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Vermont Semester
A 600 Mile Journey By Ski and Canoe (January-June 2004)

29 April, 2004: Final update from the Vermont Leadership Center

Dear Everybody,

Well, the whole wheat flour dust from the food packout has settled, our packbaskets are done after two full days working on them, the canvas spring tent we've been working on is done ( and is huge), and we're now wrapping up any final outstanding (yes, that's still the overdue kind of outstanding) work from this month, namely one last round of thank you's, some final sewing work (nylon packbasket liners, a bag for Joe's guitar case), and this update. Misha and Mathias just arrived from a staff training in Newfane with the van, so we are now in the process of sending our base camp gear back down south ahead of us. There is a big empty feeling in the bottom of my stomach as if we are in the process of leaving a house full of memories. Thank you to all the VLC staff for providing this space for us, for their commitment, and for their willingness to answer our thousands of questions.

While nearly everything of ours has been swept into the driveway to be packed into the van, our house, the Vermont Leadership Center, is far from empty, and we haven't moved very far: our thirty pieces of personal gear for the spring, as well as four days of food, the tent, the expedition tarp, and a small outfitters' worth of group gear, have all been transferred to our "Hobo Camp" beside the Clyde River, and for today at least, we are straddling both the base camp and trail lifestyles: waking up and eating breakfast along the river before walking up to the VLC to wrap up, pack up, stitch up, and clean up before hefting our boat ("Kasha" ) onto our shoulders, turning our backs on the VLC, and truly beginning our new life on the water. Before that can happen, however, we must pass our composting toilet off to the Center, drop ten days worth of food at the mouth of the Nulhegan, and say goodbye to this base camp life.

We have now spent about equal times on the trail as at base camps in Newfane and East Charleston . Soon we begin to change that equation. Now, with some trepidation, many happy memories, and more excitement than I can possibly articulate, we set our to bring this journey full circle and complete what we have started.

For the Vermont Semester Program,
Evan Griffith