News Archives

Home /
Camp Blog /

July 22, 2018May 4, 2020 • News • rbc

A ‘Chill’ Opening Day

If you ask some of the older campers to describe the differences between the three sessions at Rockbrook, they usually answer something like this. “First session has the ‘sweet girls.’ Second is for the girls who are most ‘into’ camp. And third session is the most ‘chill.'” Of course, these are broad generalizations with plenty of variation to be found in each characterization, and it’s a little difficult to imagine how a camper would know much about sessions she does not attend, but today as we opened our third full session of the summer, there was some truth to label of “chill.”

Sure, there was loads of excitement— twitchy girls in the cars as they drove up, counselors leaping with enthusiasm as each camper arrived, and friendly directors ready to welcome everyone throughout the morning. These third session campers were all smiles and clearly ready for camp. After waiting weeks of summer for their session to start, how could they not be? At the same time though, the morning felt easygoing, unfolding smoothly and cheerfully. Arriving at camp seemed like the most natural thing for the girls this morning. It’s true that most (a bit more than 80%) had been to Rockbrook before, so familiarity was guiding them, and the gorgeous, cool sunny weather probably helped as well. It really was a delightful, smooth, almost “chill,” opening day. So welcome to Rockbrook!

Once everyone had arrived, we all gathered under the walnut tree on the hill for a chance to sing a few songs, meet some of the directors and special staff members, and be reminded of a few camp protocols (about the Thorguard lightning warning system, for example). When Sarah introduced Felix, the new camp puppy, the girls were thrilled to see him do a few tricks like a “high five” and a leap over her extended led. Felix just turned one year old and he’s an Australian Labradoodle. He has a wonderful disposition and is always happy to interact with the campers. His coat is so soft, you can’t help but give him a quick rub when he passes by. You may spot him in the photo gallery. We’re looking forward to him being a member of the camp community for years to come.

Girl with buddy tag after completing camp swim test

After lunch, which was a meal of Rick’s homemade mac-n-cheese, fruit and salad, we launched into cabin meetings and a visit to the lake for our swimming demonstrations. Each line (age group) took turns meeting Lyndsay, the head of the waterfront, learning about the tag system and the opportunities to swim each day at camp. Then each girl took turns jumping off the dock, swimming and treading water to demonstrate how comfortable she is in the water. With only a couple of exceptions, all the girls did great and received a blue tag for the board. We had hot chocolate ready for everyone when they finished up, since the chilly lake can feel extra cold on a cool day like this. Despite the scattered thunderstorms that were threatening in the area, we were lucky to complete all the “swim demos” with no rain.

The counselors presented their activity skits in the late afternoon. These are entertaining presentations with costumes, songs, and dances all designed to advertise each activity to the campers. Seeing who is teaching each activity and hearing something about what each activity entails is helpful when the girls select their first schedule later this evening.

Charcoal-grilled hamburgers and crisp watermelon filled our dinner plates (or veggie burgers for those with that preference). The evening program included more name games and skits, prepping everyone to jump into camp activities tomorrow.

A quick word about sending mail… Do it! The girls check their mailboxes after lunch each day, and having something to grab before heading off to rest hour is always appreciated. Here’s the info you need about staying in touch.

We’re off to a great start. Perhaps it’s been a little “chill” so far, but you’re about to see a lot more!

Leave a Comment

July 18, 2018March 24, 2023 • News • Jeff Carter

Brimming with Emotion

“How did we come to meet pal?
What caused our paths to blend?
‘Twas fate we came to Rockbrook,
And you became my friend.”

As the song prompted, that was the question we all pondered tonight at our final campfire of the session, the “Spirit Fire.” Dressed in our red and white uniforms and gathered on the locust-wood benches, we couldn’t help but realize that something miraculous had occurred over these last few weeks. We have become friends, camp friends, forming the kind of close friendships that are so real and meaningful they are brimming with emotion.

