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.