The camp began their day early on Wednesday with a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon then they were off to take on their outdoor challenges. Old Rag Mountain was the challenge of choice for the majority of camp. The remaining campers hiked around Woodberry's 1500 acres on The Perimeter Trail.
Old Rag Mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is situated in the Shenandoah National Park. The drive is just under an hour away from Woodberry. The group departed on buses promptly at 8am. Old Rag is a very challenging 8.8 mile hike and rock scramble with spectacular views. At the summit it sits at 3,291 feet.
Once they persevered to the top, the guys enjoyed a sack lunch. On the way up some of them encountered wildlife. No bears this year, just deer. Mr. Jim Reid lead the first group. How lucky were they? Mr. Reid is the head of our science department here at WFS. He always gives a great talk on the way up which includes a history of the mountain and the different formations.
After the exhausting hike, they boarded the buses to head back to the Forest. The buses remained silent on the way home as the campers and counselors couldn't help but doze after conquering OLD RAG.
Back at WFS the group traveled the perimeter trail in record time. We had a spry group this year. I hope they took in the beautiful scenery. Our trail is a total of 8 miles in length and was completed and dedicated just a couple of years ago. It continues to be kept up (cleared and trimmed) by the students of Woodberry. Yesterday's group encountered snake skins, turtles, small wildlife and a fabulous view of the Rapidan River and rock formations. The perimeter trail gang enjoyed their lunch down at the Barbee and then messed around with the basketballs before heading to the outdoor pool.
Everyone was back on campus by 3pm. Walking a little funny, they headed into the dorms for some much needed rest. We had about a 2.5 hour rest period and amazingly it was very quiet... Not much going on in the dorms yesterday.
Boy they were hungry by dinner time. Some were lined up outside the dining hall 10 minutes early, eager to get a meal after such a strenuous day. By 6:45pm we were down the hill for the only set of games that day.
It was amazing to see them go right back into competition format. There were some great games last night. I didn't think the soccer game between Stanford and Michigan was ever going to end. They played an additional 10 minutes of overtime which still ended in a tie. At this point they had to go into penalty kick mode. This portion of OT is Sudden Death. Each team gets a shot on goal if they both miss, they keep kicking until only one team misses.. They went three rounds. Stanford was finally victorious!
We're back to normal schedule today. Weather looks to be normal too. Chance of Isolated storms - The usual.
Have a blessed day and enjoy the slideshow. I had some great photographers up on the mountain yesterday. Many thanks to Mr. Reid, Coach Conklin, Coach Tisch and Frazier Stowers!
p.s. Check out the link to the top right of this entry... Stanford has the most awesome "warm up chant". I've challenged the other teams to get creative too... Look for future postings. This should be fun! Also, don't forget to press play on the playlist below if you like the music. I try to choose an appropriate song each day. Yesterday some of the guys commented that Old Rag reminded them of the movie - Last of the Mohicans.. so of course... we chose a song from the soundtrack for today. Enjoy...
