We had a beautiful day three of Color War today. Sunny skies made this an absolutely perfect day for competition. Day three has the most points on the line for the teams and has historically been a game-changer for many teams with two extremely critical events, Mountain Relay and Rope Burning. These two events are the two most traditional events of Color War that were a part of the very first Color War in 1964.

The Mountain Relay is a giant race that includes over 50 challenges and involves over 70 campers from each team. The difficulty is completing your obstacle while still holding the baton. These batons were made in 1976 and have been used in every Mountain Relay and Carolina Streak for 44 years (last year we missed Color War so much). Campers pass the baton to a teammate at the next obstacle which include shooting five blocks of wood at riflery, promenading your partner down to the gym, carrying a cinder block from the office to the gym, walking like the statue of liberty with toilet paper and a plunger, kayaking around the island on silver lake, blobbing a teammate to swim to the beach, passing a frisbee, saying the alphabet backwards, walking downhill with a book on your head, mini rope burning (fire from flint and steel), driving a nail and lot more. This event is so intense because it only takes one hurdle to slow you down and change the fate of the competition.

Today the White Knights and the Red Devils were taking turns at first position, and continued to go back and forth for the lead until the competition made it to the lake for kayaking, and the White Knights got behind at the lake and the Red Devils took the lead. When they got to mini rope burning, the Red Devil camper quickly got her fire started and was off with the baton before the White Knights made it to that leg of the race. Fortunately, the White Knights did an excellent job at rope burning and made up some lost time. The final challenge of the event is hammering a nail into a 4x4. In went the nail for the Red Devils and off they went to ring the victory bell. The White Knights came right behind them a little over 6 minutes later. Both teams earn points for this gigantic event, but the Red Devils hold the title of champions until 2022. It was an incredible event!

Color War definitely makes our campers work up an appetite. For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, fruit bar, oatmeal and grits. For lunch we had copycat Chick Fil A sandwiches, waffles fries and salad. For dinner we had Papa John’s pizza, sensation salad and oreos for dessert!

Tonight’s evening programs included one of the oldest EPs of Color War, Rope Burning, and the newest EP that was added in 2018, Water Wars. Water Wars was held at the pool and included some old events like the hang and six inches, but showcased many new events like raft tug of war, raft guide relay and corkl relay.

After our first two events at Water Wars, we heard thunder, which meant 30 minutes out of the pool. To maximize time, and to ensure we could have rope burning, the entire camp moved down to the field for rope burning.

Rope burning is an event that dates back all the way back to the first Color War in 1964. This event is the only event that has not changed rules or format in all of Color War. In one of the fastest rope burning events I’ve seen in my twenty years at Highlander, the Red Devils took home the victory. Check out the video below to see this exciting event!

Following rope burning and a 30 minute break, we returned to the pool to finish Water Wars. With a 3-2 victory, the Red Devils are the new champions of Water Wars.

Tomorrow is the last day of Color War, and I can hardly wait to see who will be the winner. This is a close race, and it is really anyone’s war to win. Usually people think that the war is won in the EP events, but the small events add up to be so much more than the points of a big EP so the work each and every camper puts into their event tomorrow is very critical. We are very excited to see how the next 24 hours will unfold.