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July 31, 2013February 11, 2024 • News • Jeff Carter

Inspirational Fun

The other day, I overheard a couple of campers claiming the strangest thing. “I used Wonder Woman! and I used Beyoncé,” they said. Apparently there are girls also using Michelle Obama, Joan of Arc, Pocahontas, and the Queen of England. “How?” you ask? Well, these are the names of our showers this year. On all three lines, the counselors have chosen to name each shower for a strong, powerful woman. You can see the Middler line showers in this photo. Mostly this is just for fun, but also I suspect, as is true for a lot of the fun at camp, there’s inspiration and imagination to be found as well. Playful ideas like this make even something ordinary— like a shower stall —so much better.

Muffin Break! That’s the time between the first and second activity periods when everyone at camp enjoys a delicious, often warm, muffin freshly delivered from Katie’s oven in the kitchen. It’s always a surprise to find out the morning’s flavor because Katie is a master at creating one-of-a-kind combination flavors. Today she wowed us with “Banana Pudding,” a muffin reminiscent of banana bread but, like a bowl of pudding might be served, with a vanilla wafer poking out the top. So Yummy! Thinking about tomorrow’s flavor, I wonder what that case of Nutella I saw being delivered will be for…

After making plenty of clay pinch pots, rolling coil after coil, and carefully slipping together slabs of clay to make sculptural vessels, girls taking pottery are next excited to learn how to throw on the wheel. The first step is to dress in a white apron (spinning cray and water can throw off a spray) and sit down on a bench behind the electric wheel with your foot on the pedal control. That pedal allows you to adjust how fast the wheel spins. With a ball of clay ready, the next challenge is centering it on the wheel. This can take some practice to get just right. Once you open up the center of the spinning clay and slowly pull up the walls— steady hands here — you feel a great sense of accomplishment because you’re really using the wheel. Trimming the base of the piece is the last step, releasing it from the wheel and placing it proudly on the shelf to begin drying. Both of our pottery studios have girls making these strides, quickly becoming more adept at these advanced ceramics skills. Cool stuff!

Tonight all of the Middler campers took a trip out of camp to one of our favorite picnic areas in the Pisgah Forest, to Sliding Rock, and to Dolly’s Dairy Bar to top it off. This is a big exciting event that brings together 61 campers, 22 counselors, 4 lifeguards, 3 vans, 3 buses, 2 camp directors, and 3 extra bus drivers, not to mention the picnic food and other necessities. The girls, dressed in their swim suits and water shoes, with towels flung over their shoulders, and loaded the vehicles for the quick ride into the forest. We arrived and had time before dinner for a huge game of “Ride That Pony” (a funny group song with dance moves). But the main event was our next stop, the always-thrilling Sliding Rock. This is a classic mountain experience that combines icy-cold water rushing down about 60 feet of smooth rock, and the perfect pool at the bottom for a soft (and extra chilly!) splash landing. For many of these Middler girls, this was their first visit to Sliding Rock, and from their screams of delight I think they loved it.

Our final stop of the evening, Dolly’s Dairy Bar, never fails to get the whole bus screaming. I just have to put on the turn signal of the bus and the roar from the girls is powerful. Our entire crew made a line last night stretching from the window where you place your order, down and off the porch far along the edge of the parking area. Rockbrook always brings a crowd! It’s fun to see how many girls choose “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion” or one of the other “camp flavors” for their cup or cone. When the ice cream is this delicious, it can be dark and you might have just been swimming in 58 degree water, but you will love it nonetheless. By the way, Dolly’s will be open on our Closing Day next week, yes, even early in the morning. You might want to plan on stopping.

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July 24, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Terrific Trips

Let’s begin with breakfast, as we did this morning at 8:30am. Our Kitchen Manager and Head Chef, Rick, draws upon his 5 years of experience planning meals and cooking for Rockbrook (plus 9 years at other organizations) to surprise and delight us everyday with yummy meals. His goal is to provide healthy foods, made mostly from whole and natural ingredients (not pre-processed), that strike a balance between being “kid friendly” and “unfamiliar.” For example, this morning Rick started simply with hot scrambled eggs with yellow corn grits and fried country ham. But to mix it up a bit, Katie, our baker, brought out trays of homemade, freshly baked biscuits to go with the slightly sweet and spicy red-eye gravy Rick brewed (yes, it did have a little coffee in it!) as well. With orange juice, and a small bowl of fruit and yogurt from the breakfast bar, this was a complete— beyond complete —breakfast. And it was delicious! By the way, have you seen Rick in our video about the food at camp?

