Day two of Color War hosted one of the original events of Color War from 1964 and what we call today the Old Forge Run. This run at the old Camp Highlander, located in Highlands, NC, was called the Blue Valley Run. When Camp Highlander relocated to the current campus, they renamed the run Old Forge, since that is the name of the mountain that is home to Camp Highlander today. Today’s winner of the Old Forge run was the Blue Knights!

One of my favorite moments of the day was at the end of Old Forge. This race is long, grueling and a test of perseverance. But as our last two runners to finish, one Dragon and one Knight, headed for the finish line, they were holding hands. My heart almost exploded. This is the beautiful gift of Color War - friendship always wins!

We kept running at the Lower and Middle Pentathlon, at kickball and tic-tac-toe relay, on the tennis court, on the soccer field and ended the daytime events with a running relay - the Carolina Streak. The Carolina Streak is a relay race all over camp with 12 campers from each team.

Perseverance was the theme of the day, as campers kept running, trying and not giving up in competitions all day. From running the bases at Lower Wiffleball to running the plays at Upper Flag Football, it was a day full of strategy, teamwork and so much fun!

Color War is not just all about athletic talent. There are events that require intelligence, problem solving, artistic talent, musical gifts, performance talent and even listening skills. Today we had campers competing in pictionary, jenga, spot it, connect four, cupcake wars and more. I love that Color War provides a wide variety of events for a camper to showcase their talents and interests.

I keep finding myself in awe of how our campers treat each other, in both victory and defeat. Color War brings out a fire in these kids, but what shines even brighter is how much they love their friends. You can see it in every cheer, every high-five, every kind word offered to a teammate or an opponent, win or lose. That’s what makes Color War so special to me — and it’s just one more reason your children have completely stolen my heart.

While the weather today was beautiful, we are expecting rain for the next two days. In an effort to get all big EP events done, we swapped tonight’s evening events with tomorrow’s events. So tonight we had Water Wars and Rope Burning to ensure that we could host these outside events without rain. And we were successful!

Rope Burning is a tradition and one of the most iconic Color War events. This event is silent until at least one team has a significant fire started, and at first the Red Dragons fire was strong. The Blue Knights had a fire, though smaller, and the spotlights went off, and the cheers started to erupt from the crowd. “Blue burns hotter than Red,” the Knights were chanting. While the Dragons yelled “Fire it up BIG RED, fire it up!” But Blue’s blaze was relentless. It roared higher, hotter, and brighter with each passing second. And then—with a snap—the rope broke. The Blue Knights erupted in celebration as the Rope Burning champions of 2026.

Favorite Details of the Day

• Weather: We were so lucky with clear skies all day! We woke up to a cool breeze and a warm sun. The sun was out all day, and it was hot! We are expecting rain for the next two days at camp, so I am grateful for the sunshine!
• Meals: For breakfast we had waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt and granola. For lunch we had chicken caesar wraps, crinkle cut french fries, a salad and sandwich bar. Dinner was chicken alfredo, kale salad and warm baguette bread. For dessert, we all enjoyed Mrs. Kaye’s triple berry crisp. YUM!