Learning to Notice

This week’s theme at Falling Creek is Awe.

Throughout the week, campers and counselors are exploring what it means to be struck by wonder and captivated by something bigger than themselves. During Evening Embers, cabins will discuss questions like: What makes you feel awe-struck? How is awe different from respect? What ordinary thing did you notice today that you might have otherwise missed?

The goal isn’t simply to admire the mountains that surround camp. It is to develop the habit of paying attention. We hope campers learn to notice the beauty, mystery, and wonder that exist not only in places like Linville Gorge or the Green River, but also in everyday moments. Long after camp ends, we hope they carry that sense of awe home with them.

Campers may arrive looking for awe in the biggest moments of camp. This week, many are learning that wonder often shows up in much smaller places.

For some boys, awe arrives at the end of a fishing line.

“Campers experience awe when they hook into their first fish,” said fly fishing counselor Evan Hunt from Austin, Texas. “They see the colors on the fish with the green tops and black dots. Some of them have never even heard of fly fishing before and here they are landing a 15-inch trout.”

For others, wonder begins when they stop trying to catch something and start paying attention.

At Nature, counselor Emily Logan, from Fairfax Station, Virgina has spent the week helping boys look more closely at the world around them.

“Some boys just want to catch animals,” she said, “but we have to learn that nature is not there to serve you.”

During a recent rock walk, campers collected stones, placed them in a rock tumbler, and later examined them under a microscope.

“The boys discovered a whole new world they had never seen before,” Emily said.

Whether it was a trout in a mountain stream or a rock under a microscope, both groups of campers discovered that slowing down often reveals things they would have otherwise missed.

As campers gain new experiences, they are also learning that awe and respect often go together.

This past week, paddling instructor Rhodes Feild, took boys to sections of the French Broad, Tuckaseegee, and Lower Green Rivers. For many campers, it was their first time in a kayak. Others experienced their first waterfall at Hooker Falls in DuPont Forest.

“When they finish their first big run, their hands are shaking and they’re saying, ‘This is the coolest thing ever,’” Rhodes said.

The rapids are exciting, but Rhodes believes the experience is about more than whitewater.

“They’re so happy to be with their friends on the river,” he said. “It’s not the rapids really. It’s the friendships.”

For Rhodes, respect and awe are connected.

“Respect for the river is more than Leave No Trace, and it doesn’t stop at camp,” he said. “You should always be in awe of the experiences it can provide. Once you are in the river, you are one with it. You become part of the river.”

On a recent mountaineering trip to Linville Gorge, campers rappelled 200 feet before hiking through the woods and emerging onto an overlook.

“The entire gorge opens up in front of them,” said mountaineering guide Gary Storm. “There is nothing but air below and air all around.”

The reaction was immediate.

“We had to keep saying, ‘Keep moving!’” Gary said. “Because they were stopping to take it all in and look at the view.”

Yet Gary believes awe does not have to disappear when campers return home.

“Just go for a walk in the woods and see where you end up,” he said. “Most trails around end up in some kind of overlook. Try to see those overlooks at different times of the day. Camp’s overlook is a great example. You will never get the same sunset twice.”

Camper Veedan S. from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey experienced both awe and respect during his recent trip to Linville Gorge.

“We were all awestruck at sunset,” he said. “We were on top of Sitting Bear watching the setting sun and the clouds were reflecting every color of the rainbow. I was thinking, ‘Wow. Wilderness is so beautiful. Why haven’t I seen something like this before?’”

Yet when asked what he remembered most, Veedan didn’t mention the view.

Instead, he talked about building a campfire.

“We all worked together to build our campfire,” he said. “We stacked the wood into a little cabin and it was so awesome to see it succeed even though some of the wood was wet. We got a fire because of teamwork.”

For Veedan, awe and respect are connected.

“Respect causes awe,” he said. “You can respect things by not destroying the environment around you. Then others can see what you were able to experience as well because you left it for them.”

When camp ends, Veedan believes that sense of wonder can travel home with him.

“Awe can spread to others by respecting them and their environment. I can do that wherever I go. We can always find it.”