The Spirit Fire tonight released that emotion. As girls stood to talk about how lucky they feel to have attended Rockbrook, how grounded and free they feel here, each and every one also marveled at the friends they had made. Sharing this much together— the songs and muffins, the skits and the goodnight circles —brought us together. These camper and counselor reflections, combined with the traditional songs sung— “Nothing is Better than This,” “The Streams and the Mountains,” and “The Spirit of Rockbrook,” for example —set off waves of melancholy for some of the girls. Tears and softly checked sobs became contagious as everyone became more aware that our camp days this summer were ending and that we would soon have to say goodbye to our friends.

When Sarah spoke, she reminded us that coming to Rockbrook was a journey of discovery. It has been a time away from home that included meeting many wonderful, kind people, that sometimes presented us challenges to overcome, but also opened up new stripes of our personality. It has encouraged us to play, to be silly and creative, and to grow more comfortable with our true selves. Her hope, she said, is that we would find ways to be “Rockbrook Girls” once we return home. If it feels this good to be a Rockbrook girl here at camp, then perhaps at home we can be the same.

I believe your girls will do just that. You’ll see their Rockbrook spirit now and then, a flash of confidence, kindness, or enthusiasm. It may be subtle, but you’ll be able to tell they’ve grown. I hope you’re as proud of them as we are. This wonderful session has proved it.

Leave a Comment

July 17, 2018May 3, 2020 • News • rbc

The Badquet Banquet

Tonight was the biggest celebration of the whole session. After weeks of planning and preparation, our 9th graders finally revealed their surprise theme for the end of session banquet, and this was a good one. They called it “Badquet” because the theme was “villains,” a fun mashup of odious characters from different television shows and movies. It turns out, there are a lot of “bad guys” to include, so the girls not only painted many well-known characters, they dressed as different characters too.

Here are just a few: Swiper, Lord Farquaad, Scar, Moriarty, Maleficent, Dr. Doofenshmertz, The White Witch, the Wicked Witch of the West, Medusa, Cruella de Vil, and Mother Gothel.

The theme tied all these characters together by imagining that they all were “Lost in Space” and encountered several green, 3-eyed aliens, played by the girls’ counselors. Soon there was a heated “dance battle” between the aliens and the villainous ones. It wasn’t clear who “won” the battle, though soon the entire dining hall was up dancing together. In between serving the different courses of the meal, the characters entertained the rest of the camp with several choreographed dance numbers.

The food was classic banquet fare with inventive names: Moonbeam mozzarella sticks, Meteor Mac-n-cheese, Saturn’s onion rings, Alien chicken fingers, killer fruit kabobs, and cosmic brownies for dessert.

Everyone agreed the decorations were some of the best ever shown at a banquet. Each painted panel had fantastic details and very realistic proportions and colors. Many of the live action characters were also represented on the panels, like James and Jessie of Team Rocket for example.

The final part of the banquet is a tradition where the 9th grade girls (CAs) sing a song to their counselors thanking them and expressing their connection with each other. The counselors likewise sing a song back to the campers. The 10th grade girls and their counselors follow with the same. A few of the girls were a bit teary at times and laughing with big smiles at others during the songs. These girls been through a lot together, working side-by-side painting almost 90 paper panels and implementing all the details of their special surprise party.

One CA told me that this was her favorite year of camp so far, and since she’s been a Rockbrook girl for 7 years, that’s an incredible endorsement of what came from this group effort. The collective focus on this one complex project brought the girls even closer together and, as we saw tonight, had beautiful, really fun, results.

Leave a Comment

July 14, 2018March 24, 2023 • News • rbc

The Occasional Sashay

Nothing beats hanging out at the lake. When the weather is warm and sunny, like it was today, the lake has a magnetic effect around camp, congregating campers, especially during the free swim period right before lunch. With girls swimming mermaid laps, doing tricks off the diving board, zipping down the water slide, paddling a corcl boat, floating in a tube, or just hanging out on the dock or sunbathing on one of huge rocks nearby, there’s a lot going on. The whole waterfront might have 60 or so people all enjoying the festive atmosphere during free swim. It’s a classic summer camp scene that the girls can count on being part of their day.

