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Vermont Semester
A 600 Mile Journey By Ski and Canoe (January-June
2004)
1 April, 2004
Dear friends, families, and interested members of the community,
We have finished the ski portion of our trip and
made it to our northern base camp at the Vermont
Leadership Center. The last section we were in small
groups. The groups were as follows: Chris, Joe, Stefan
and Evan was one group, and the largest, Emily and
Saul were one group, and Jane was the last group. For
this update, each group wrote about their experiences
on the trail.
This is Emily and Saul's journey, as written by Emily.
Saturday, 3/27/04
Sitting by a glowing fire, drying damp boots.
everything is damp, wet or soaking; the last few days
have been decidedly spring weather. We have lost
almost all the snow, save for some insulated by muddy
ice. This is no longer a ski expedition, but one long
road walk. About 15 kilometers left to VLC, and just
in time. even the roads are turning to a muddy mush,
the color and consistency of chocolate mousse.
My traveling companion for the past three days...
Saul. We are on a final solo for this stretch of the
trip. the remainder of the group is soloing as well,
Jane by herself (truly solo!), and the other four in
a small group. Saul and I were assigned to each other;
an "oppertunity to work out our differences", as
Mathias nicely put it.
And we seem to have risen to the challenge. We get
alof quite nicely if no one else is around. Neither of
us trusts the other to lead a group - the root of our difficulties. I don't think ther four days will change a lot. still its fun to travel with him. We sing or play recorders on roadwalks, and wok efficently together.
As part of our solo, we were responsible for all the prepartion. Maps, food, shelter, first aid, repairs - our one day at Sterling was full of packing and planning. We took the tarp and the fire screen; one small pot, an axe and saw, and a rough map from the VT Gazeteer. Our life is very comfortable, and it is exciting to know that we are capable of living tis was. And what a beautiful life!
3/28/04
300 miles of skiing and we're here! Saul, Jane, and I
arrived at the Vermont Leadership Center today at
around 1:30 P.M. Saul and I spent the day passing Jane
- we would catch up, pass her, then stop. Once it was
to climb bolders, once to put on shorts, once to eat
lunch. Meanwhile, she would plod steadily along. We'd
pass her and repeat the process.
Finally, we walked up a (muddy) drive was to VLC. We
sat on their front porch, waiting for someone to show
up. We ate a second lnch from our extra food then
spread out our socks to dry. Nice day nice sun. we
explored the Center a bit, looking for its
inhabitants. No one was around, even in the staff
housing. We attributied this to it being Sunday.
Around five o'clock, someone showed up and directed us
to our camp. Now I sit by the fire and reflect on our
journey. My feet are tired, my legs are sore and my
heart is happy.
This is Jane's journey as writen by Jane.
For me, this last leg was spent on my own. I began,
leaving from Sterling, with Misha, Mathias, Lynne,
Danya, and baby Mathias. The first day was spent with
those 5. We talked about what I would be doing and how
the trip was going. We weren't moving very fast
because Misha was pulling a sled that had Danya in it
part of the time, and Lynne was pulling a sled with
baby Mathias in it. We had to road walk some, and that
was hard because both sleds had o be carried. Near the
end of the day, we caught up with and passed the group
of four boys, Joe, Evan, Chris, and Stefan, when hey
were looking for camp.we went a bit further, thn the
rain started, and we quickly found camp. Everyone but
me set up their camp, and I set mine a little ways
off. I used the fly as a pyramid tent, and laid boughs
under my bed. I didn't bother to make a fire, because
I was having dinner with Misha and crew. at dinner we
talked of maps and how far I was allowed to go, and
what happens should I end up on roads. Then we relaxed
for a bit, and I headed off to bed.
The next morning I rose, took down the fly, pulled
up my boughs, scarfed a bagel with peanut butter, and
hit the trail just before Misha and crew. I think i
went pretty far, but not as far as I could have gone.
i camped at the edge of a clear cut, in a bit of a
swamp. I cooked my self up dinner of quinoa and beans
after rushing like mad to beat the rain, which wasn't
even really coming down that hard. all the needed
materials were pretty close, but the snow was terribly
punchy so going any where was hard. I had a nice fire,
and running water right nearby, my tent fly was set
and i was happy. I settled into my sleeping bag warm
and full.
The next morning was very foggy, and I headed out
early, after leaving a note for Misha and gang on the snowmobile trail. Just after I crossed a road, about two kilometers after where I had camped, I saw a flock of wild turkeys head into the woods, which was kind of cool. the skiiing was icy and sloppy all day. I made it into Barton and then got a bit lost, and decided that the road looked pretty good. So I followed Rt. 16 east, after calling in to the office to say that I was on the road. Many people stopped to offer rides, and two women found me just before I camped to talk, and gave me a bit of trail magic, an apple and an orange, which was a real treat to have. I camped that night on the edge of a field in a really wet cedar swamp, and went to bed just as it got dark. my head lamp decided to spaz out on me, so I barely even had time to do anything before I no longer had light. It had been a long day and I fell asleep quickly.
