Author Archives: Jeff Carter

Sometimes the word that best describes life at camp is “intense.” Sure there are moments for quiet relaxation (yea, rest hour!) and easy-going meandering, but throughout our days, there is intensity to what we’re doing at camp. When an activity is exciting, it’s intensely exciting. When an experience is thrilling, it’s powerfully thrilling. There are so many examples of this camp intensity! —Singing in the dining hall, the cold water plunge of the lake, the adventure of zooming through the trees on the zipline, all-day socializing with friends, riding a horse, climbing 50 feet in the air on the Alpine Tower, concentrating on a weaving pattern in Curosty, pulling back your bow ready to shoot an arrow, adding one more element to complete a wacky costume, walking down the line at night with just a flashlight, afternoon thunderstorms, and finding a “spricket” in the shower, all come to mind.

Camp life is intense for several reasons. Living this close to nature is one. It’s simply intense to encounter directly the forces of nature like weather events, insects and other creatures, especially when back home you rarely do so. Another reason is that many of the activities we offer at camp are inherently challenging. They push the campers past what’s comfortable for them. Many camp activities take practice to develop new skills, or require physical strength to overcome obstacles. All of our adventure activities would be examples of this.

Perhaps the biggest reason camp life is intense relates to the emotions we experience here. Yes, camp is emotional, intensely emotional. This is a natural response to life here being so social. Spending this much time with a group of people, being kind to them and receiving genuine kindness, brings us closer together forming deep connections. These relationships amplify everything we’re feeling at camp— even more excited, more joyful, and more enthusiastic. The people around us add spirit to whatever we’re doing. Doing things together like this makes us feel those experiences more wholeheartedly. Being happy at camp means being intensely happy, and the girls love it.

This week, several of our Middler and Senior campers have been treated to some ukulele time.  Maddy, one of the instructors from the Mountain School of Strings here in Brevard, has come out a couple of mornings to share her love of ukuleles.  She gathered with the girls on the Junior Lodge porch to teach them several basic chords and then to play familiar songs, like a Rockbrook version of “Country Roads” by John Denver and “The Coconut Song,” another camp favorite.  The ukuleles are also available to campers to borrow and play together during their free times.  It’s wonderful to see campers trying something new and stretching themselves.  Even after these short lessons, they’re already sounding pretty good! We look forward to hearing more music around camp.

The whitewater rafting trips we took today on the Nantahala River were certainly intense as well. Perfect sunny weather set the tone for a wonderful fun day on the water for all 75 Middlers and Seniors who chose to go. With 6 or 7 girls in each raft, they laughed and splashed, bumped and paddled their way down the river, enjoying the thrill of the rapids. The girls added a good dose of silliness to the trips, posing for photos, making high-fives with their paddles, and riding the bull until they fell back into the boat or forward into the river. One girl said with a smile, “I fell in 4 times!” Be sure to check out the online photo gallery for many more photos of those trips.

Today marked the arrival of the campers attending the second of our July Mini sessions. It was an exciting morning for everyone. Of course the arriving campers were bubbling with anticipation for their camp session to start. After waiting for months, or even a whole year, it was finally the day. The parents too seemed excited, excited for the opportunities awaiting their girls, but also thrilled with the process of meeting everyone in the check-in process. One parent commented on how enthusiastic everyone seemed this morning. That was certainly true as families made their way around the lake and to the top of the driveway where the counselors were jumping and cheering for each arriving camper. I’d say this excitement carried the full session campers too because these arriving mini session girls would be new friends to enjoy camp with. It was a cheerful morning all around!

Arriving at camp can bring with it feelings of nervousness too. As expected— it’s totally normal —there were several girls who looked like there were some butterflies fluttering inside as well. Excited yes, but also a little nervous, even for the returning campers. Sarah and I tried to reassure everyone that once we get started at camp, begin actually doing things, these feelings fade fast. Meeting cabin mates and counselors helps, but it’s also a great relief to realize that what’s cool at Rockbrook is being your true silly self, singing really loud, and being nice to everyone. It doesn’t take long to see how it’s going to be easy to fit in, and have a lot of fun with all these friendly people.