Curosty, the historic log cabin that’s home to the fiber arts activities at Rockbrook, is responsible for a great deal of the decoration we find around camp. Campers of course love all the weaving going on— basketry, floor looms, lap looms and hoops —the knitting projects, the crochet hooking, and the cross stitching. Beautiful hats, belts, baskets, pot holders, book marks, and place mats are happily produced everyday in Curosty, as the girls develop their needlecraft and weaving skills. In addition, there are community projects to admire. Right on the door of Curosty is an example of a large woven tapestry that dozens of girls have worked on. Row-by-row, campers of all ages took turns adding different colorful strips of cloth, adding weft to a large warp on a frame. You can see another of these tapestries in the works to the right in the photo. One of these weaving projects ended up being about 15 feet long, and now serves as a colorful cushion for the dining hall porch bench. Many of the red rocking chairs around camp likewise have similar handmade seat cushions. Rockbrook is more comfortable and colorful thanks to Curosty.

Even though most of the older campers had guessed it, the announcement that we would be having a dance with Camp Carolina tonight raised the roof with screams of excitement. Clearly, everyone was looking forward to this traditional all-camp event. Specially chosen outfits and costumes were ready to pulled out, hair washed, braided and brushed out. Again, we organized two dances, keeping the youngest girls here at Rockbrook to welcome the smallest boys from Camp Carolina, and transporting our Seniors and Hi-Ups over there to dance with the older boys. You can see from the photos below that the mood at both dances was exuberant, effervescent with high spirits. For the entire hour and half, there was more singing and screams of excitement than not, as conga lines and group dances formed, and favorite pop songs followed one after the other. A short break for a homemade Rockbrook cookie didn’t slow things down one bit, either.

Tonight proved once again that these dances don’t have much to do with the boys. There’s perhaps the occasional sashay, especially, as you might expect, from the older girls, but mostly the fun comes from being silly with your friends, dressing up, and jumping around (“dancing”) to familiar songs. It seems to me, it’s the girls, not the boys, that make these dances fun. That’s not too surprising when you consider the impressive power (energy for fun) this group of girls can generate. Very impressive, indeed!

Leave a Comment

July 11, 2018May 2, 2020 • News • rbc

Full-bodied Excitement

Tetherball. It’s one of the simplest pastimes at Rockbrook, but also one of the most popular ways for the girls to spend a few spare minutes between activity periods, right before meals, or during one the three designated slots of “free time” each day. There are two tetherball courts at Rockbrook, one by the gym and the more prominent spot near the hillside lodge. Made from a 10-foot tall locust tree pole, that tetherball court has a cool open feel to it, and since it’s centrally located, seems to always be in action. Look over the hill and you’re bound to see a colorful ball swinging around the pole on a rope.

The game of tetherball is simple —hit the ball and wrap the rope around the pole as your opponent tries to hit the ball in the opposite direction… whoever wraps the ball completely is the winner. When someone wins, that’s called a “tether.” The other day a few girls explained some of the other game terminology. If a player grabs the rope instead of hitting the ball, that’s called a “ropey,” which is a foul of sorts, as is something called a “holdy,” which means grabbing the ball altogether. When one player commits either of these fouls, the other player is allowed to employ the same foul. In addition to a regular single hit, there are two more hits that more advanced players use: the “double tap,” which simply means hitting the ball once before hitting it a second time, and “popcorn,” which means tapping the ball multiple times before hitting it around toward the other player. In a tetherball match, the winner of a game keeps playing until defeated by a challenger. The challenger always serves, which is a slight advantage. This may all sound like serious stuff, and to an extent it is for some of the girls, but playing tetherball is also a fun game of skill perfect for playing with friends at camp.

Today the adventure staff announced a trip for the girls up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and a hike that included a stop at Devil’s Courthouse. This is a spectacular destination. At an elevation of more that 5700 feet, it has a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. On a clear day, you can see 4 different states! This photo shows a girl crouching behind the marker that allows you to identify far off mountain peaks by sighting over the brass cones. It’s quite a steep hike to reach the summit, but this view is really incredible and definitely worth the trip when the weather is nice like it was today.

