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Vermont Semester
A 600 Mile Journey By Ski and Canoe (January-June
2004)
24 March, 2004
Dear friends, families, and interested members of the community,
This update is written as several main lesson pages from the group
journal that we are keeping for the expedition pulled into one journal
entry. Each student writes from their own perspective what went on that
day, and the days are compiled to form the group journal.
1st day of the 4th section of the trip
38th day on the trail
Thursday, March 11th
Emily Turner
(Em and I had a lost piece of paper between us that had her group journal
on it, so it is not here...)
2nd day of the 4th section of the trip
39th day on the trail
Friday, March 12th
0 k travelled
Jane Larsen
Grandfather Ray was at camp for the second day. He's here for two more
days, I think. Maybe 3. We worked on paddles today. He gave us the paddle
blanks, with the basic shape, and then we shaped them and made them
more paddle-ish. Basically, using an axe and a drawknife, take the paddle
blank thin and smooth.
Grandfather just seems to spew out the best advice. He always knows
whats going on and seems to have a solution to most things. He is incredibly
wise and kind and patient.
He seems to fit into the woods in the way a wild creature does. He
has found his place and is comfortable in it. The whole group seems
to draw on that positive energy. I'm glad that he is here and is going
to be here for a few more days.
3rd day of the 4th section of the trip
40th day on the trail
Saturday, March 13th
0 k travelled
Chris Clarke
We woke up, and had breakfast. We went on an hour long ski. Everyone
went in different directions. We worked on our paddles. We all talked
with Grandfather Ray until dinner. After dinner we talked more and went
to bed.
4th day of the 4th section of the trip
41st day on the trail
Sunday, March 14th
0 k travelled
Evan Griffith
Day 3 of layover on the trail with Grandfather Ray - Day trip to Lake
Mansfield: community meeting on the lake.
Weather:
started cool,crisp clear: 10 degrees? @ night, 15 degrees @ 7:30? no
clouds in A.M. Full sun. Missed moon again - almost empty. Wind of 1
from west in A.M. but front moved in during the day with alto stratus/cirrostratus/cirrocumuls/cirrus.
brough considerble wind (we were on the lake so it was at full strength)maybe
up to 4 from all over. No prevailing direction.
Foods:
Breakfast of bearmush and quinoa, chunks of cheese, biscuits. Seemed
like a lot of food, but I could have eaten another little bit. Maybe
part of that was that fact that the quinoa didn't cook all the way and
thus expand to its full potential.
Hot lunch on the lake, cooked by joe, was a soup of spaghetti noodles,
dried veggies, brown rice, and a bag of bread stuffing that Pepperidge
Farm made. Biscuits cooked over the fire. Dinner was rababu and quinoa
with a strange mix ture of chili and soup base - seemed pretty bland
- don't know where all 2 lbs of cheese went, but those who wanted thirds
got them. I cleaned the pot and got fourths. Could have beeen more,
it seemed because I still wanted food at the end. Passed around Joe's
cookies sent from home. Good and crisp, but nice to have. more of them
in tomarrow's day food.
Misha and Mathias took their food out from the food sacks in preparation
for the group solo, and it sure seems like it. We still have most of
the cheese, but our already limited day food is way down. This leg may
be stressful yet...
Our last full day with Grandfather ray was spent mostly on lake mansfiel,
Skiing getting shown an active beaver lodge, gettig tips like: 1) the
buds of basswood trees are really good. can be added to cereal like
grape-nuts! crunchy and sweet. 2) the powder off the bark of young poplar
trees can be used like yeastbread. WOW! 3) the pollen and young buds
of spruce and tamarac can be eaten and collected, is like sugar, but
Grandfather says is high in protein, I think that what its used for
at least. I forget the details.
While setting camp for lunch Misha got pretty frustrated, especially,
I think at Joe (although he didn't express it to its full extent because
Grandfather was there), and after lunch was over the seven of us stayed
around the fire while Misha, Mathias, Danya, and Grandfather came back
to camp.... Must ... Sleep
.... Arghh...
5th day of the 4th section of the trip
42nd day on the trail
Monday, March 15th
15k travelled
Stefan Hofer-Fay
Today was our last day with Grandfather Ray and we said our goodbyes.
It was hard to leave him but once we had we were by ourselves. I was
leader today. We came into the Trapp Family Lodge trails, and Evan and
I went to the lodge to buy F4 which helps to keep the skis from sticking.
The rest of the the group went to a cabin on the trail to wait. Emily
was with Misha and Mathias because she had a headache. After rejoining
everybody, we went down to a stream and set camp alongside it. There
was a really fun downhill on the way to camp. Setting up camp without
Misha and Mathias's instructions was interesting but it went pretty
well.
6th day of the 4th section of the trip
43rd day on the trail
Tuesday, March 16th
14 k travelled
Joe Madrigali
We still had no contact with Mish and Mathias but for when we passed
them. After we got ahead, Evan took a photo of the group on the solo
with Mt. Mansfield in the background. We skied some more and ran into
2 people and talked to them some, then came to camp. It feels good to
be by ourselves.
7th day of the 4th section of the trip
44th day on the trail
Wednesday, March 17th
17.5 k travelled
Saul Blocher
It was a generally down hill day. We skied through a lot of farm land
and fields, even a golf course. At the beginning conditions were perfect,
with the fresh powder on top of the crust. It was lucky that we got
the snow, otherwise some of the fields would have been just grass, rocks,
and dirt. As it was we sometimes had just barely enough to ski on. All
day we followed or didn't follow Misha and Mathias's tracks. We saw
one place where they went into a house that was beside the trail. Evan
was navigator and did an ok job. He was behind some of the time. Em
lead, and I have no complaints. We are camped in some beautiful soft
woods on the side of some semi groomed trails.here even at low elevation
the soft woods have a heavy presence in the forest, and today we passed
the first cedars that I have seen that have not been planted. Near where
we are camped, I found a large hemlock and underneath it were a bunch
of small branches that had been snipped off by ! something with teeth,
squirrel or porcupine? Who knows, but today was a long day and I need
sleep.