You may have heard about the special snack we serve between the first and second activity periods each morning around 11am: freshly baked muffins. Katie tries to surprise us every day by alternating between traditional flavors like Lemon Poppy Seed or Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and more creative, one-of-a-kind recipes like Peach/Mango and Carrot/White Chocolate. It’s a big event to swing by the dining hall porch when the bell rings for “Muffin Break” and sample the day’s surprise flavor. Being able to catch up briefly with a friend before heading to a different activity, and to enjoy a soft, sweet muffin each day, is a wonderful Rockbrook moment we all love. When your girls return home in a couple of weeks, be sure to ask them what flavor of muffin was their favorite.

Here is one of the stars of the Rockbrook horseback riding program this summer. He’s Hula Hoop, an 18 year old Belgium Warmblood who comes to us from St. Andrews University and their Therapeutic Riding Program “Ride Like a Knight.” When he was younger, Hula was a top-ranked show horse competing in everything from Grand Prix to 3’6″ hunter shows. He’s won many top prizes, but for our girls, he’s a gentle, steady mount. Overall, we have 29 horses and ponies comprising the Rockbrook herd this summer. The girls are getting to know them in the stable club, grooming them and learning about other aspects of horse care, and then when it’s time to ride, friends with names like Hula, Lacy, Tony, Onyx, Gordon, or maybe Cool Beans are happy to oblige. Despite the rainy weather we’ve been having lately, Riding is still a popular activity at camp.

If you’ve looked at the map of Rockbrook, you’ve probably noticed that the French Broad River creates the western boundary of the camp. The French Broad begins in Rosman, NC when four creeks come together. From there, it travels more than 200 miles northeast and then west to Knoxville where it joins the Holston River to form the Tennessee River, which eventually flows into the Ohio River and the Mississippi. So, yes, you can launch a boat at Rockbrook and (after several miles of paddling!) come out in New Orleans.

This morning a group of Rockbrook girls set out in Rosman and paddled canoes 3 miles of that long journey. After pairing up and deciding who would paddle the bow and stern of the canoes, Emily reviewed for the group paddling strokes, cautioned everyone about avoiding trees along the edge of the river, and instructed them what to do if they tip over and end up in the water. Once underway, she also demonstrated how to cross from one side of the river to the other (“ferrying”) and how to stop in a calm area of water behind an obstacle (“catching an eddy”). As you can see from this photo, the weather was gorgeous and the girls spent the whole morning enjoying themselves on the water. Several of the girls commented that canoeing was their new favorite activity. It was that kind of perfect trip.

2 camp girls taking a ride down sliding rock

The entire Senior line, all 84 campers, took a different trip this evening. They loaded into buses and vans for a picnic in the Pisgah National Forest, a ride down Sliding Rock, and a cup or cone of their favorite flavor of Dolly’s ice cream. One highlight during the picnic was getting everyone to skip and play together in the grassy field. We must have played “I’m a Rockbrook Girl” for almost a half hour! At Sliding Rock, we found the water to be a little higher than usual (another indication of the wet weather these last weeks), but also a little colder too. That’s a big part of the fun though… the bone-chilling shock of icy water splashing up your back when you first sit down to slide. Plunging into the pool at the bottom and going under the water feels almost electric. It instantly evokes an urgent need to “get out of this water, NOW!” For some girls, this is fantastic fun, shivering, blue lips and all, while for others one trip down the rock is plenty. For everyone, this is the kind of mountain experience they look forward to at camp… likewise, for our stop at Dolly’s. This lovely ice cream stand, located at the entrance to the Pisgah Forest, serves more than 20 unique flavors of ice cream, combinations of ingredients really, named after each of the local summer camps. The Rockbrook flavor, for example, is called “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion,” and is chocolate ice cream, fudge, brownie bits, with peanut butter cups. Every camp flavor is different, so it can take a while just to read the menu! You might think that after freezing ourselves in the water at Sliding Rock we wouldn’t be interested in ice cream, but this is, as one camper put it, “the best ice cream on earth!” With ice cream to top it off, this was another terrific trip.

