a good reason to make another friendship bracelet. Take a look at the image on the our camp videos page to see how they can stack up!

The last few days at camp seem to have exploded with color for both the camp flower beds and the forest itself are blooming beautifully. It doesn’t hurt that we’ve been having regular light showers and periods of sun for the last couple of days. In the forest, there are exquisite clusters of tall and broad ferns, tall pink Ladyslippers, and Painted Trilliums surprising us along the trails in camp with spots of color and pattern. The flower beds at camp— along the dining hall, in front of the Junior Lodge, the canoe planter by the lake—and all the planters around camp are even more full. This photo is just a sample of the amazing work Pam our gardener has done, and continues to do, to keep Rockbrook’s setting so lovely and blooming. I hope you have time to wander around when you arrive to pick up your daughter in a few days.

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June 15, 2013May 17, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Colorful Treasures

The glazes are out! In both pottery studios at camp, the girls have now finished many of their pieces— the bowls, soap dishes, textured tiles, cups, mugs, and plenty of sculpted animals —and are excited to give them a little color. There are 25 or so different colors to select and then paint onto their clay creations before Katie and her pottery staff carefully stack them into the kilns for firing. That’s where everything is transformed into beautifully shiny (now colorful) works of art. Glazes blend together, maybe drip and run a little, and change color quite dramatically, so it’s never 100% predictable what a glazed piece of pottery will look like when it emerges from the kiln. It’s so exciting to find out! Later in the week, after everything is fired, we hold a big “Pottery Pick Up” day for the girls to come claim their work. All the finished pieces are laid out on tables so everyone can relish the creativity and see the huge variety of items the campers have produced over the session. Don’t be surprised if you have a box of pottery treasures to transport home next week.

The weather this morning was so wonderful, Emily decided to announce a canoe trip on the French Broad River. Warm sunshine is always an inspiration for a paddling trip and today that was true too because it took very little time to fill the trip with 12 excited Juniors. Also, the girls were enthusiastic to get out on the river after learning their canoe strokes on the lake. They paddled a section of the river right near camp, a short section that kept them on the water for about an hour and a half… just about the right amount of time. Canoeing is one of the adventure activities that Rockbrook has offered since its founding. It’s one of the classic outdoor pursuits that, with this kind of introduction, can become a lifelong treasured hobby.

After last week’s Saturday night dance, we changed it up tonight and held a square dance with the boys at Camp High Rocks, which is located just up the mountain from Rockbrook. You might think that going to a square dance would require less primp and prep, but there’s still hair to braid, plaid to find, and for some, boots to brush. We held 2 dances simultaneously, one at our gym for the older girls and the other outside on the High Rocks tennis courts. The idea of square dancing with boys can cause a little anxiety… not really knowing how to do it… having to hold hands! …but everything is lighthearted, and after all, part of the fun is making mistakes and laughing when you spin the wrong direction or grab the wrong hand. The counselors are dancing too, so this also helps the campers relax and enjoy themselves. In the end, despite being a little new to everyone, and maybe a little challenging as a result, we had a wonderful evening.

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June 14, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Messy and Good

Another outdoor activity we offer our girls here at Rockbrook is called “WHOA,” which stands for “Wilderness Hiking Outdoor Adventure.” It provides a broad introduction to outdoor skills like fire building, orienteering, map reading, knot tying, and plenty of hiking around the camp property. Each day the girls do something different. They might hike up the steep trail to the top of Castle Rock for a view across the French Broad River Valley to the Blue Ridge Mountains. They could make the trek out to Rockbrook Falls or up behind the camp to see Stick Biscuit Falls. Today the girls in WHOA learned the principles of fire building (the importance of heat, fuel and oxygen), how to collect dry wood, and different ways to stack twigs so they will ignite from a match. With the fire going, they couldn’t just let it burn without also roasting marshmallows. And with marshmallows roasting, they just had to make s’mores too. Fire building and outdoor cooking, especially when it ends with a yummy treat, makes for a popular activity.

