APEX Session 3 (with pics!)

This week marked the third straight week in a row for APEX before the week off leading into the final sessions.  We had a great week with PERFECT weather the whole time.  It really affected the mood of the whole trip.  Thank goodness we finally got some more girls to come join our one lone chica who faithfully comes every week!  This week's kids were really cool.  Everyone there seemed like best friends by the end of the week and that always really adds to a good experience. 
     We started off by hiking at Dupont.  We were treated to gorgeous views and the kind of temperatures that make you just want to sit in the rivern with your feet in and never leave.  Some of the blackberrys are starting to ripen so we got to munch on those along the walk.  The waterfalls in dupont provided us with some good refreshment and a good chance to pick up river rocks and throw them in order to splash one another. Good fun.
     Tuesday's mountain bike trip presented us with one of the outstanding moments of the week, and probably the summer.  There is one hill climb that is especially gruelling and nearly impossible for most campers to actually climb without getting off their bikes.  When I first started doing these camps, I realized that If I didn't come up with some way to make this climb entertaining, I'd have to deal with an all-out camper mutiny.  I decided to call it the "Milkshake Challenge".  I promised the kids that if somebody could climb it all, I'd buy that camper a milkshake.  Sure enough, all the kids try it, fail, go back to the bottom start again, try, fail, repeat, until I tell them it's time to move on.  I figured that the difficulty of the hill would keep me from having to buy too many milkshakes... Until this past tuesday.  Holden McCullough, a rising sixth grader from Columbia SC, rose to the challenge, saddled up and bagged the milkshake challenge for the first time in APEX history!  Not to be outdone, Micael Kane, one of our more experienced campers who comes with us each week, and who has yet to conquor the climb, reached down into his "suitcase of courage" and pulled up the strength to be the second person in the same day to climb the daunting milkshake challenge.   Sure enough, the boys won their milkshakes and I lost some money. 
     On Wednesday, we checked out Table Rock State Park for our hike.  Again, the weather was great and the kids were walking like they were on a mission!  We made record time both up and down.  The view from the top was stellar.  Nick even pulled out his hammock with the idea of taking a little mountain top siesta.  That ended when the kids thought it'd be funny to throw pine cones in his hammock as he napped. 

    Thursday's river trip was a highlight!  I thought the weather had been great for the first three days but Thursday's weather on the Nantahala was the pinnacle.  It could not have been a better day to be on the water.  Not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was just hot enough to make it feel really good to jump into the icy Nantahala- and jump they did, all day long!  We pirate-shipped each other, threw each other in (Sorry Ian!), jumped of the rock, you name it.  All the campers who have done the rafting trip before agreed that this was the best one yet. 
     Well, It's been a long three weeks and I'm ready for a little break before the second leg of APEX cranks up.  There's still room in all three remaining weeks so If you're reading this and it sounds like fun, shoot me an email at apexcamps@gmail.com to secure your spot! 

Thanks!

Matt Griffin.

Check out the New APEX Adventures T-Shirts!

Want one?  Shoot an email to me at apexcamps@gmail.com and let me know!  T-shirts cost $16.00 and do not include the handsome model. 

I'm kind of excited about the new slogan: "IT'S OUT THERE"  I feel like that statement says more the longer you think about it.  There are the obvious "Sasquatch" implications.  Who knows, maybe he is "out there" for us to find after all.  Dig deeper.  APEX Adventures is, in fact, "out there."  It takes place entirely in the out of doors.  Not only that, the whole idea for the camp is kind of unique and a little bit "out there."  What other day camp is going to be able to pack as much excitement into one week as APEX delivers in a single day?  It's like summer camp, but you get to sleep in your own comfortable bed and eat a home-cooked meal every day.  It's also very unique in that you never really know what you are going to get with APEX, but you can count on it being "out there".  Every day is something new- even for the staff sometimes!  That's why I love it so much.  There are no real rules about what we do, It's just out there!

APEX Session 2!

This past week, we finished up our second week of APEX. We changed things up quite a bit during the session and decided to explore some areas that have never before been used as a part of APEX. That's what makes the camp really cool. Because it's a small, local operation, we have the ability to adapt the program as we go rather than be stuck to some rigid set of guidelines that dictate where we have to go all the time. I think APEX is all about exploration and we got to do that this week! On monday, we hiked to a section of the Dupont state forest that we have never done and it was great! We hiked up onto a big bald mountain top made of rock, we descended down and crossed a river (after swimming in it) and then we made our way to one of the waterfalls used in the filming of the movie "The Hunger Games" and "The Last of the Mohicans." This waterfall was unique because you can actually walk under it without getting wet!
We visited the other side of Dupont on Tuesday for mountain biking. The sun was out this time and we were joined by local mountain bike racer Trey Cassell. Trey is like the Swiss Army Knife of cyclists. He races downhill, cross country, dual slalom, and road. He balances all that with his studies at Brevard College and a job on the graveyard shift! It was great having him take time out of his busy schedule to come ride with us. Dupont delivered the goods for us once again with awesome downhills, challenging climbs, and beautiful sights. The all time favourite is the infamous "Mr. Griffin's Milk Shake Challenge. To date, no one has conquored the MSC and there were some big talkers this week who went home empty handed! Sorry kids, maybe next week. We saw some big crawdads in the waterfall that we swim at!
On Wednesday, we decided to take the APEX van up to SC's own Table Rock State Park. Table rock is a very interesting rock formation that Geoglogist call a "Monolithic Monadnock". Go figure that one out! Whatever it's called, it provided the kids with a good challenge and I think they were all ready to kill me by the time we were approaching the top. By the time we got to the overlook, all thoughts of homocide had faded away as we took in the awesomeness from the top. It's a hard hike up but well worth it. The best part of the day happened before we even got to the parking lot though! First of all, Nick, my assistant, has been consumed with the idea of seeing a bear while we are out in the woods. He's never seen one in the wild before, even though he is from Canada. He talks about it non-stop. As we got close to table rock in the van, I looked out the window, and there it stood. He looked like the size of a a mini-cooper. He was in the middle of the road and he loped off into the woods as soon as he saw us. It was really cool to see and Nick can now live the rest of his days as a happy Canuck now.
     Thursday gave us another great rafting trip on the Nantahala.  The weather was perfect and the river was great and I can't wait to go back again!  I can alway depend on the raft trip to deliver the thrills and put everybody to sleep on the ride back home.  It was a great ending to a great week..  Thanks once again to all who came and to all the parents who let their kids come!  If you've enjoyed APEX, please tell your friends about it so we can keep doing this!  I've got a few pics here below but you can check out more at our facebook page by searching for "APEX Adventures" 

Matt Griffin.