| TrailRidge Mountain Camp - the Buladean Years |
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I recently had a camp reunion with some folks from the very first year of camp, Gus Jerdee, his folks Tom & Marian Jerdee, Danny Moore, and Randy Nentrup (the original "Waste Watcher." Randy brought us the bad news that Bob's Dairyland is no more! It has been bulldozed off the land but not out of our memories. I'm sure lots of TrailRidge campers and staff will remember those Bob's Dairyland Hikes that started at Carver's Gap at Roan Mountain and finished up with one of Bob's famous milkshakes. 
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Mark was my photographer instructor at Metairie Park Country Day School. I still have the Fujica STX 100 he told us to buy. I went up with my brother in 1982 to build the camp. The Tin Can was life! The solar water showers we pulled up the hill above the mosquito line were cold life-saving showers with water we collected in the two trash cans from the creek. Memories! Jason says he became a helicopter pilot including serving as a medevac pilot and that brother Josh is a doctor in New Orleans.  I've been following the "Six Pack Hikers" on their thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. It's a mom, dad, and four kids. I don't know them except what I've learned from their daily reports from the AT. This one is from their day 32 and it's their trek from the Clyde Smith Shelter to Roan Mountain. Many TMC campers will remember this section of the trail. If nothing else, you can get a glimpse of what Hurricane Helene did to this area.
You can also go back to day 31 and watch their report going from the area of Beauty Spot to Iron Mountain Gap (which was devastated by the storm requiring a detour) and then right behind the old TMC to the Clyde Smith Shelter. https://youtu.be/6gChc-QYMa0?si=-knTPEW6IYomr8y5 Roan Mountain is the site featured to represent North Carolina in the new AT postage stamps.3/6/2025 If anyone had asked me, Roan Mountain would have been the exact place I would have suggested. I think my second choice might have been Max Patch. "Rhododendron blooms in the Roan Mountain highlands of western North Carolina grace the first stamp of row four."  Every so often I hear from an old camper or counselor. These notes came this past week from Tommy Hopkins, a Metairie, Louisiana camper who attended for several summer. Tommy, now rebranded Tom or Thomas, is currently living in Houston. He's married, two "kids" in college, and working as an attorney. Great to hear from you Tommy. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ As I’m sure you’ve heard from many other of the boys from camp, TrailRidge has had a huge impact and influence on my life. It’s impossible for me to think about my childhood without thinking about camp. I spent the whole school year waiting to get back. There was a five day hike I struggled through one year and was pretty much pushed and pulled up the AT the whole way. And then I did it again the next year without nearly any of the pain / grumbling. Some amazing overnight bike rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Will the Circle be Unbroken. Trips to see several plays. Bob’s Dairy Land. The tourist day trip to the Mast General Store with withdrawals from the camp account. I could do this all night. I was sorry to read about Bobbie’s passing. I enjoyed learning about horses from her. I didn’t know anything about a frog on a horse until I showed up to the barn one day after breakfast or lunch. At the time I wasn’t crazy about how rigorous her swim test was but certainly appreciate it now as a parent. Thanks for all the time you put in with the camp, Mark.  I was able to visit the old TrailRidge property last week. Click the link to see a few photos and read about how the property is being protected by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Click the link to check out the latest information: Camp Property in 2024 
 Bobbie and Mark on their wedding day, Thanksgiving 1981. This was on the camp property which had nothing but trees and a couple of creeks. Seven months later the first campers arrived. Ben Parker sent this notice to me today about the closing of the Overmountain Shelter. I imagine several dozen of our campers/counselors stayed in this shelter on one of their "Bob's Dairyland Hikes" that took adventurous campers on the AT from Carver's Gap down to 19-E in the town of Roan Mountain.
Read the story. If you were at TMC in the early 1980s, you might have been terrorized by the unannounced appearance of "The Wastewatcher" who would show up on a noisy motorcycle wearing clothes that would make the Hell's Angels proud. He was there to enforce the "take what you want, eat what you take" rule. I caught up with Randy and Ellen Nentrup a few days ago. Randy is still riding motorcycles, but I'm thinking he's done with terrorizing the neighborhood. Both are retired and living in Buladean full time. Randy and Ellen are nurses. Ellen retired a few years ago and Randy just retired in May 2023.  I think Ben Parker does an amazing job of keeping up with camp friends. Here's his trip report of a hike with fellow counselor Steve Sovelove that happened just after his hike with Collyn Martinez. ------ Steve and his wife stayed here for 2 days. On one of the days we did a 5-hour hike in 95-degree heat; we both held up great and I think we were moving as fast as our TrailRidge days. Both of our health has really improved (2 years ago we were bed-ridden at times with pain). Steve is still making custom-cabinets and furniture. He is a master craftsman. He also plays drums in a punk band. We all had many meals together and could not have had a better time together. Neither of us has changed much. He and I are the best of friends for 35 years now! Here's a photo taken in a remote part of the northern Sandias near Albuquerque that we hiked to.  |
Mark's BlogJust some random thoughts about how TrailRidge came to be and about life at the camp in those first 15 or so years in Buladean. Archives
August 2025
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