The whitewater kayakers at camp this session were busy again today, this time with a day-long trip to the lower Green River. With our fleet of colorful new kayaks lashed to a trailer, 8 girls and 2 counselors drove to the river and met Leland and Mary Ann, our lead kayaking instructors. The trip started with a brief refresher about basic safety and paddling techniques, but quickly turned to a discussion of how to read moving water, ferry across the river, and find calm eddies to rest. This section of the Green River is a perfect stretch of water for a beginner. It has class I and II rapids nicely spaced along about 6 miles. Today the weather was crisp with deep blue skies and all the warm sunshine we could soak up, an absolutely perfect day to be out paddling.

Shaving Cream Fight! That was the announcement during dinner inviting everyone down to the sports field for a slippery, and very messy, romp with cans of shaving cream. This was an optional event, but for many girls they had been waiting for the chance to frolic with all this white foam. Dressed in their bathing suits it took about 1 minute for everyone to be splattered and in some cases completely covered.

You can tell from these photos that this event is ridiculously fun. It’s mischievous, yet perfectly OK at camp. It’s a kind of harmless messiness that feels great, and in this case, makes for a wild ride down the slip ‘n slide.

We often say that camp is a special place where kids can do things that aren’t easily recreated elsewhere, either at home or at school. This is a clear example of that, but more importantly than being allowed to get a little grubby, a shaving cream “fight” like this brings the girls closer together. With shaving cream on everyone (yes, even on me), I think we dissolve the boundaries between us and strengthen our community. Of course the girls will say they are “just having fun,” but there’s something liberating and likewise unifying about the whole event. In so many ways, it feels really good.

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June 13, 2013May 27, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Painted Fun

Girl climbing high ropes course at summer camp

Out in the woods behind our gym, a 50ft tall, high ropes climbing tower, our “Alpine Tower,” sees daily action. Campers can sign up to climb it (or the climbing wall in the gym if it’s rainy) as one of their 4 activity periods. It provides the perfect introduction to rock climbing because it introduces girls to the same equipment (helmets, harnesses, locking carabiners, and kernmantle ropes) and techniques like belay commands, knots, footwork and balancing principles. The tower is triangular with three sides each with different obstacles and climbing challenges, so three girls can climb on it simultaneously. Also, each side presents dozens of different routes to the top making it easy to find a find challenge each time you climb. The are swinging logs, cargo nets, overhanging walls, dangling ropes, parallel posts, and of course all different sized handholds, all requiring a different move to reach the top platform. Once they make it up, the girls enjoy a tree-top view before being gently lowered down on their belay rope.

Transylvania County, where we are located, dubs itself the “Land of Waterfalls” because there are hundreds nearby created by the many creeks and streams tumbling off the mountains over enormous rocks. Over the centuries, many of these waterfalls have created beautiful pools of water below that provide a fantastic experience for a brave swimmer. It takes a little courage to swim at the bottom of a waterfall. The churning foam looks intriguing, reminiscent of a hot tub, but the crashing sound and slapping force of the falling water conveys a special power that must be approached carefully. The water pushes you around. Also, it’s no secret that the water around here is brisk… or let’s call it “refreshingly nippy,” and nothing like a hot tub. The exhilaration of the water temperature and the intensity of it pounding all around you, is a huge thrill. The Hi-Ups (our 10th grade campers) experienced this today when they spent the afternoon at one of our favorite swimming holes. Did they scream? Oh, yes. Was it awesome fun? Definitely.

Our evening program tonight was a special all-camp event that was surely a unique experience for the girls. It began with a “color run.” For those interested (it was fine to opt out), they put on an old t-shirt and ran through a gauntlet of counselors armed with brightly colored, powdered paint (non-toxic of course). After a little spray of water at the start, the paint stuck to the girls giving them an colorful, tie-dyed look. This led them down to the gym of a color paint dance party put on by our favorite local DJ Marcus. We passed around glow sticks and used even more colorful glow paint and face paint to magnify the colorful dance lighting Marcus included in his show. This was all so much fun! The girls laughed and played for 2 solid hours, pausing for photos, showing off silly dance moves, and signing along to their favorite pop songs. With no boys around and everyone, counselors and campers, so fully engaged, they felt even more at ease and willing to be painted. Be sure to check out the photo gallery of this event to see how much we all enjoyed it.