The next morning I awoke, tore down camp, and hit
the road again. I had a long day ahead of me, and the
sunrise through the heavy clouds hit the frost, making everything sparkle, and starting it off beautifully. I headed down 16 and went until west mre, then turned on to 5a south for a short bit, then on to Hinton Hill Rd. and took that as a short cut to the Vermont Leadership Center (VLC). Saul and Em caught up with me and passed me coming up Hinton Hill Rd. I got ahead of them when the road split, and then we met up again when we reached Ten Mile Square Rd. They went ahead of me to VLC, and i walked the last bit of the road barefoot because my feet were so sore from walking alll that way in ski boots. Em, Saul, and I had lunch out on the porch of the Center, while we waited for someone to show up that could tell us where we were staying, and how to use the phone so that we could call the office, and say that we had made it. After a few hours, Alyla came and brought us to meet Sarah, who told us where to stay that night and how to use the phone. So we called the office, and then packed all our gear up off the porch and went to set up camp. We cooked up dinner and slept on a tent platform, under the tarp that was Em and Saul's shelter.
The next day, I woke up late, and so did Em and
Saul. Saul cooked breakfast and then headed out to
find what he could, while Em read and I read, then
took a nap. Saul talked to Jason, and found out a
little bit more of what was going on. Then Misha and
Mathias, showed up with Jason, and we headed out to
where our real campsite would be, in the meadow. We
started to cut poles and set up the sleeping tent. We
had just gotten to eating lunch when who should show
up, but the 4 boys. We finished setting the tent,
gathered some boughs, cooked dinner and shared our
stories. We were back as a group again.
The next day was a rush of camp work. We gathered
boughs, poles, firewood, and set up a tarp for a cook
tent. Another tarp was put over the sleeping tent, and
we organized our gear. as dark fell, we headed down to
the center for a celebration of finishing our ski leg
of the journey. We had lots of good food: mac and
cheese, salad, ice cream, and fresh bread. we put on performances for each other, and reminised about the journey. It felt like a good way to end the journey.
The next moring we worked like mad on academics, and
then Chris and Ashirah came, and some of us unloaded
the truck, and set up the big wall tent that would
serve as our cook tent. the rest of us continued work
on academics, until it was time for dinner and we
headed up to camp to eat and sleep.
This is the group of Evan, Chris, Stefan and Joe's
journey, as written by all of them.
3/25/04
Day 1 of leg 5
Day 52 since base camp
By Evan Griffith
small group"solo" with Stefan, Joe and Chris
Sterling, camped next to an old beaver pond, maybe 4-5
k from there(Sterling). Stefan recovering from unknown
illness
Weather: 80% cloud cover, but bright sun most of A.M.
really hazy the stratus moved in over cirrus/ alto
cumulus - rain for 4 hrs, mostly light soaking - we
got wet as we set up camp. Wind from E-SE strong at
times:4? too cloudy for moon, but Joe says 1/2 full
tomarrow. temp:low of 30? 36 at 8:00.
Foods: Sterling as great food. Made me happy, but i
exersised my will and only ate one plate full( also
wouls run out of time: couldn't get it all in me and
enjoy it and still have time for seconds.) Food
packout for smaller groups as well.
On the trail: our bagels(2 per person:one with cream
cheese, one with peanut butter) tasted and looked a
little mouldy but didn't kill anyone. Dinner first
night was mac and cheese and 1 biscuit. Too much water
for the mac, so the cheese never realy got spread
around. Just sank to the bottom in huge gooey
globs.Pretty good, almost enough food with all that
water. Better luck next time. Joe's making grits for
breakfast. Don't feel hungry now. Barely worked today.
Boy, its sad to leave Sterling after such a short
stay there. I had a really good time, even though I
didn't get a chance to do any academic work,
waterproof my boots, epoxy my bindings, reglue my
gators, catch up in my journal, or write home, or
write about my solo. The welcomeness I felt and the
sense of belonging and the lack of aquackwardness I
usually feel in high-schools or colleges I visit all
made it a great experience. 100 students there.
We helped with farm chores, sat in on part of an
ecology class, visited one of the teachers --- a
primitive skills prof.--- at his house off campus. Got
to sit in on a whole-school commnity meeting, and ...
we got to eat in their dang good dining hall. We did a
little informal presentation over dinner on what we
were doing, and relized how we needed to learn how to
present uour selves and the story of our journey to
other people. I thought we did a pretty bad job of
presenting our experience.
Now, even though I sort of really wanted to do a
5-day solo to VLC because i spent so much time on my
1-nighter thinking about everyone else, and because i
don't feel like i got any really funn , profound,
insightful, spiritual stories out of the shorter one,
I'm now camping to the VLC with Joe, Stefan, and
Chris, the big tent, the big stove in the black sled,
and 5 days of food.
Stefan's in the process od recovering from some
unknown illness including head, throat, stomach, and
general lack of energy, so we made a really short day
of it. Plus we spent a long time being disoriented
because we're supposed to be on snowmobile corridor
16, but all the snowmobile signs say C14 south, so
we're a bit confused. Misha passed us though so we
must be on the right track.