Camp Girls eating ice cream at Dolly's Dairy bar

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June 26, 2013January 20, 2025 • News • Jeff Carter

One Silly Camp

How silly can we be? Around here we enjoy answering that question on a daily basis. It’s another special aspect of camp; it encourages children to celebrate their goofy side, to forget briefly the personal decorum they so carefully guard, and which parents and teachers so urgently strive to form. Camp provides a license to relive the freedom of childhood experimentation, to twist things around, to feel good about letting your inner creative energy express itself however it may. And significantly, being goofy at camp is something we do just for the fun of it, not to achieve some goal or to be recognized as “the best.” Around here, we— and yes, all of us campers, staff members and directors alike! —are quick to make a silly face for photos, to throw on a crazy costume, to take on a bizarre character in a skit, to sing a nonsense song during lunch, or perhaps bust into a wild dance move waiting for the dinner bell. All of this feels really good too. It’s remarkable when there are this many fun-loving people together, all within a broad camp culture that inspires creative silliness. Sure we have our serious sides too, but I hope you can see why Rockbrook has has been called a goofy camp, and why we think that’s a very good thing!

Did you know that everyday between the first and second activity periods, the entire camp converges on the dining hall porch for “Muffin Break?” It’s true, Katie, the Rockbrook Baker, begins each morning by baking a surprise flavor of muffin for everyone. That means powering up her giant mixer, then scooping and baking 300 yummy treats. Her flavors are fun and creative (maybe a little silly?). For example, today she made “White Chocolate Chip and Apricot,” and other days she’s baked us “Confetti,” “Up-Side-Down S’mores,” “Key Lime Pie,” and a big favorite, “Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.” This is a wonderful treat, easily a favorite part of everyone’s day.

One of the old (circa 1888) log cabins at Rockbrook is called “Curosty” and it is the home of our fiber arts activities. It’s wonderful to wander in during the day and see girls weaving, working away on several floor looms, tabletop looms, and lap looms, creating complex patterned material using yarns and strips of cloth. Kimberly, Carol and the other instructors are helping the girls this summer make headbands, bookmarks, straps, and large table mats. Weaving is such an ancient art, and in this historic cabin, it’s neat that these quite modern Rockbrook girls really take to it, ask great questions, are learning all the basic skills, and making some very cool projects. Weaving has always been an activity at Rockbrook, so it’s also neat to see it so popular even today.

Emily and Christina, two of the women on our adventure staff this summer, took a group of girls canoeing down the French Broad River this morning. With snacks packed (some of the morning’s muffins!) and all the necessary equipment loaded on a trailer, they put onto the river upstream from camp in Rosman, NC. This section of the river is just right for a leisurely paddle with its wide course, gentle curves and manageable current. There is also the occasional (class I) rapid to keep things exciting. Large trees line most of the river making it the perfect habitat for water birds like the Belted King Fisher, for example. The weather for today’s trip was ideal too. Cool air and warm sun made it an magnificent day on the water.

Since this afternoon was cabin day, a day when we switch gears from our regularly scheduled activities and instead do things together as cabin groups, we gathered all of the Senior cabins and took a gigantic trip to Sliding Rock. It was gigantic because when we added everyone up, this trip included 111 people! Like a train of white vans and buses, including a couple of cars for extra staff members, we drove our group into the Pisgah Forest for a picnic dinner and a few field games before arriving at the Rock. Zipping down a natural water slide formed by an icy mountain creek… Maybe freezing cold creek, would be more accurate … and plunging into a deep pool at the bottom might sound unbearable, but for the Senior girls tonight it was all thrills. Screams, splashing, chattering teeth, a few blue lips, but also wide, enthusiastic smiles were true to form all night.

