The sun rose bright and early on the fresh morning of June 16th. A gentle breeze was blowing, bringing a refreshing coolness that was a relief from the hot sun. Reveille sounded as campers got out of bed and walked down to breakfast. They were met there with some French toast, bacon, and hot oatmeal. After eating, the men of Camp Timberlake did the mighty Morning Yell, which echoed throughout the entire camp. At chapel, they sang some of the classics, songs such as “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”, the fast paced and seemingly never-ending “Give Me Oil”, and the hymn “How Great Thou Art”. The boys then heard a short talk from Dan himself about how Jesus takes our place and takes all of our shame on himself. It was off to cabin cleanup.

The morning activities were filled with a lot of excitement and progress. Ren G. began to build his level 2 rocket in the rocketry hut. Next door, the pottery class continued to develop their pinch pots, some building new ones, and others like Richard B. refining and smoothing theirs. Up at The Mark, Keifer M. excelled at learning his wrestling takedowns and sprawls. The rest of the class worked on the stand up and sit out from the referee’s position which was taught by Jack E. Meanwhile, away from Camp Timberlake, Wilson J., Eli C., and Houston J. were crushing several difficult routes, climbing fifty feet up the sheer rock walls of Ship Rock. Throughout the day they worked on these climbing routes and enjoyed the view behind them of the Blue Ridge Viaduct and Grandfather Mountain.

Lunch was a camp classic – taco in a bag, complete with some ice cream sandwiches for dessert. It was announced that the Iroquois tribe had won the intense game of El Presidente the night before, to much celebration. After a brief rest time, free time was finally here with many options for fun. The campers enjoyed some candy and tetherball, as always. But there were also a few activities open. A few campers were in Lake Doris working hard on their kayaking skills. Calvin T., Colby S., Henry B., and Tim M. got their rolls down, while Ian A., Chris S., and Tommy S. worked with their buddies on T-rescuing.

The afternoon came on and the campers were ready to get back to their activities. In Team Sports up on Spencer’s Green, multiple bars were earned. Griffin P. got his bronze bar, and Quinn M. and Jack E. both got their silver bars. The team sports crew joined forces with the soccer activity for an intense and sweaty game of soccer. Nearby in climbing, campers warmed up on the boulder before getting up on the tower. Carter B., Mike A., and James B. all learned how to belay today. Henry T. made progress on his silver bar and multiple campers earned their climbing bronze bars. Up in the shady woods, Tommy S. dominated at paintball and came back from a 3 versus 1 situation to win a round in the clutch.

Dinner had some delicious ravioli with a side of cheesy herb biscuits and brownies for dessert. Then came the evening announcement for tonight’s activity. The lower cabins were to participate in the exciting Goldfish Races in the Mike, and the upper cabins were going to play a brand new game called Ultimate Basketball, a brilliant idea brought in by our program director Brandon C. The camp split to go compete as tribes for the ultimate prize, the banner, before heading off to a nighttime devotional and on to bed, resting up for whatever tomorrow has in store.

Davis Bateman

CIT Director