Sunday morning dawned bright and clear here at Timberlake as campers and staff alike enjoyed an extra hour of sleep. After waking up to the sound of reveille the boys were greeted with a top tier breakfast: cinnamon rolls, bagels and cream cheese, sausage patties and CHOCOLATE MILK!. Delicious. After breakfast our camp director, John, led us in a rousing Sunday version of the morning yell before we headed up to chapel. After cleaning those cabins we all headed to the beach to watch the start of the triathlon. The triathlon is an optional challenge available to our senior camp guys. It consists of a swim all the way across our lake, followed by biking the full crooked mile trail and then a run all around camp. It’s a huge challenge and we were so proud of Tommy F, Wilson F, Ben B, Jack S, Reid S, Oliver M, Thomas R, Richard B, Dan B and Nolan S for stepping up to the task. All of the guys delivered gutsy performances on a hot morning. Ben B earned the bronze, Thomas R nabbed the silver and Jack S took home the gold!

 

The boys then enjoyed free time for the rest of the morning, with the sand castle building contest, fort building contest, frog catching contest and disc golf tournament highlighting some of the most popular options. We also sent some great trips out today to have adventures off property. Kellan P, Grant S, Gibbs C, Jake L and Micah J got to head out to the river to do some fly fishing and Richard F, Parker S, Finley R, Rodrigo R, Owen S, Luca V and Fisher H took out the legendary voyager canoe for an overnight canoe/camping trip. Way to go boys!

 

At lunch we enjoyed a camp favorite pizza and caesar salad. Another great meal in the books for the session. We even had a better day with cabin clena up with the lowest score being an 8.25  scored by turtleback, further up, greybeard, and big slaty. Next with a strong 8.5 Bullrun and with an even stronger 8.75 Little Slaty and Big Piney. Now getting into the realm of great-ness wih a 9 Tomahawk, Fincheslanding and Huckleberry. WIth a very respectable 9.25 Little Piney. In third place with a 9.5 Hawksbill. In second with a 9.75 Tigertooth.  Our winners for the day with a perfect 10 STOMPERS KNOB!!!. We also announced our winners from the morning’s competitions. In the fort building competition our champions were the brochachos whose members are Stewart W. Pick D. Davis B. The champions of the tradition unlike any other Sunday at the masters are David C. and Andrew S. Last but certainly not least the champions of our sand castle building contest was Burch W. Finally the  announcement that you have all been waiting for the winner of cabin night TIGER TOOTH!!! Now you’re probably wondering who won Ultamate Baskettball last night and the winner is the GOLDEN EAGLES.

 

After a full hour of rest time, the boys enjoyed some trading post and free time. The 3v3 basketball tournament and doubles pickleball tournament were highlights, with Theo T and Beckett B taking home the crown in pickleball. After a few hours of play there were shouts of joy as the news was passed that John had in fact relented and would allow the boys to watch then end of the World Cup final. The boys piled into the chapel to watch Spain score the gamewinner in extra time to take home the trophy. We enjoyed our famous Sunday cookout for dinner, complete with hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, watermelon, kale mac salad and the Timberlake Campfire Cookie. 


After dinner we had vespers, complete with skits and songs performed by our house band, the Black Mountain oysters. We then transitioned to a more typical chapel rounded out by a true story from John about nearly getting lost on MARTA on the way to his first Atlanta Braves game. You might think that would be enough fun for one day but oh no there’s more! After vespers junior and intermediate camp went to the mark to compete in a tribal game: Trench Warfare. Senior camp, meanwhile, enjoyed a ‘chiller’ finish to the night with a free swim and beach luau. But wait, that’s not all! We also had an intrepid group of junior campers who left after dinner to hike the trails on our property back to our trail shelter to spend a night together out in the woods. With sleeping bags and s’mores in hand Charles S, Brooks D, Allen B, John Martin R, Connor Th, Theo J, Micah A, Oliver M, Jack C, Beckett A, Franco G, Ale G, PIpe RC, Ryan W and Henry M are all set for a big campout. 

 

As the sun sets over the western Carolina mountains we’re thankful for a great Sunday and also really excited for the second week of camp to begin!

 

Signing Off

 

William Burrow

Mountain Biking Enthusiast

Proud Black Bear Chief 2023

Davidson Wildcat

Huckleberry counselor