The last stop for the evening was to “warm up” with a cone of Dolly’s ice cream, proclaimed by many campers as “the best ice cream ever!” This is a chance to try one the flavors named after the many camps in the area, like “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion” or “Carolina Iceberg Blast.” Warmed and energized by this blast of sugary cream, we enjoyed singing the Senior Song, posing for a few photos, and having a grand time together.

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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 5, 2013May 25, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Small Scale Richness

Looking around camp these past couple of days, and if you’ve been following along in the photo gallery, it’s amazing to see so many engaged, smiling girls doing so many different things. It’s almost impossible to describe them all! Of course there are the different organized, scheduled activities like rock climbing, tennis, gymnastics, or making tie-dye t-shirts, but there are also so many simpler, more spontaneous moments when the girls find themselves delighted and charmed. They might be wading in the creek, turning over a rock to “see what’s under there,” chatting with a new friend sitting in a pair of red rocking chairs, or simply walking with a caring counselor to lunch. Part of the magic of camp derives from these moments when we share experiences and grow closer, when we encounter something wonderful or create something beautiful together. It’s this kind of “small scale richness” that really strengthens our community, and make camp so special.

So here’s an idea, and a great example of this richness… Let’s take a group of 1st and 2nd grade girls and let them make samosas for the whole camp! That’s exactly what Rick, our head chef, did this afternoon. He and our baker Katie prepared the dough from scratch and cooked up the filling (potatoes, turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, and yogurt) beforehand, so the girls could help assemble the individual turnovers. With bright white aprons donned, the group formed a team where some rolled and flattened small balls of dough, others scooped a blob of filling for each, and others folded and pressed each samosa closed. The goal was to make about 400, and with all those (little!) hands helping, the project went pretty quickly. Joyful enthusiasm went into every samosa, and as Rick has said many times before, we’ll be able to taste it.

Today we opened up our zip line for the first time this summer. We announced the option at breakfast and in no time we had two groups pumped up for their chance to fly down the 450 foot ride through woods behind the dining hall. The course begins with a cable and plank bridge suspended between two massive rocks high above a stream. The girls walk the bridge, being careful not to look down, to reach the zip line launch. From there, they clip their pulley into the cable, lift their feet and they’re off screaming down to the far hill. It’s a thrilling ride.

Late in the day, we gathered all of the senior campers and drove into the Pisgah National Forest for a picnic. Rick set us up with hot dogs, buns and all the fixins, including some of his homemade coleslaw, fruit and cookies. We enjoyed eating and then played a group game called “I’m a Rockbrook Girl.” This is a chance to run around and learn each other’s names, and of course laugh the whole time. Our next stop was Sliding Rock, that classic natural water slide formed by Looking Glass creek as it cascades 60 feet down a smooth rock. I’m sure you could guess this mountain water is “refreshing” (i.e. freezing cold) but if not, these pictures prove it. (Click the photo to see a larger version.) Not every camper was inspired, or brave, enough to take the plunge, but for those that did, it was a grand, albeit chilly, time. On the other hand, everyone participated in our last stop— Dolly’s Dairy Bar. We all enjoyed a cup or cone of our favorite sweet treat, for example the flavor called “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion” or one of the other varieties named after the summer camps in the area. Sure, it was too cold to get wet at Sliding Rock, but for these girls, it’s never too cold for Dolly’s ice cream.

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August 1, 2012May 28, 2020 • News • rbc

An Abundance of Fairies

Fairy House made from natural materials at summer camp

One of the traditional songs we sing at Rockbrook is “In the Heart of a Wooded Mountain,” the title of which has become one of the phrases we use to refer to Rockbrook. Generations of girls, and now alumnae of the camp, understand this phrase intuitively after living among the old trees, moss and lichen covered rocks, and steep hills of this protected place. Another phrase from this song refers to Rockbrook as a “Fairyland of Beauty.” Here too, experiencing the splendor of camp, really feeling the wonder of its natural setting, is just magical. It’s the kind of place where friendly woodland fairies would live and do their work, making everything come alive with color, pattern and texture. With some imagination and free time to explore the woods, both of which are more than abundant around here, you can see evidence of fairies all over camp. It’s natural then for girls to help the many Rockbrook fairies by building them houses. Tucked into little corners by tree stumps, or perhaps under a broad fern frond, campers construct their fairy houses using special enchanted sticks, leaves, moss, and stones. It’s a delicate, and quite intentional process, but today the Rockbrook fairies gained two new luxury apartments thanks to a couple of juniors.