8th day of the 4th section
45th day on the trail
Thursday, March 18th
17.5 k travelled
Jane Larsen
I'm tired. We went a long way on the trail until we met up with Misha
and Mathias, and then were told to keep going. So we soldiered on. Its
a nice camp tonight that we set in the dark, splitting wood by headlamp
and such. Em is covering my butt on cooking tonight. Misha gave us kielbasa,
half an onion, carrots, and bread. Em made a marvelous soup, nice and
spicy. It was so good with the fresh carrots and kielbasa.
I'm exhausted so off to sleep.
9th day of the 4th section
46th day on the trail
Friday, March 19th
? k travelled
Joe Madrigali
the day before THE PARENT VISIT so Misha helped us pick a campsite that
would be good to stay at for three days. We met Misha and Mathias in
the morning for navigation and they stayed with us for the rest of the
dy so we could all camp together and prepare for the parents.
10th day of the 4th section
47th day on the trail
Saturday, March 20th
0 k travelled
Chris Clarke
Some of us went out to greet the parents and bring them to our camp.
Only seven people came. We set up a wall tent and gathered firewood.
I started making papa spoon jr., we had dinner and went to bed.
11th day of the 4th section
48th day on the trail
Sunday, March 21st
0 k travelled
Evan Griffith
Day 2 of the parent visit layover (parents left in the A.M.):Made lean
to prep for solos
Weather:
warm n' wet:low of 25 degrees; 28 degrees at 6:30. Stratus 100% No sun,
but bright anyway, is that a "mostly suny"?
Got another 2 inches of wet snow. Wind from SE, moon one night past
new.
Food:End of parent food:HUGE pot of oatmeal tha we saved for lunch,
2 doz. eggs, some turkey sausage(1lb?), an onion, lots of cheese. That
was breakfast.
Lunch was left over oatmeal, more fruit, loaf of bread, the last of
cream cheese, hard boiled eggs- 1 dozen. All good but not too much.
Dinner was a full pot of soup that solidified with too much stuff added
to it: cous cous, beans, 1 can of tomatoes, an onion, lots of cheese....
2 biscuits with cornmeal from em's house.
Packed out food for individual solos today. Turns out we had way too
much food. We didn't think the parents would bring enough food for all
of us for lunch to day, we didn't think they'd bring as much as they
did nin general and we didn't realize how much we packed for ourselves.
We got 3 times as much flour as we needed because Jennifer brought
a bunch, had way more oatmeal than we needed, 2 whole extra breakfasts,
parents brought tons of granola, nuts, dried fruit, etc. none of which
we needed for this leg, but we didn't have any for the next leg, so
its not all that bad, except that we have to carry it arpound for the
next 2 days on our solos. People need to be hungry for this, I think.
Make everything with lots of water, maybe. I wish i had some cinnamon,
sugar, and salt, but oh well. I'll get by. And live, not survive.
Solo starts tomarrow before breakfast for most of us. Joe, Em, and
Stefan all started this P.M. by building themselves shelters to sleep
in after dinner here in the tent tonight, Em and Stefan are both in
the lean-to that we all made as practice, and Joe's camped outsomewhere.
i'm really excited to head out alone. I can't wait to see what happens,
what I find. I hope something small happens to make for a good story.
I want a good story for myself.
Early to bed, early to rise. That's what I need.... I hope my stuff
is dry after the snow and warmth.
P.S. The parent visit was great. Much less of a burden then I thought.
Em's cooking made it super easy for me. Bed.
12th day of the 4th section
49th day on the trail
Monday, March 22nd
16k travelled
Stefan Hofer-Fay
Today we all started our individual solos. Emily and I stayed in a shelter
that the group had made yesterday. Joe slept by himself in a shelter
he had made. We all spaced ourselves fairly evenly. From now on was
my personal solo experience.
I started out and my boots were frozen solid in the beginning but they
slowly unfroze, and my feet warmed up. The sled was covered in ice so
it was a bit hard to pull, until I deiced it. I had the stove, splitting
maul, and my burl in the sled which made it quite heavy and hard to
pull. I skied for about 16 k and I passed just about everybody at least
once. They passed me though when I stopped to patch my blisters with
duct tape. I made my camp on a saddle. I made my shelter by making two
snow walls parallel to each other but slanting down at the back. I covered
it with boughs and sticks. All my matches were wet, so I ended up going
to a cabin and finding some dry strike anywhere matches. After that
and before that I had an awesome experience.
13th day on the 4th section
50th day on the trail
Tuesday, March 23rd
3k travelled
Jane Larsen
I woke up in the beautiful morning gold, all alone on my solo. I took
my time, made ash cakes in the morning for breakfast, and coal burned
a spoon. I heard 3 people go past in fairly rapid succession, and figured
it was about time to take down camp. So I waited while my fire burned
down, pulled up my bough floor, and scattered the ashes. Then I headed
out for a short ski , over Rt.14, over Black River, and to the sign
that read Craftsbury Common, and said hi to Stefan who stood under the
sign. Then Joe and Chris showed up and showed us where we were staying.
So we pulled of our boots and waited until the rest of the group came
in. Everyone showed up quickly but Saul who was bush wacking and took
his time coming down. It felt good to be part of the group again.
Kroka Vermont Semester Program
Compiled by Jane Larsen, scribe
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