The full-session girls continued with their regular Sunday morning routine, raising the flag and gathering for Chapel. “Togetherness” was the theme presented by the Senior campers. Just before lunch we held a quick assembly in the shade of the huge walnut tree on the hill. It was an opportunity for Sarah to welcome everyone, make a few introductions, and each line to lead everyone singing a couple of camp songs. Felix, the camp dog, also made an appearance.

The highlight of the day awaited us after rest hour. We had a Candy Land Carnival on our grassy landsports field, complete with two large inflatables, games, music, and special food.

The food was a unique sweet treat. We had Jenny’s Mini Donuts, a local food truck specializing in donut-making, at the ready to serve up their treats. Throughout the event, we called each cabin group of girls to visit the pink truck and chose between cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar toppings for their donuts. Each camper received a tray of mini donuts to enjoy as they wandered around the carnival. The donuts were a big hit!

Meanwhile carnival games and inflatables kept everyone moving. Both inflatables involved water elements, and since we had bright sunny summer skies, the afternoon heat made the splashes even more refreshing. One inflatable featured a steep slide into a one-foot-deep pool, while the other offered a side-by-side obstacle course where two people raced to reach the pool at the end. The challenge of the course added an extra layer of excitement, and participating with a partner made it even more enjoyable, both for the participants and the spectators. A crowd of girls gathered around each inflatable, cheering on the participants as they splashed into the pools below.

Among the candy-themed games was a life-sized Candy Land game spread across the grass. Teams of girls took turns “rolling” a giant inflatable die and advancing along a colorful trail made of rubber mats. Similar to the board game, certain squares had special effects when a team landed on them. For instance, landing on Gramma Nutt’s square meant going back five squares, whereas landing on Missy Lolly’s square rewarded everyone with a lollipop. The first team to reach the end of the trail also won a small candy treat.

Another game challenged the girls to toss inflated donuts onto a cone, which turned out to be trickier than it initially seemed. Fortunately, the girls could try as many times as they wanted until they successfully landed a toss. Similarly, one game involved tossing beanbags at a target, aiming to get the beanbag through a small hole. Another game involved a crazy challenge of unwrapping a wad of plastic wrap that had layers of small candies embedded in it. The challenge came from having to use your feet instead of your hands to unwrap it!

Throughout the event, the girls sang and danced along to lively pop music, including a few candy-related songs. Hits like “I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow and “Lollipop” by the Chordettes made appearances, creating a joyful and energetic atmosphere.

With superb summer weather, dozens of new friends, lively music, tasty treats, and active games to play, it was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon and an even better welcome for the new session girls.

It struck me again today about how special it feels at camp right now. Today is the first day between our two July mini sessions, that time of the summer when only the 4-week second session girls are here. It feels special for a number of reasons. First, because the July Mini 1 session girls have left, it’s smaller; we have only 140 campers instead of 220. This makes activity classes more intimate, trip logistics easier with fewer campers going, and generally everything slows down a notch or two. A bigger difference though is that these full session girls have by now relaxed and fully embraced camp life. For most of them, this is not their first year at Rockbrook, so they also have a deep understanding of what it is. They know its rhythms, the freedom and opportunities, the familiar patterns to their days. They instinctively know what to do and where to go. Camp is easy for them. And this makes it even more meaningful because it feels like it’s their camp, their special place where they can play, be goofy, dig deeper into their interests, and feel even stronger waves of confidence everyday.

Even more significant, however, is the warmth of friendship glowing among these girls. Spending this much time together has brought them closer. They’re talking together more casually, laughing together more frequently, and helping each other more spontaneously. They’re being sweet to each other, easily kind and positive about the people around them. Everywhere you look there are pairs, threes or groups of girls enjoying each other’s company.

It’s wonderful to see girls hugging more, walking arm and arm, sharing chairs just so they can sit close together. These girls love each other, and also this camp (yes, in that order, I’d say), in surprising and marvelous ways. That’s what’s extra special about camp right now— it’s a palpable expression of what camp is all about.