Blue sunny skies and warm 80-degree temperatures made our morning activities just delightful, particularly after yesterday’s morning rain. The equestriennes were back in the rings learning to post, the archery and riflery markswomen were adding to their target scores, and the Alpine Tower climbers were back on belay all morning long. High above, cabin groups of Juniors were taking their first ride on the RBC Zip Line, screaming and waving their arms with glee all along the 450-foot ride. At the lake, it was a parade of water sliders hurling themselves down “Big Samantha,” as our slide is affectionately, though informally, known. Leaps off the diving board, swimming laps to join the “Mermaid Club,” or just splashing around in a floating tube, were just right for others at the lake.

Elsewhere in camp, the Hodge Podge craft activity girls were making some serious headbands using pom-poms, ribbons, sparkly beads, feathers and gel pens. Were they practical, utilitarian head bands? Probably not, but colorful and fun? Absolutely! In the dance studio, set in the Lakeview lodge, girls were leaping and twirling across the hardwood floor practicing their dance moves, resting now and then for further instruction. Over in the shade of the back porch of the Curosty cabin, other girls were knitting, some with traditional knitting needles and others using the hoop-shaped “Nifty Knitters.” After selecting their favorite color of yard, it didn’t take long for these girls to learn the basic stitches needed to see a satisfying fabric of woven yarn emerge.

Camp girls smile going down sliding rock

Tonight we set another record when 120 people from Rockbrook picnicked in the Forest, slid down Sliding Rock, and invaded Dolly’s Ice Cream stand. The group was that large because we took all of the Middlers and Mini session Seniors, plus all of their counselors. Seven buses and five cars were needed to transport everyone, so it was quite a mob. A group this size, while making it louder and a little more rowdy, definitely made it more fun too. The enthusiasm for sliding down the rock, feeling the deep-down chill of mountain water splashing up your back, energized the whole scene as did the everyone’s screams and yelps. Four or five slides later and a short drive down the hill, we all made a stop at Dolly’s Dairy Bar for a yummy cup or cone of their custom “camp” flavors of ice cream like “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion,” “Slick Rock Rumble,” or “Music Camp Obsession.” Any of the campers will tell you (and probably will when they see you!), “Dolly’s has the best ice cream ever!” You may have to stop by when you pick up your daughter from camp… 🙂

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June 13, 2012May 28, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

A Community of Fun

This is a time of camp when everyone seems to be settled in. After only these few days together we’re singing the songs louder and more confidently, taking on higher level activity challenges, and most importantly, happily greeting so many more new friends we see around camp. That’s the really cool thing; you can feel the whole community growing closer and caring for each other. And of course, knowing this many people this well, we all are having even more fun. There’s a friend around every corner, someone waiting to join you in whatever the next thing is. “Let’s go get changed for horseback riding!”

One of the oldest buildings at Rockbrook is a 19th century log cabin called Curosty. Originally constructed in nearby, Rockbrook’s founder Nancy Carrier moved it here to serve initially as the camp’s office. Now it houses our fiber arts activities. Inside you’ll find girls learning to weave using all kinds of looms and techniques. They are weaving narrow belts and headbands on tabletop looms, wider and more complex fabrics on the floor looms, and simple designs on lap looms… All surrounded by the hand-hewed timbers of this 150-year-old cabin. On the back porch of Curosty, in the shade of the oaks and hemlocks and nearby a gurgling creek, our Needlecraft activity meets. This is another wonderful opportunity for our campers to step back in time and learn classic needlework crafts like knitting, cross stitch, and embroidery. Working with colorful threads and yarns, the girls are threading, twisting and knotting strands into beautiful designs. Different from some of the more physically active, thrilling activities, stepping into Curosty is calm and conversational.

