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.