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June 12, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Punctuating our Days

Meals at camp punctuate our day at Rockbrook, as they do elsewhere, but here they are regular times for not only delicious food, but also songs, conversation, skits, surprise announcements, and even dance breaks. As I write these updates, I should probably mention what we’re eating more often because it’s so great. Rick and his team in the kitchen consistently serve balanced, artfully prepared meals that are made from scratch. His entrees, side dishes, sauces and dressings are all made in house, not reheated, frozen, processed institutional “products.” Rick just loves to cook, actually cook, and add his own creative ideas to the process. So here goes… today at breakfast Rick had a giant mountain of fried potatoes that he delicately spiced with a mix of garlic, white pepper, salt and fresh dill. Those potatoes joined heaps of scrambled eggs and sausages, along with our regular breakfast bar of fruits, yogurt, granola and other cereals. Then for lunch (in between, of course, there was muffin break… Blueberry with cookie crumble topping, this time), Rick made us fried green tomatoes with a mild rémoulade sauce. This involved slicing dozens of tomatoes, soaking them in a saltwater bath, dipping them in a cornmeal/flour breading made with just the right amount of salt and pepper, and frying each slice until golden brown. Outstanding! Dinner was a little more mainstream with his homemade marinara sauce (onions, garlic and carrots first sautéd, with added crushed tomatoes and spices) and pasta with steamed broccoli. Someone could write a daily food blog about all the wonderful things prepared for us at Rockbrook. Thanks Rick!

Down at the Equestrian center, Liz, our Director of Riding, and her instructors have been working with the girls in mounted lessons throughout the day. The recent improvement in the weather has allowed our regular riding to charge ahead as well as a few make up lessons to be arranged for girls who missed their riding when it was raining. In addition to the beginners feeling more confident about walking their horses, the ground poles are out, and for some riders, the jumps and other gymnastics have been set up. The girls are returning for each lesson with added enthusiasm for riding, often a desire to ride a new four-legged equine friend, and generally “champing at the bit” 😉 to try the next skill, like learning to trot or the first techniques for jumping. It’s thrilling to see these girls enjoy riding this much.

Blocks of free time also punctuate our days at camp. Tucked in between our four organized activity periods and our three meals and snack breaks, we have three periods each day when the girls can decide what they would like to do around the camp. This might mean heading down to the lake for a ride down the water slide, a quick game of tetherball, lounging in crazy creek chairs, playing a game of tennis, grabbing a quick shower, having a flip-flop race in the creek, reading, writing a letter, or enjoying the view from a red porch rocker. Not everyone or every camp might see it this way, but we believe camp should be a haven from the hectic pace of ordinarily life because kids benefit from the freedom to meander. Our girls feel empowered when they are given a chance to pursue their interests here at Rockbrook. It really is one of the joys of summer… To have time to enjoy all these great things to do with so many great people.

Let’s take all the Middlers and their counselors, 93 people altogether, to Sliding Rock! That’s exactly what we did tonight, and it was a blast! We started out with a picnic supper in the forest, and then played a few field games to digest a little, but made our way to the rock around 7pm. Sliding Rock is officially closed that late, but going on our own (with our own lifeguards) is great because we can have the place to ourselves and the girls can easily slide multiple times. Tonight the water was higher than normal, and was so powerful, it was difficult to stand in it at the top of the rock. Several strong counselors anchored themselves to help the girls step out and begin their unusually fast ride down to the pool at the bottom. Our last stop of the evening was Dolly’s Dairy Bar. Combining mountain stream, toe-numbing water and ice cream might seem a little crazy (and doing it at night, even more so!), but when it’s this sweet, these girls didn’t hesitate to pick out a flavor. We all returned to camp a little cold and a little tired, but also full of that satisfied feeling of having had a great day at camp.