All of the regular camp activities are still happening too. The zipline course for example, saw groups flying through the trees all day. This is a unique course built among the huge rocks up behind the main part of camp. It includes three zip lines and three challenging bridges to traverse, making it both challenging and thrilling at the same time. The first zip sends the girls right in front of Stick Biscuit Falls, the waterfall you can see from the back of the camp office building. The final zip is the longest and fastest ride of the course. It launches from a large rock face and goes almost 450 feet back into camp giving everyone on the hill a clear view of the fun.

The pottery studios at camp— there are two: upper and lower —are always fun places to visit. Pottery is a popular activity option, so they are ordinarily filled with girls busily shaping clay, some rolling it into coils or flattening it into slabs, maybe extruding it through a press, or carving designs into a more finished piece. Off to one side, there’ll be girls sitting at the potter’s wheels, like today when all the wheels where spinning. It takes some practice to get the hang of throwing on the wheel, but everyone can learn to center their clay, and pull up a bowl or pot of some kind. It’s very satisfying to finally get it. With some drying and glazing and then some time in the kiln, they’ll have beautiful works to show.

Finally, this was a special day for all of the Taylor Swift fans out there, and here at camp, that means just about everyone. Today she released the re-recording of her 2010 Speak Now album. In response to a dispute with her original record label, Taylor Swift is re-recording her early albums, and this is the 3rd in that series. It includes new “Taylor’s Versions” of the original songs plus previously unreleased songs written when she was working on the album originally, songs “From the Vault.” To celebrate, we held a Taylor Swift dance party in the gym during the evening twilight time. We played all the songs form the Vault on the new Speak Now, plus a few of our favorite original cuts. This lasted only about 45 minutes, but it was a fun way to keep our “Swifties” satisfied.

Camp life is a good life these days. You might even call it a great life!

It’s hard to overestimate the amount of activity that occurs in a single day at Rockbrook. It’s even a little mind boggling when you take a detailed look into how the activities, trips, special events, and ordinary moments around camp weave together. Perhaps this multi-layered complexity isn’t surprising when you consider the number of people involved— about 220 campers (almost a record!), 65 cabin counselors (a few more than normal), plus directors, adventure staff members, activity specialist instructors (horseback riding, ceramics, weaving, gymnastics, gardening, woodworking), and all of the support staff in the kitchen, health center, photography, housekeeping and maintenance crews. Every one of these people are engaged everyday, contributing to the community feel of camp, helping and being helped in countless ways.

Go anywhere in camp on any day and you’ll be amazed by the sustained action there. Naturally, the kitchen is buzzing all day long, from 6am when the baker arrives to begin work on the day’s surprise muffin flavor, until about 7:30pm when the evening crew finishes cleaning up and getting things ready for the next day. Likewise for the housekeeping and maintenance crews: they start early and go all day. It’s really true for most everyone at camp. Of course the campers are zipping from one thing to the next, and the staff are teaching and guiding throughout the day. We’re all busy almost all day, from waking up to laying down at night. Life at camp is full!

This life is not low-calorie; it’s as rich as it comes.

Recognizing this richness explains why our daily rest hour is so popular. You might expect some degree of resistance from campers who are asked to climb into their bunks for an hour each day, and when they first arrive at camp, there is a bit of that, but once we match the rhythms of camp, everyone yearns for that mid-day rest. Going up and down the hills of Rockbrook, back and forth to the cabin to change clothes (out of riding pants and into your swimsuit, for example), plus the physical aspects of many activities themselves— flipping in gymnastics, climbing the Alpine tower, paddling a canoe, whacking a tennis ball, or shooting a basketball, and so on —all add up to an active morning. After lunch, everyone needs a nap! Counselors and campers alike.

Today was something we call “Cabin Day.” This is when we take the afternoon and allow each cabin group to do something together. Ordinarily, each camper selects and individual schedule, scattering cabin makes across the many activity options. So cabin day is an opportunity for cabin group bonding, enjoying an afternoon together.