This afternoon, we paused our regular activities for “cabin day,” a time when each cabin sticks together and enjoys a special activity as a group. Ordinarily the girls sign up for individual activity schedules, so this is a nice time to bond with bunk mates and do something special. One group decorated t-shirts with markers, while another used paints to design colorful glass jars. There was food involved for some— decorating cupcakes for the kitchen, using a scoop to make a huge bowl of watermelon balls, or shaping cookie dough for baking the evening’s cookies. Another group played games like an egg toss, and another took a hike to Rockbrook Falls for a wet-n-wild creek hike.

All of the Senior girls stuck together for a picnic dinner in the Pisgah Forest followed by a trip to Sliding Rock. This trip has become a tradition of sorts at camp because it’s so popular. The girls love loading the buses and riding high up into the forest to eat dinner and play a few games before screaming their heads off while sliding down the chilly natural water slide. One glance at the photo gallery and you can tell by the looks on the girls’ faces— an extraordinary combination of wide-eyed trepidation and full-bodied excitement —that sliding rock is a true thrill. It was impressive how many girls slid down the rock multiple times, each time getting just a little colder and even more excited for the ride. The end of night brought all of us (almost 100 people in all) to Dolly’s Dairy Bar, the one and only ice cream stand. This too is a loved tradition, a must-do part and the perfect cap to this thrilling night out.

Leave a Comment

July 8, 2018May 2, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

A Sparkling Day

When the weather is this perfect, like it was today, it makes everything more pleasant at camp, and even inspires us to change our plans to enjoy being outside a little more. You can always check our Rockbrook weather station for the details, but the cool, dry air moving through our area right now, and the bright, sunny skies that result, have been spectacular. The afternoon high temperatures have been in the low 80s and the lows at night have been near 60 (even in the 50s!).

In this weather, and also because so many smiling excited faces were arriving, the opening of our second July mini session really sparkled today. The check-in process unfolded smoothly, and by about 11:45 the whole camp was assembled and ready to go. Today was also (the camp dog) Felix’s first birthday, so as Sarah introduced him to the campers, they enjoyed singing “Happy Birthday” and laughing when they clapped once to mark his age. The “mop” awards recognized one cabin from each line as especially clean, and several girls were thanked for showing exemplary “Rockbrook Spirit” when they helped someone recently.

Rick’s signature opening day lunch of homemade mac-n-cheese, fruit and salad refueled us before setting out on camp tours, cabin meetings and swimming demonstrations for the new campers.

The main event of the day, a Polynesian Luau lake party, also took advantage of the gorgeous weather, with games, crafts, snacks, music and dancing. The Hi-Ups (our 10th graders) and many of the full session senior girls helped staff different stations where the younger campers could enjoy an activity.

Of course, we included dressing up for this party— Hawaiian shirts, plenty of lei necklaces and grass skirts, flower face painting, and colorful swimsuits all around.

There were games where coconuts were bowled toward empty cans, bean bags tossed toward corn holes, hoops hula danced, and backs bent to slide under a limbo bar —all to win fun RBC prizes like sunglasses, jump ropes and stickers.

The largest consistent crowd huddled around the “bucket dunk” near the lake. This is a funny contraption designed simply to dump the contents of a bucket (in this case water scooped from the lake) onto the head of someone sitting below when a string is pulled. That’s it! Girls took turns volunteering to be “dunked,” as contestants aimed bean bags at a corn hole board. If someone tossed her beanbag into the hole, she won a chance to pull the string. Naturally, this whole scene drew a crowd of spectators as the buckets of water splashed down. Splash, cheer. Splash, cheer.

There were chances to be crafty too. The girls could make a “grass” skirt from colorful streamers tucked into a string belt, or use tissue paper to make a flower bracelet.

For snacks, loads of fresh fruit kabobs (strawberries, grapes, watermelon, and cantaloupe), cups of red punch and unlimited tropical fruit flavored snow cones were all popular. All afternoon beach-themed music added to the festivities, inspiring dance breaks in the games.