Guess what happens when you let eight 2nd graders dress you in anything they want. That’s right; it can be pretty crazy, and that’s exactly what the Junior Line girls did tonight to their counselors. For their evening program, and with all sorts of costume props at their disposal, the girls didn’t hold back as they added multiple layers and accessories. Hats, scarves, sunglasses, tiaras, dresses and skirts- nothing seemed out of bounds. The finale was a wild fashion show in the Junior Lodge, which had everyone rolling with laughter. It’s great for the girls to see their counselors be such good sports, throwing themselves into all this silliness, just letting go and enjoying themselves no matter who might be watching. After all, that’s exactly what “having fun” often means.

Also tonight all the Middlers and their counselors took a trip into the Pisgah Forest for a picnic dinner. Rick and his crew packed us yummy Burritos, chips and fruit to eat, and after a short drive we had the whole crew (92 people in all!) skipping and frolicking through the grass of our favorite secret spot. Back in the buses, we then headed to Sliding Rock for a few trips down the rock. A rain shower from earlier in the day had swollen the creek a bit, making it a slightly faster ride, but it had also warmed up the water temperature a bit (though I suspect the girls didn’t really notice!). Sliding Rock is a real mountain treat, and is something Rockbrook campers have enjoyed for generations. Finally, we made a stop at the famous “Dolly’s Dairy Bar,” located at the entrance to the forest. Everyone picked out their favorite flavor for a cup or cone, like “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion,” to top off the evening.

Happy Girl Loving Camp — This is awesome!!

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June 6, 2012May 13, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Silly and Chilly

If you’ve been following the photo gallery, you know dressing up in costume is a regular occurrence around here. Every other day or so, we have a special event, or just an announced theme, where we encourage the girls and the staff members to dress up or create a silly character. And the sillier, the better! You should see what these girls come up with when they combine hats, dresses, wigs, make up, paint, glasses and all kinds of improvised props like sticks, leaves and brooms.

A great example of this was the “Disney Photo Shoot” the girls held on the hill after dinner, during the hour of free time we call “Twilight.” It’s a time when the girls can hang out, take showers, read, play tennis or tetherball, but when they can join an optional camp-wide game or activity. The “Photo Shoot” was just that: a chance to dress up and pose for a few photos. It seemed to be most popular with the Juniors (K-4th graders), but the counselors were also pretty excited about the chance to pose. I’m not sure how these costumes were “Disney-related,” but I’m sure if we asked, the girls would have a clear answer. In the end, of course, that doesn’t matter because dressing up is really just for the fun of it. It’s a chance to let go a little, to laugh with your friends about how crazy we look, and to be completely indifferent about what people might think. It’s camp!

Camp child doing gymnastics on balance beam

Down in the gym, Elaine Trozzo our longtime gymnastics coach is working with the girls. After a thorough warm up with plenty of stretching on the deep blue padded runway (flexibility!), she has been helping them with beam techniques (balance!). Elaine and her staff of counselors are great at tailoring each class to every camper’s level of gymnastics experience. Beginners might be practicing on the low beam, while more advanced girls can work on the full-sized balance beam, for example. Each day the girls can enjoy a different gymnastics event. Maybe the high bar, the mini trampoline, or the tumbling runway- there will be helping hands, instruction and encouragement to make it great.

It looked a little cloudy as we pulled out of camp with all of the Senior girls loaded into 4 buses, but we were hoping the rain would hold off for a picnic and trip to sliding rock. As we drove along Looking Glass Creek in the forest though, it started to sprinkle a bit, so suddenly our picnic needed shelter. Fortunately, we knew just the place were we could all sit and eat while waiting for the rain to stop. You might guess that it was a bit chilly at this point, but did that prevent us from stopping at sliding rock? No way! The rain had finished, and dinner had really energized the girls. Yes, the water was “FREEZING!” but that didn’t prevent many of the girls from enjoying the plunge. I do think the squeals were partly due to the water temperature, but also from the sheer delight that comes from such an extreme experience. With Dolly’s Dairy Bar at the entrance to the Forest, we had to stop on the way home. It’s funny how despite being chilly and wet, nobody was too cold for an ice cream cone!

