We had a beautiful day three of Color War today. Sunny skies and a cool breeze made this an absolutley 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 the last 43 years. Campers pass the baton to a teammate at the next obstacle which include rolling a kayak, promenading your partner down gym, road, carrying a cinder block from the office to the gym, walking like the statue of liberty with toilet paper and a plunger, shooting a block of wood at riflery, blobbing a teammate to swim to the beach,mini rope burning (fire from flint and steel, driving a nail and 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 neck and neck, and continued to go back and forth for the lead until the competition made it to the lake for kayaking, and the White Knights did not have a very experienced kayaker on the team. Their kayaker could not roll and had to wet exit, costing the team a 5 minute penalty. The Red Devils took the lead. When they got to mini rope burning, the Red Devil 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 7 minutes later. It was an incredible event!

Color War definitely makes our campers work up an appetite. For breakfast we had bagels, cream cheese, eggs, bacon, fruit bar, oatmeal and grits. For lunch we had supreme nachos and salad bar. For dinner we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, homemade rolls and salad bar. For dinner we had dirt and worms, a Camp Highlander favorite!

The Green Giants would like to give a huge shout out to the Red Devils for the delicious meal they made for us for Serve it Up. They served us a green salad with a lemon shallot vinaigrette, stuffed avocado, chicken and wild rice soup and Neapolitan ice cream. It was fantastic! We are looking forward to the White Knights’ Serve it Up tomorrow.

Tonight’s evening programs included one of the oldest EPs of Color War, Rope Burning and the newest EP just added last year, Water Wars. Water Wars is held at the pool and included some old events like the hang and six inches, but showcased many new events like canoe tug of war, raft guide relay and raft tug of war. With a 4-1 victory, the White Knights are the reigning champions of Water Wars.

Rope burning is one of the oldest Color War EPs, dating 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 a very close competition tonight, the Red Devils took home the victory. Check out the video below to see how close it was!

Tomorrow is the last day of Color War, and I can hardly wait to see who will be the winners. 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.