I’ve seen a lot of these opening day, all-camp special events, and ordinarily there are pockets where jitters can dominate the mood for a few of the girls. All the people, the craziness of the action, and the sheer novelty can sometimes be foreign and overwhelming. Walking around today, however, I was impressed how happily the girls were participating in the different activities, breezily trying different things, and playing together in groups. These girls are clearly ready for camp. So ready!

Leave a Comment

July 4, 2018May 4, 2020 • News • rbc

A Colorful Extravaganza

It’s the 4th of July! As the sun rose behind the hill and the morning fog begin to lift, the girls were surprised to hear, “The British are coming! The British are coming!” yelled from the riding staff while on horseback. That staff woke and decorated their horses for this fun tradition of riding down the cabin lines for a unique wake up call. The whole camp then assembled around the flag pole to raise the colors, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and sing “America the Beautiful.” The Hi-Ups had decorated the dining hall with all sorts of banners, streamers, and other red, white and blue decorations. The campers were ready with their own colorful outfits as well, so when we gathered for breakfast, it was a multi-layered extravaganza of those three colors.

After a regular set of activities in the morning, which were made even more fun and colorful given all the red, white and blue being worn, our 4th of July celebration kicked into an all-camp series of contests and relays. We first squared off for a pie eating contest, with campers and counselors from each age group trying to be the first to gobble up a small apple of cherry pie.

All the girls next took turns racing to be first in relays at the lake and in the gym. There was the crab walk, the wheel barrow, and the three-legged race relays, dizzy-lizzy bat relay, a hula hooping challenge, and a hilarious egg toss. Another funny relay was the costume race where each team had to put on several articles of clothing and then race to let another team member remove and wear those same clothes.

At the lake, the athleticism and spirit of the day continued with more relays. There was a classic swimming relay, and another where the girls used kickboards and kicking to move through the water. We had to have a greased watermelon race also. There was the sponge relay across the water and another fun challenge that got the girls swimming with one arm as they held up a newspaper to keep it dry. All this action meant the snow cone machine ran constantly as we all cheered for our lines.

You can see from this last photo that another part of the event was a chance for very elaborate face painting, again using those three familiar colors. Legs and arms (and in some cases both!), as well as faces were their canvases. As the afternoon rolled on, it was hard to find someone without some kind of red, white and blue proudly displayed.

Dinner was out of this world good! Rick had spent the last three days slow roasting beef brisket to make barbecue sandwiches. He had corn on the cob, fresh cool watermelon, homemade coleslaw to round out the plate. Following and old RBC tradition, he also served cans of Cheerwine chilled in the creek near Curosty. For dessert they brought out “spirit pies,” small, individual pies of whipped cream, a strawberry, and blueberries decorating the top. Light and delicious!

The finale of the day came after dark when all the campers brought their Crazy Creek chairs out to the hill for a dance party and fireworks show. Chase passed out glow sticks for everyone, and with fun, dance music pumping, the 30 minutes of amazing fireworks really topped the day.

Leave a Comment

July 2, 2018May 3, 2020 • News • Mimi Dunn

Join the Club

Rockbrook is, almost by definition, an inclusive place. When campers arrive, for example, counselors personally greet every camper, welcoming them to the community. It’s non-competitive, so each person’s contributions are equally celebrated. Within this inclusive environment, then, the clubs that have emerged this session have a unique Rockbrook spin on them.

To start with, every session, there are a couple of clubs that encourage campers to meet goals. Rockbrook Runners is one of these clubs. They meet every day at Hiker’s Rock at first free swim and go for a run around camp along Charlotte’s Loop, which is about two miles long. Full session campers are trying to log 26 miles, and mini session campers are trying to log 13 in order to enter the Marathon Club. Those in the Marathon club go to Dolly’s at the end of the session. Not everyone runs, of course—there are groups of people running, jogging (known as “yogging”) and walking, so everyone can find a group going at their pace. Rockbrook Runners is a great chance for girls from different lines to get to know each other, and also to behold the beauty of camp in parts they may not usually see.

