Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 25, 1977, edition 1 / Page 47
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(illtp iailtf (Ear HM Section in August 25, 1977 rDSDDWBODIl La&e Clearwater offers a cooling-off place for students in the middle of summer heat By BOB BRUECKNER Staff Writer The limb above creaked as the boy on the rope swung out high oyer the water. 'He felt the rush of crisp air on his wet glistening body. The boy hung for a second at the top of the arc and then dropped neatly in a head-first dive into the calm, cool water. This is the old swimming hole found at a small, shady cove at Lake Clearwater where many adventurous youngsters come to spend a cool, invigorating afternoon. The youngsters at the rope swing range from elementary school kids to UNC students escaping the drudgery of summer school books and papers. Even in the last days of August and early September, many find the lake a good place to cool off and forget about the water shortage. Across the lake, basking coed beauties pretend to read books on the beach. Other books are used as pillows. Two ROTC Marines cross the lake, pulling a huge ice cooler filled with brew as they swim for the rope swing. Others simply sit on their towels and sip beer under the heat of the afternoon sun. A lone young man floats effortlessly on his back in the middle of the lake. He looks up into the blue sky and only faintly hears the sounds of other swimmers and folks on floats. Small waves lap at his wet body. Peace on the water. This serene setting is Lake Clearwater, where folks float on inner tubes of rubber rafts and where little kids learn how to swim in the.shallows. Owned and operated since 1970 by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, the lake is part of Camp Clearwater. The camp, located four miles south of Chapel Hill on Farrington Road, includes not only the lake but also 30 acres of land that can be used for hiking, camping and picnicking. Grills are provided for cooking. The lake, held behind a large dam built in 1927, is probably the largest and least expensive place to swim close to Chapel H ill. By joining the Y MCA for an annual fee of $ 1 7, a person can swim at the lake for no additional charge. A $ I pass can be bought to swim for the day by going to the YMCA office.' The lake site itself contains three beaches, two rope swings and a bath house with cold showers. During the week it is open from 1 p.m. until dark with two lifeguards on duty. On the weekends three lifeguards work around the major beaches. The YMCA also runs a day camp on one side of the lake. Only day campers can use the docks and beach area of that side on weekdays. According to John King Jr., executive director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, at least 400 people a day visited the lake on weekends in late April. A lifeguard at Clearwater, Joey Poyo, said that almost 700 people came one Nobody wants to get down to the books too early. Why not take the afternoon on ana dbsk in me simple pleasures ot sun, water and friendship? 1 '. weekend in July. "It was used a lot during the water shortage last summer when all the pools were closed." King said. "Clearwater is a nice setting and we're glad to make it available to the public and students." The pools haven't been closed this year, however, because it has been a hot summer; just the regulars are sw imming at the lake. "The regular crowd come or people who enjoy a place this large," Poyo said. "It's a beautiful place." King said the lake is within biking distance of campus. Although there are a few hills to climb, a cool swim awaits the biker after his four-mile journey. Besides swimming, the lake provides good fishing in the early morning and evening when the crowds are away. Hiking trails wind through the dense pine woods. For people roasting in a crackerbox dorm room, burning off their feet on Franklin Street or tiring of standing in lines. Clearwater Lake offers the chance to cool the body, clear the head and explore a bit of paradise left in the world. Those who prefer diving from tall cliffs might head south to the old rock quarry on Mt. Gilead Road. The quarry opened in May for diving and swimming under the name of Sugar Lake. Edward Cox, a landscaper, leases the quarry. The lake is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. People are warned by a sign on the gate that they enter at their own risk. Even so, Cox has added safety and convenience features to the swimming area. "We built a jumping platform because you have to jump out five or six feet to miss some of the rocks on the cliffs," Steve Cox. son of Edward Cox. said. Three lifeguards are on duty when the lake is open, and the gate attendant gives each carload of visitors a list of regulations ranging from bans on public nudity to a prohibition of the public display of alcoholic beverages; however, alcohol is allowed on the premises. A large wooden float rides the calm blue-green waters with swimmers sipping beer on top. Folks soak up brew and sun on the sandy beach. Others take high dives from the board on the rim