| 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. 
 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. Every so often someone gets in touch with me just to chat. I just hung up with Robert LaPlace, who at age ten or so came to TrailRidge for his first of a few summers. He's the guy fourth from the left. In this photo he was on an Outer Banks bike trip with staff members Gus Jerdee, Danny Moore, and Joe Mahon (Great Britain). I got to know Robert when he was just nine or so when I was living in New Orleans and he was nearby in Metairie. He and I became "brothers" as in the Big Brothers program. We've been friends ever since which would now be over 40 years. Also in this photo I recognize Chuck Lockwood, Tommy Paylor, Chris Brown, McHardy Stoutz, and Michael LaPlace in addition to Robert, Gus, Danny, and Joe.  Ten years ago, first-year camper Kirk Moyer from Metairie/New Orleans, sent me an incredible piece talking about his TrailRidge memories. Kirk was there that first year (1982)and came back for a second. That first year was no cakewalk so the fact that anyone returned was somewhat of a minor miracle. Kirk resent his story just this week to commemorate the 40th year of TMC's founding. Thanks Kirk. He's actually going to be up in the TrailRidge-Roan Mountain-Hughes Gap areas in a couple of weeks. Check it out: https://www.trailridge.info/uploads/7/7/7/4/7774835/i_blazed_the_trail_-_kirk_moyer.pdf
It’s always good to get some updates from past staff and campers. Ben Parker (5 years at TMC including the very first) and Steve Sovelove (2 years, ’85 & ’86) are two camp counselors who have remained friends for nearly 40 years. There were two predecessors to MindStretch Travel Adventures. The first was called Open Road Experiences and compared to today’s adventures; we were roughing it. We were gone weeks at a time and spent almost every single night in tents and prepared virtually all our own meals. Today’s MTA programs still enjoy all the great activities during the day, but we’ve learned how nice it is to come back to “base camp” in a real bed in a hotel and eat dinner out in a restaurant. So the other day I received an email from a camper from the very second year of the Open Road program (1979) saying he had discovered the MTA website and it looked like we had gotten spoiled. He could be right but I’m older and wiser and it’s nice to have the best of both worlds. But I should mention when my wife and I started our residential program (between ORE & MTA) there was nothing at all easy about that first year. All of the rain we’ve had the past couple of years (at least here in Western North Carolina) reminded me of that very first summer at TrailRidge Mountain Camp in 1982. The boys arrived to find out there were no cabins, there were no flush toilets, there were no real hot showers, and there was no dining hall. We hardly had electricity. The idea was that the boys were coming up that first summer to help us “build” the camp. And they did arrive…by the dozens. We slept in tents and tarps and endured rain. And we endured more rain. And more rain. In fact, that summer was a record setter back then. I imagine that record has been recently broken. We cooked under a dining fly and used solar showers (if we showered at all) and had one of five porta-potties to choose from. Then, as expected, the health department discovered we were running this camp and we had as of that moment not been permitted. That’s another story. Well, we had an ultimatum to get those tents off the ground, get the bathhouse open, get the dining hall opened and inspected, and quit drinking water out of the spring. We had a weekend to get it done, but luckily the Fourth of July was around the weekend so we got an extra day or two. We did get it done. The rain didn’t stop. Most of the kids had fun. Some of them came back. And we continued running the camp for the next 14 years or so. And then I was back to traveling and the camp morphed into MTA. And I’ll tell you, it’s the way to go! And no matter which way we travel or camp…we make new memories (almost like these) every single day. Picture Notes: This first photo was from our 1979 Open Road trip. It was seven weeks long - SEVEN WEEKS! We traveled from New Orleans to New England and into Canada. We called ourselves, "The Dirty Dozen." The second photo is from the very first couple of week or so at TrailRidge. This was an example of someone's shelter. Nothing else about that summer.    John It's been a while since I've posted a blog on this site but emails this weekend from both John and Joe(y) Ley reminded me that there are still hundreds of former campers who haven't discovered this website. By the way, both John and Joey are included in the group photo above.
The TrailRidge memories continue and over the past several months I've recently heard from two other boys (now grown men) in additional to John and Joe. One of those is Dale Kiser and another is Orlando Hernandez. Orlando was our first camper from Mexico and I do remember his family pulling into camp about 11 P.M. on opening night with his cousin Jose in tow. Both boys attended TrailRidge for several summers. Click to read some short memories from John Ley, Joe Ley, and Dale Kiser. Thirty years ago a bunch of very brave people - campers and staff descended upon the small mountain community of Buladean to mark the beginning of a new summer camp. TrailRidge Mountain Camp was born and for the next decade and a half made its own little piece of history. The photo below isn't from the very first year, but from probably year two or three. That first year there weren't any cabins, no pond, and hardly any activities except "work." But bit by bit the camp became home to nearly a 1,000 boys and staff members over the years. It was some rocky ride...and one of those life-changing experiences. Here's to you campers and staff from 1982 and beyond! 
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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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