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July 27, 2011April 12, 2025 • News • Jeff Carter

Full-Throated Fun

One of the activities offered each day at Rockbrook is something called “Nature.” While rather broadly defined as anything involving the plants, animals and forests of camp, it’s a real treat for the campers. The notion of exploration, of discovery, describes it pretty well also, because mostly the campers are tromping around through the woods and finding fascinating bits of the natural world. With more than 200 acres of Rockbrook property available, the counselors have come up with loads of really fun ways for the girls to be true naturalists. They take stream hikes, stopping to turn over rocks looking for crayfish and salamanders. Like in this photo, they take nets and capture tadpoles at the lake to compare their stages of development. Or, they may simply hike through the woods, perhaps bushwhacking off-trail, to marvel at some of the huge old growth trees on the property. Of course part of the fun is getting a little dirty and truly feeling the grit and grime of what they find, but that’s one of the things that helps the girls appreciate the beauty of it all, and for us, is something we can feel good about because of the benefits outdoor experience provides.

girls cheering their friends on sliding rock

During one of the swimming activities this morning, the counselors greased up a watermelon for the girls and organized several fun relay races. There’s still plenty of silt coming down the creek and into the lake making the water cloudy, and this made the watermelon a little more difficult to find when it went under. Having to hunt for a hidden, submerged fruit is surprisingly fun because it can appear far from where you expect it. On a bright sunny day, this is good old fashioned fun, and it comes with a sweet tasty watermelon treat.

Being Wednesday, the afternoon was our cabin day, a time when instead of each camper pursuing her individual schedule of regular activities, the cabin groups and their counselors stay together for special whole-cabin events. Each cabin decides what they would like to do. Many involve hiking, like along the gentle trail to Rockbrook Falls or the steep and severe trail up to Castle Rock overlooking the camp. Today, a few cabins played group games on the hill, a couple of Junior cabins played board games, and others relaxed on the porch of the Lakeview lodge making friendship bracelets. One cabin was caught doing outdoor yoga!

All of the senior cabins took a special trip right before dinner. Dressed in their bathing suits and with towels in hand, they loaded up the buses to head out to a special spot in the Pisgah Forest for a picnic. Our timing was excellent because when we arrived, we were the only people there to enjoy a wonderful grassy field, trimmed with awesome shade trees and just the right number of picnic tables. Rick packed us another amazing dinner of fresh corn on the cob, tortellini, warm rolls, and cool, bright red raspberries. The late afternoon sunshine was gorgeous and we had plenty of altitude to keep things breezy and comfortable. After eating, we couldn’t help but skip around the field and play an exuberant game of “Duck Duck Goose.” You might think teenage girls would be “too cool” for this kind of game, but not so with this crowd.

Our next stop on this outing was the main event: Sliding Rock. Always a favorite, this is the natural waterslide formed by Looking Glass Creek as it drops about 60 feet over a gently sloping rock into a deep pool. Going this late after the Forest Service lifeguards have left (we bring our own) is ideal because it avoids the typical crowds of summer, and thereby allows our Rockbrook girls to spend less time waiting in line and more time sliding. Is the water cold? You betcha! That explains why most of the photos of the girls sliding end up showing them with their mouths open. A few can remain poised enough to smile for the camera as they accelerate toward to bottom, but most are anticipating the plunge that awaits and just let loose with a wide-eyed, full-throated scream. You can almost hear it in each shot. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls waiting their turn are cheering their friends on, clapping and shouting. It really is super exciting.

With our fill of sliding, there was one more stop to make, and it’s always a crowd pleaser. On the way out of the forest we took that happy left turn into Dolly’s Dairy Bar so everyone could enjoy a cone of their favorite flavor of ice cream. There were more screams and cheers of delight as we pulled into the parking lot and all the girls ran to join the line waiting to order. Dolly’s has refined their serving so it took just a few minutes for everyone to be savoring (for some, gobbling) their treat. Yummy stuff. It was dark by the time we made it back to camp, bringing our surprise night out to a close, but it was the kind of big group fun we love around here, and a really good time.

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