I feel tired from the layover and sort of aalso from
the short day.when i 'm ready to go but am not going i
tend to be tired all the time. the rain to day zapped
my energy too. After a while i basically stopped
helping to gather boughs and fire wood and just
started a fire , talked to stefan who was sitting in
the ten ressting, fixed and re-fixed the stove jack,
tightened and adjusted the guy lines, etc. Generally
puttered and stayed near the fire.
I think the 4 of us will get along fine, even though
neither Stefan nor Chris have bowls. We're being
inventive, and I hope to be up early so we can dry the
tent and catch up to Misha and Mathias. We promised
we'd tell them what Stefan's up to. Only went 1/2 as
far as the others. Bed.
4/26/04
Day 53
Friday
14 k
By Chris Clarke
We got up, packed, and had bearkfast. We got on the
trail. We found two dead trees with two burls each. We
took them and filled the sled with two. We traveled
far t get to where we were to camp. Weset up camp,
made and ate dinner.
Day 3, section 5
Day 54
By Stefan Hofer-Fay
Today we awoke to a wet tent and no stove to dry it
out. We made breakfast over an open fire and got out
of camp rather late. We were supposed to be skiing
with Misha and Mathias and they were already ahead so
we had to catch up with them. Shortly after meeting
with them we walked by a guy's house and he came out
and told us that we looked like Russians coming over a
hill but he said that it's alright because he was
friendly. It was pretty funny and it made us laugh
pretty hard. We then continued on and made a wrong
turn onto a secondary snowmobile trail. We had a fun
downhill there but ended up having to retreat back up
it. There we broke away from Misha, Lynne, Mathias,
Danya, and baby Mathias because they were going too
slow with the sleds. We went under I-91 in the middle
of the day and we walked over some pretty nasty soggy
fields. We then ate a lunch of cheese on the railroad
tracks and at night we could only find pine for
firewood. Evan said that pine burns really fast so we
ended up getting lots of it and so we ended up with
about three times as much firewood as we needed.
Day 4 of section 5
Day 55 since base camp
By Joe Madrigali
Today we made a huge stash o all our unused fire
wood because we misjudged the amount we needed.
Yesterday we wrote Misha, Mathias, Lynne, Danya, and
baby Mathias a note then skied off through the forests
and walked through he fields. We called it skwalking.
All the slushy snow from yesterday froze overnight and
it was very slippery. We met up with Misha and
Mathias 1/2 way through the day, an then they went
ahead, and we camped at the tip of Lake Willoughby
about 5 feet from the snowmobile trail.
Day 5 of leg 5
Day 56 since base camp
By Evan Griffith
Weather: Low of 28 degrees. 30 degrees at 7:00. No
clouds whatsoever. 0% cloud cover, sunny, wind 2-3
from south west. Moon 1/2 full. No percipitation,
despite the frost yesterday.
Foods: Had grits with a tiny bit of cheese for
breakfast. Never enough. Today's day food was mostly
granola that Saul's mom made with lots od raisins,
panes, tex-mix added. The most day food we've had this
section.
Had a boil up lunch at 1 or 2 P.M. when we relized
that we'd be at VLC that evening, so had the meal of
rababu, the meal of kasha, all the extra butter, all
leftover cheese, a sugar iscuit with all the extra
sugar... arrived here with no food but some of Chris's
day food and the spice kit. Dang good.
For dinner we had 7 slightly mouldy bagels, toasted
into croutons, and served alongside a big soup made
from extra foods from peoples packouts: some rice,
lentils, kasha, quinoa, rababu with TVP, refried
beans, butter, cheese... th only thing not from
peoples packs was cheese... and butter. Looks like the
4 of us were the only ones woth out enough to eat.
Feels really good to be here. this A.M. I thought we
were in for another full day od mud walks, but after
finally summiting goodwin mt. we picked up the snow
and followed the snowmobile trail down to Town Farm
Rd. --- almost mostly covered in snow --- to another
small road, where we stashed the sled (I hope well
enough to avaoind a curious eye) and, later, had our
boil up in a cedar swamp near a farm.
Felt really good to walk, especially with out the
sled. It felt fine, even though the bottoms of my feet
were hurting pretty badly by the end. We stopped in
East Charleston and bought 4 tiny packs of crckers
with cheese full of all kinds of crap made by Nabisco
or Frito-Lay at a country store/gas station (regular $1.99/gal).
Our hearts again made lighter by the dose of junlk
food (we were just coming off the sugar biscuit high),
we made it to Ten Mile Square Rd. where we took a
photo at a sign for the VLC in no time. I was not
looking forward to the road walks, but they were a
great change of pace, and much easier because we could
just go - no putting on taking off skis. Justgo,
arrive. It was really great to see everyone again,
although i missed them suprisingly little. As we were
skiing up through a ski trail at VLC to where we were
camped and I saw Saul, Em, and Jane running like mad
towards us it felt like it was ok, even good to close
the ski section. The end.
The only other piece of news that this last ski
section update is going to give, is that the parent
visit is moved to April 25th, and that we are looking
for a parent coordinator. Thank you.
Kroka Expeditions
Vermont Semester Program
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