“A Summer Like No Other.” This is what we affectionately have called the summer of 2020 - nothing that we expected, nothing we were prepared for and yet everything that we never knew we needed at Camp Highlander.

Nothing like we expected, nothing we were prepared for

The life of a camp director looks basically like this… work incredibly hard for nine months so that you can enjoy three months of fun, friendship and memories. Preparation, planning and purposeful priorities are 95% of the success of each summer. It is often surprising to people that the hardest work we face as a team is the nine months preparing for summer, not the summer itself. Sure the summer is full of long days, little sleep and lots of responsibility, but there is so much joy, laughter and personal fulfillment that makes it worth the hard work.

So what about when the nine months of hiring, recruiting campers, planning programs, working on capital projects, investing in camp improvements is over, only to discover the summer you have been dreaming of can’t happen. Nothing could have prepared us for the financial, mental and emotional loss of 2020.

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"It was a great combination of challenging, teamwork, family bonding and doing things we haven’t done before."

Everything we never knew we needed

After our traditional summer was cancelled, the silence on camp was deafening and our hearts were broken. The reality of not having campers on camp in 2020 was too much to bare, and we immediately started to brainstorm a safe and healthy solution to bringing the joy, love and laughter back to the mountain. This is how the Family Retreat was created.

Family is at the heart of all that we do at Camp Highlander, and this Family Retreat felt like the perfect opportunity for our families to escape the reality of our world to the magic of Old Forge Mountain. We spent weeks developing protocols, safety procedures, training staff and ensuring safety for our camp families. We expected the summer would look different having parents on camp, social distancing and wearing masks, but we were so excited to have life on the mountain.

While we knew WE needed camp like never before, we never realized how powerful the camp experience would be for our camp parents. We witnessed so many beautiful moments shared between parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. The snuggles at campfire and family movie night seemed to melt away the stress of our world. The laughter at activites was the perfect cure to the loneliness we felt for so many months. The gift of camp was never more valued than this summer, when our hearts were aching for connection, freedom and outdoor adventure.

"We travel often as a family and have seen some spectacular sights. This week together right here in NC however was so refreshing and really allowed us to just enjoy one another without distractions. It also allowed us to interact and enjoy one another as the unique individuals we are. We were also able to try new things, stretch our comfort zones and feel pride in our accomplishments. The team building exercises (basketball and low ropes course) had great debriefs and lessons around ‘trust’ and supporting one another as a family. The Crows Nest allowed me (mom) to test my courage with the Swing and we found out that one of our daughters is a real sharp shooter when it comes to riflery (thanks Gene!)."

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Highlander has hosted Family Camp since 2007 and this weekend quickly became a waiting list only, sold out camp every summer after. The fast-paced, jam-packed weekend on camp was a family favorite, but the Family Retreat proved to be even better than the Family Camp weekend. The retreat offered more activities with a longer class time for more play, more flexibility in schedule, a slower pace to the day and even more fun for our families.

"One of the most appreciated services for us, however, was the approach to family meals. Not only were we safely distanced, but we have a daughter with [food allergies and restrictions] so the typical vacation ends up with her feeling sick due to her erroneously getting something that she shouldn’t have eaten...or starving due to lack of food that is available that meets her needs. They did an absolutely FABULOUS job mirroring the meals served with similar food at each meal that could be eaten by my daughter without worry. Her eyes were huge when the first dessert came out that she could eat –Strawberry Shortcake—and when Ms Kaye sent home the rest of a GF, Dairy Free, Soy Free chocolate cake with us on the day we left, she was in heaven. Thank you so much...as a result, she cannot wait to return to camp next summer!"

We learned many valuable lessons about how to run a healthy, safe camp experience in a pandemic. We learned that social distancing gives us the gift of space, meal restrictions allowed us to provide amazing customer service by meeting dietary needs and that extra time was an unexpected blessing for rest and true rejuvenation for our families. We could never have imagined how special these four weeks would be at camp, and we are so grateful for the lessons learned this summer that will better prepare us for 2021 and summers to come! We can’t wait for Family Retreat 2021 and hope you and your family will join us!

“The attention to safety and health was incredible! Never once did we have concern about social distancing or putting ourselves at risk. From mealtime to activities, all was extremely well thought out and organized with an eye on safety."

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"We laughed and played on our own little mountain away from the problems of the world."