If land isn’t your forte, you can also choose to splash into the water. If you’re down by the lake during any activity period or any free swim, you will see girls swimming laps in an effort to enter the Mermaid Club. There are different amounts of laps that each age group is supposed to swim, and then they are members of the Mermaid Club. When they complete the laps, their name is announced in front of the dining hall, and the entire camp sings the Mermaid Song:

Way down at Rockbrook in the chilly lake,
There were some girls a swimmin’ who started to shiver and shake
We saw some scales a glinting and tails they did sprout
Lo and behold a mermaid, the whole camp to shout:
Oh mermaid, mermaid, what’s your name?
[Name! Name!] You’re a Mermaid!

Some girls prefer the more leisurely Rockbrook Readers, who meet on the hillside lodge porch during second free swim with books and sometimes much-needed peace and quiet. The hillside lodge overlooks the mountains, so this informal club enjoys a beautiful view and rocking chairs that create an idyllic setting for reading.

Campers can depend on these clubs every session of every year. They’re part of the fabric of free swims. Rockbrook is camper-driven, though. Especially in the last few days, as girls are feeling more comfortable and confident, clubs created by campers have been popping up every day. Yesterday, a group of girls created the Fruit Club. This club’s mission is “to learn fun facts about fruit, and to dissect fruit” in order to learn more about it. In a similar vein, the Milk Club was also created. Fellow campers signed up for the Milk Club under their favorite type of milk—2%, Skim, or Lactaid, to be sure to be inclusive of girls who are lactose intolerant. The Glitter Club was also introduced, which is primarily a club of glitter appreciation. Everyone who enjoys glitter is welcome, and they are planning to do things like make friendship bracelets with the word “glitter” on them in order to celebrate their appreciation of glitter.

Leave a Comment

July 1, 2018August 13, 2020 • News • rbc

A Pioneer Sunday

The Sunday schedule at Rockbrook takes on a more relaxed pace. We sleep in a little extra, come to breakfast still in our pajamas (often with an extra layer given our cool mornings), and enjoy a special treat of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. We assemble on the hill to raise our flag, walk silently out into the woods for a chapel ceremony (today focused on the theme of “friendship”), and then enjoy a big Sunday meal. Today Rick had baked chicken, roasted potatoes, and a broccoli casserole, with blackberries and fresh whipped cream for dessert. It was delicious and kept the girls coming back for more chicken and potatoes.

Sundays are a chance for an all-camp surprise special event as well, and during rest hour many plans begin to unfold. And today was no exception because we had “Pioneer Day,” a multi-station event of exhibitions, costumes, games, crafts, rides, activities, food and music.

First the girls took this event as a chance to dress up, to don their bonnets, their simple dresses, boots, flannel shirts, overalls and bandanas.

Dressed and ready, groups of girls bopped along the tennis courts for sack race relays. They tested their skill tossing horseshoes, and had a grand time wrapping dozens of colorful ribbons to make a maypole.

One of the activities was making butter. Using real heavy cream and salt, the girls churned the cream in mason jars by shaking them for several minutes (about 10, I’d guess). When the butter started to clump and separate from the liquid (the buttermilk), the girls could`remove the butter, squeeze out any excess liquid and then eat the butter on a small homemade biscuit that the kitchen had baked for us earlier.

Another exciting and unusual activity was interacting with several live sheep and learning about wool sheering, carding and spinning. The campers loved petting the sheep and feeding them, laughing at their bleating.

There was a hay ride too! With our red tractor pulling, the girls could ride on a trailer loaded with bales of hay. The staff members had decorated the trailer and fashioned a few seats for the riders. Each round trip lasted about 10 minutes.

In the hillside lodge, two counselors used hot wax to show the girls how to dip candles. They had enough red and blue wax for everyone to make their own thin candle… many dips slowly building up. In the Goodwill cabin, two other counselors provided quill feathers and special tips so the campers could try writing with ink on paper.