The variety of cabin day activities today was impressive. Groups took short hikes on the camp property to Rockbrook Falls for playing in the water, and Castle Rock for soaking in the long view of the French Broad valley. Some had played a series of relay games at the landsports field. Others devised complex protections for an egg drop game. There was a gagaball tournament, an archery clinic, and a diving board trick show. Other groups worked jewelry making into their time together.

A few Junior cabins took trips to a local farm to pick flowers and get up close to the resident bunnies and chickens. They also were happy to learn they would be stopping at Dolly’s Dairy bar on the way home, completing the outing.

All of the Mini session Middlers and Seniors spent their evening enjoying a classic mountain thrill: a trip to Sliding Rock. Almost 100 of us arrived ready to slide. With our lifeguards in place at the far end of the pool, the girls were thrilled to slide two-by-two down the 60-foot natural water slide. The water is 55 degrees, and with the sun setting behind the mountain, sliding was as exciting as it was chilly. These girls too made a visit to Dolly’s. There’s something about a rich ice cream treat that makes it the perfect way to end a night out of camp. Rich upon rich! We all love it.

You may have heard of the special event at Rockbrook called the “Banquet.” This is an all-camp party held at the end of each main session. Our 9th grade campers— the “CAs” —plan and present the banquet, and since it is their project, they also decide what will be the event’s central theme. This is crucial because it is the focus of every part of the Banquet: the food, decorations, costumed performers, choreographed dances, and treats for the campers. Also, the theme is kept secret until the unveiling of the event. It’s just more fun to be surprised!

Today, this session’s CAs picked the theme for their Banquet. As you might guess, 23 girls can think of a lot of different themes, and that selecting one could be a challenge. To narrow down their list, we leave camp— for privacy —and then take a hike, discussing all their ideas, weighing what sounds best for the group. Today we began with about 50 different possible themes, but after an hour of walking and talking, one idea was the clear favorite. It was almost a unanimous decision with everyone pitching in ways to make the theme even better, and getting excited about how they’ll be involved in the preparations. What did they pick? You’ll find out in a few weeks!

Today was also the first full day of camp activities, with the girls fanning out across the camp to tack up horses, snap on a climbing helmet, take careful aim at an archery or riflery target, grip their tennis racket, shape hunks of clay, dip a paintbrush, twist a crochet hook, and so much more. We had the littlest Juniors flying through the trees on the zip line course. All 32 horse down at the barn had at least one rider today. Every craft area unleashed waves of creativity. The girls laughed and learned. They ate their first warm muffin (mint chocolate chip was today’s flavor.). They checked their mail after lunch and relaxed in their bunks during rest hour. This day was moving!

Tonight’s dinner was a picnic on the hill. Rick prepared a hotdog meal for us, including both beef and veggie dogs, buns, homemade coleslaw, pickles, baked beans, and all the condiments. For dessert, the kitchen baked delicious lemon bars. So good! The weather was perfect on the hill with bright sunshine, low humidity and a light breeze. Once the girls had their plates, they spread out to different areas of hill to sit and eat with groups of friends. It was a happy and relaxed scene.

A little later, the Evening Program was a fun all-camp campfire. Here too, we announced a theme and invited everyone to come dressed in a costume. At camp, everyone knows that costumes make anything more fun. Tonight it was a Appalachian Mountain theme, something we call a “Jug Band.” Sarah came dressed as her alter ego “Sayree,” the fiddling, granny with a pet (rubber) rattlesnake named “Fish.” With a guitar, Ukelele, and fiddle playing along, the Hi-Ups helped lead everyone in a program of songs and skits. The campfire crackled and bathed us in wood smoke, while we laughed, clapped and sang into the evening under the big white oak trees nearby.

This was a wonderful way to finish up our first full day together at Rockbrook. I can already tell this group of girls loves camp. There’s kindness and enthusiasm coloring everything. There’s a beautiful mix of familiarity and excitement for what might be new. There’s already a sense of community that, no doubt, will only grow stronger over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned; this is going to be good!