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Updates and News
Volume 5
2/12/2009

Update February 12, 2009

Greetings loved ones!

We made it through our first leg! Yes, that’s right we have reached Farm and Wilderness, our first layover, generally in good spirits and other than a few blisters and bruises none the worse for wear.

From top to bottom and left to right: Lauren, Ida, Ari, Hytham, Hagay, Ethan, Julia, Daniela, Jacob, Aidan, Miron, Baruch, Nelly, Dylan, Misha - New Hampshire-Vermont Semester 2009

The trailer in the background holds all our re-supplies, trail food as well as personal and group gear.
It gets shuttled from one layover to the next layover, and there it is waiting for us

We started our journey on February 1st with a two-kilometer road walk to Lake Warren where we donned our skis and toted our backpacks. It was the first time we had to do both at once. We skied across the lake and met the snowmobile trails. Our first day was short, only 8 kilometers. When we reached camp Misha taught us how to set up. We collected boughs, each carrying enough for their own bed. Then we set up the tent and cut firewood. When the tent was up the stove went in. Boughs were laid, and after a couple of hours we had made a home, temporary maybe, but a home nonetheless.

Dinner in our beautiful home

The next day the real work began. We got up early and packed up camp, then skied out for a 20-kilometer day. That day we crossed the Connecticut River into the great state of Vermont. These first days we encountered the hills. Long, steep and winding, they challenged the skills of even the best of us. They were, after all, meant for snowmobiles, which can regulate their speed on the way down hills and can use their motors to go up them. Suffered were three twisted knees, a couple of blisters and many bruises, but always present were laughing and comfort.


Aidan flying down the snowmobile trail – ready to stop at any moment

On the February 4th we arrived in Saxtons River and made the decision to take the van to Londonderry. We were having trouble on the snowmobile trails; the maps were not trustworthy so we didn’t know how far we would have to go every day. But we did know that we would have to push very far every day, get to camp late and set up in the dark, then get up early in the morning and rush to get out of camp. This would have left no time for the learning experiences that are necessary at the beginning of an expedition. Taking the van the extra couple of miles gave us a few days for live-overs and a few extra hours every evening for learning and resting.

So far we had two live-overs: one near Moses Pond in Weston and one on Lake Ninevah. In the mornings we learned knot tying and wilderness first aid with Misha and in the afternoons we had actual free time for doing repairs, working on our main lessons, and even reading or writing in our journals. On Lake Ninevah we made a quinzee, which is a hollowed out pile of snow for sleeping in. Though space is tight, it is very warm!

Daniela and Misha checking the map

The rest of the days have been fast paced and fun: getting up early every morning and eating delicious food, packing up camp and skiing all day, then setting up camp again and eating more delicious food, and finally laying out our sleeping bags and going to sleep.

The wind, snow and sun are our companions as we move northward. The skies forecast the weather and tell us the time. The earth warms us from beneath as we sleep at night. We breathe the clean air deeply and smell the hemlocks and spruce. We take in this life in hopes of handing down our learning when we leave here. But we have plenty more miles to take in, so don’t get too excited yet!

For the Vermont Semester Program, this is Nelly Detra, the scribe.

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