Over the whole afternoon, the old time traditional music of the Crooked Pine Band kept everyone entertained. The band’s hometown is Brevard, so they are well known and popular around here, playing contra dances and concerts throughout the year. The girls had a great time dancing to the fiddle, guitar, banjo and upright bass, and later taking turns playing along on the washboard.

With fresh apple cobbler as a snack and lemonade to quench our thirst, we kept the event charged up all afternoon… true mountain fun in the mountains.

Leave a Comment

June 29, 2018June 10, 2020 • News • Jeff Carter

Habits of Wonder and Joy

There were several special off-camp adventure trips available for the girls today. Beyond our regular short hikes, ziplining, and rock climbing here at camp throughout the week, these were chances to get out and see more of the amazing natural beauty of this area.

A nice group of Middlers and Seniors signed up to go backpacking and camping in the Pisgah Forest. With their gear and provisions stowed in their packs, the crew began by hiking for a little less than an hour to a secluded camping site nearby John Rock. This rock is a fantastic destination. At an elevation of about 3200 feet, it provides a stunning view of the larger Looking Glass Rock across the valley formed by the Davidson River. When the girls emerged from the forest to reveal that view, jaws literally dropped and gasps of “oh wow!” proved how incredible it was. Cooking s’mores over their campfire, sleeping in a cozy tent, and enjoying that view together made everyone happy they signed up for the trip.

The next morning, several of those same backpacking girls wanted to join a rock climbing trip heading to Pilot Rock, another slab in Pisgah. So without returning to camp, these high adventurers joined the group heading out for a day of climbing. Two routes, one called “Chopped” and the other “400 Foot Rope,” kept everyone busy, and at the top thrilled by another amazing view of the surrounding mountain peaks.

Meanwhile, a full van of whitewater kayakers left camp for the day on the Tuckasegee river in Swain County. Including our three instructors, this was a group of 15 boats, making an impressive, colorful sight as these Rockbrook girls navigated their way through each rapid.

And then out at Lake Julia in the Dupont State Forest, another group of girls joined a session of paddle boarding. They enjoyed the warm sunny weather to explore the calm secluded lake, and even to do a bit of yoga balancing on the boards. Another gorgeous location for a day of adventure.

In addition to the wow factor, the intensity of these outdoor experiences, there’s a subtle lesson they teach. It’s that the natural world is a wonderful place, quite literally full of wonder. By getting outside and immersing ourselves in a natural environment, like we do everyday at Rockbrook, we inevitably have unfamiliar yet fascinating experiences and encounter amazing things. Around here we almost come to expect that fascination— the pounding roar of a waterfall, the sharp call of a whippoorwill, the jolt of swimming in a chilly lake, the flash of a skunk waddling across our path at night, for example. Over time, as the days unfold at camp, we learn that if we open ourselves to new experiences (and this is made easier in a caring, supportive camp community), the world will provide rewarding moments of beauty, amazement, and wonder. Instead of feeling suspicion or hesitation, Rockbrook girls grow more curious and inspired to explore new things, fully expecting to be delighted in the process. Camp life fosters this habit, and later we hope, can serve as a resource enriching your girls experience long into the future.

At camp, there’s also the habit of joy, of unbridled hilarity, that we all relish. What illustrates this better than a shaving cream fight? Tonight’s twilight event proved it as more than 100 bottles of shaving cream were squirted, slathered and re-smeared all over the girls (those who chose to participate). Dressed in their swimsuits, the girls wasted no time emptying those cans, racing about slapping the slippery white foam all over each other. They would run to get away from a pursuing friend, slowing down just enough to be caught and splattered, laughing hysterically the entire time. We pulled out a sheet of plastic for a slip-n-slide too, which works beautifully when you are covered with shaving cream, by the way. No soap needed! It was another camp moment when the simplest thing elicited incredible happiness. The girls were having such full-out fun, they were beside themselves, falling down almost unable to get up, laughing so completely they were speechless.

It was an excellent day of adventure and silly fun, and of wonder and joy.

Leave a Comment

Explore Topics

Sign Up for the Newsletter