of the quarry and plunge into the cool waters. A concession booth and bath house stand in the parking lot. Steve Cox plans to have bands perform at the lake. The lake lies nine miles south of Chapel H ill off U.S. 15-501. Turn left on Mt. Gilead Road and go three miles wherea large sign identifies "Sugar Lake." Admission charge is $1. I. n-m -1 3 lis, I "' .... -:iSL Siitl photo by l. C. Brbout Tarzan swings, Tarzan falls. The ropa swing at Lake Clearwater Is one of the major attractions. Maybe It's the old swimming hole atmosphere at Clearwater that brings It out In people. A spirited group Three-day camp psyches 160 freshmen for start of classes, home football games " " : Wh I 4 ( Y$L -zk its By LAURA SC1SM University Editor The freshmen who yell the loudest and cheer the hardest at football games this fall probably will the ones who spent three days at Freshman Camp. If their foot-stomping, hand-clapping rendition of Carolina fight songs at one of the camp's closing sessions Saturday is any indication, those 160 freshmen undoubtedly will be the Tar Heels' strongest supporters come the first home football game on Sept. 17. Upperclassmen who visited the camp Saturday morning as part of a student leaders' panel were impressed with the spirit of the campers, as the 58 men and 102 women who attended the Campus YM-YWCA-sponsored camp are called. Freshmen campers cheered at the drop of a hat Saturday. They were psy ched for going to campus and meeting roommates, one counselor explained. "Who has a favorite cheer?" Y Co President Princess King asked the group between speeches. The campers had just rendered "Aye Zigga Zoomba," "Go Bananas" and "Here Comes Carolina" twice each, but they enthusiastically went through "Here Comes Carolina" once more. The student leaders, who ranged from Orientation Commission Chairperson Mary Friday to Carolina Union Presi dent Eric Locher, joined in, but some of the upperclassmen, obviously not graduates of Freshman Camp, didn't know all the words. Carolina fight songs may be the most visible part of Freshman Camp, but there are other more intangible aspects, Freshman camp Between speeches, discussion groups and water-balloon fights, freshman campers take time out for recreation. Volleyball games such as the one pictured on the left give campers ample opportunity to practice their cheers. On the right, UNC President William C. Friday and some freshman campers enjoy an animated dinner discussion. Staf pnntoi by L C Bs'hour counselors say. For one thing, campers hear speeches and panel discussions by UNC ad ministrators, such as President William Friday and Chancellor Ferebee Taylor, and professors such as Doris Betts, director of the freshman English program, and George Lensing, who works with the freshman honors program. And student leaders come to Camp New Hope, the rustic, wooded setting approximately six miles from Chapel Hill where Freshman Camp is held, to plug their organizations and their ac tivities. "You people and the people who came before you," Student Body Presi dent Bill Moss told the campers, "tend to be more assertive" than the average freshman and thus more active in cam pus affairs. All that special attention may have some bearing on a freshman's decision to come to Freshman Camp, but camp co-director LaDonna Washington says it takes a back seat to the real purpose of the three-day affair: freshmen getting to know other freshmen and up perclassmen sharing their experiences and advice with the UNC newcomers. "When you get back to campus (after .camp ends) and there are 20,000 students, you will see a good 60 people who you know from somewhere," she explains. That somewhere is Freshman Camp. "The basic requirement for a counselor is that you have to be a ham," says counselor Amy Colgan, a camper herself last year. "I think probably the craziest people on campus are the counselors at Freshman Camp." That's understandable when you con sider some of the camp traditions, such as the annual water balloon fight, a male-female rivalry that usually lasts into the wee hours of the camp's last morning and often turns into a free-for-all involving shaving cream, molasses, toothpaste and rotten tomatoes. Then there's the traditional State joke. Each time a camper loses his program schedule, on which his name is written, the careless camper is called in front of his fellow campers and told to moo for his booklet. He reluctantly but obediently moos. This year a new tradition was started: The Dating Game. Colgan says the Y version, patterned after the television game show, was so entertaining that campers were rolling in the floor. And then there's the closing ceremony, a quiet affair that brought tears to the eyes of senior counselors. For the freshmen, though, the ceremony only ended the camp. Their Carolina experience was just beginning, and besides, they would see each other again at another tradition the Freshman Camp Reunion in the spring. 1 4 J ' t" if ..J 4? I t r L r J 1
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Aug. 25, 1977, edition 1
47
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