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June 11, 2013August 5, 2023 • Summer Camp • Jeff Carter

A Sense of Wonder

It’s easy to see how there’s excitement around every corner here at Rockbrook. During the activity periods the girls are happily busy, fully engaged in crafts, sports, and adventure. They’re folding and tying white t-shirts preparing them for colorful dyes, and guiding rackets to tune their tennis serves. They are exercising their bodies and their imaginations riding horses and performing short improvisational skits. Each scheduled activity offers ways to play, to learn and to have fun with friends.

In addition though, there’s an added ingredient at Rockbrook that makes this more than just entertainment or a fleeting diversion, and it has to do with the sense of wonder that blossoms so easily and often throughout our day. These are moments when we are suddenly confronted by delicate natural beauty, like a spider web freshly weighted by drops of dew, or the zing of putting your feet in a chilly stream, or the sharp call at dusk of a Pileated woodpecker, for example. Simply being outside in this beautiful place is wonder-ful. It inspires Rockbrook girls to open themselves to new and fascinating experiences. And when combined with the caring encouragement of their friends and counselors, camp fosters courage and fascination rather than hesitation when encountering the unfamiliar. It teaches girls that the world is an amazing place ready to be explored, that curiosity will enrich their lives with delightful people, places and things. We hope that our time together in “the heart of a wooded mountain” at Rockbrook can be a lasting resource for our girls, a deep lesson about the joys of discovering the wonder of the world.

girls cooling their feet while doing yoga

Here are a couple of photos taken of our Yoga classes taught by Mary Alice. They ordinarily meet in the stone “Hillside Lodge,” but can be held anywhere in camp where those purple mats can go… like here, for example, when the group decided cooling their feet by the creek would be relaxing. With a little quiet instrumental music in the background, Mary Alice guides the campers through a series of Hatha Yoga postures and controlled breathing. For many of the girls, these classes provide welcome moments of mindfulness and focused attention far removed from the ordinarily high-speed pace of camp life. In this way, they too can foster a sense of wonder for the girls.

Throughout the day we took about a third of the camp, almost all of the Middlers and Seniors who had not yet gone this session, whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River over in Swain County. This is quite a logistical challenge when it includes 76 campers, 6 staff members, 7 whitewater guides, 6 bus drivers, 1 Rockbrook director, lunch for 100 people, and all the whitewater equipment for the trip itself. But we have plenty of experience making it happen, and all in-house without hiring a third-party company to handle it. The trip itself is a combination of electrifying rapids, like the “Quarry Rapid” that has several large waves in a row, and calm sections where there’s time to chat with everyone in the raft, maybe start a splash war between boats or the girls can test their nerve with a quick leap into the (very!) cold water. It was a gloriously hot day, perfect for rafting, and the girls had a ball laughing and screaming all the way down the river.

This last photo is another great example of how Rockbrook is helping to foster a sense of wonder for your girls. For generations, girls have been struck by the natural splendor of Rockbrook, even describing it in one of our traditional songs as a “Fairyland of Beauty.” Spending time here in this ancient forest, among powerful trees and other bristling plants and critters, it feels magical, almost like everything is the work of tiny, winged fairies. Tonight after dinner, Pam our talented gardener, hosted a “Wings and Bling” garden party for any girls interested in making a fairy house, or a potted arrangement of flowers. Using bark, moss, flowers, polished stones, bits of cloth, Mardi Gras beads (from tonight’s fun “birthday night” dinner), and anything else the girls felt inspired to include, the group made a entire Fairy village. Such imagination and creativity! Later, two campers, with complete sincerity, suggested that the Fairies would enjoy a bedtime cookie and we should leave a bit for them in their village. All, so so wonderful.

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