Blog 5: Sky Meadow At Last!

Dear Friends & Family,

           The first section of "Leg Three" was a blast. We spent ten days traveling and honing the winter living skills that we began to master during the first two sections of expedition. Whoever was filling the rotational chore of cook on any given day was required to step up their game, and each morning we had a “cooks challenge” to rate their performance in areas such as flavor, timeliness, and flare. Our travel days were short, leaving extra time for both the difficult terrain of the Catamount Trail and natural history lessons with Emily Turner.

            As we continued to travel and learn, the sun grew stronger.  We often found ourselves stopping to scrape sticky snow from our skis and precariously side-step across melting streams. Almost everyday we came across hills that had us stopping to strip down to T-shirts as we trekked up them.

            On March 25th, we arose early for an important day: The fabled "Bolton Trap Traverse". Since the beginning of expedition we had been hearing stories about this descent. The night before, we camped close to the point we would be skiing down from. In the morning we had a short climb before we reached a spectacular view, and our highest point of elevation for the day. There we paused for a drink, and looked out upon our next few days of travel.

            After a break, we began the beautiful descent that would bring us down almost 2,000 feet of elevation. Many students were nervous for this particular adventure in the days leading up to it, but their worries were for nothing. People fell of course- pulled off balance by their packs or turning sudden corners too fast. However, we navigated the steep terrain as experienced skiers. Looking back to our first ski trip at base camp, each and every person has improved incredible amounts, almost as if we spent our winter living upon skis.

The sign speaks for itself

The intrepid team ready to be challenged by the Green Mountains!

Sam, Izzy, Mayah, Jamie, and Ezra are ready to traverse

Emma skiing down the Traverse as the sun sets

Hazel skiing down

            At the bottom of Bolton Trap we found Hanah, Nathan, and Becky awaiting our arrival at the Trout Club Lodge. Here, we had a short layover: we divided up our food, were assigned smaller groups, and learned how to set up tarps. After two days of preparation, we were ready. The teachers left at daybreak, marking the beginning of our independent group travel. We spent 24 hours traveling alone, and then met up with Emily, Becky and Sammy once again at a little farmhouse that was unfamiliar to us up until that point. Inside, we met two amazing octenegarian Vermont women. The Lepine sisters greeted us with stories and cookies, which we enjoyed in the comfort of their home before splitting up once more: this time for a total of five days. In groups of threes and fours we said hesitant goodbyes to our teachers and friends. We skied over the rise of the land, into a new adventure altogether, nervous but determined.

Andrew, Chase and Ezra working on maps for their independent group travel

            On Thursday morning at 9:04am, the first group could be spotted strolling into Sky Meadow Retreat Center. Covered in pot black and mud and grinning from ear to ear, Emily greeted them at the door and they immediately began to shed gear- some of it for the last time this winter. I bet you could have heard their happy voices from a mile away as they pulled off stinky ski boots, and set aside their backpacks at last. So began the long process of closing down winder expedition. By three o’clock, we were all busily putting away gear, working on our Big Jobs, and settling in. Chock full of stories from our time away from the group, we chattered and worked our way into the beginning of spring expedition.

Andrew coming down the Sky Meadow driveway at the completion of the 2015 Vermont Semester winter expedition.

Jamie welcomes Cat home to Sky Meadow

Chase and Ezra walking their last steps of winter expedition.

Emily Turner and Rachel welcome students to Sky Meadow

Mayah with a smile after five days of independent group travel.

Nathaniel with a smile for Misha upon his arrival.

Sam dances in to Sky Meadow in style.

Teachers, Sammy and Becky

Students are proud of their journey and looking forward to their next adventures.

What’s Next?

As we wrap up winter leg, we are also beginning to settle into our new Big Jobs. On April 6^th, we will head to Oujé Bougoumou to spend ten days learning from the Cree people with our Kroka teachers Emily Turner and Oliver Mednick. When we return to Sky Meadow, we will begin preparations for spring expedition in earnest. In addition, we will celebrate the transition by spending a weekend visiting with our families! The next update that you will read will have a different author. Thank you for reading my posts, and bearing with my (sometimes) hasty news.

Creative writing & quotes:

Energy

Chase

Energy comes from within

Warmth is learned through fear

Putting together the stove is not so clear

5 pipes, 1 stove, 3 elbows, and two shelves are the case

please just put them in the right place.

Tripods are needed no matter what the situation

There is no need for contemplation.

Pipes fit the way that they do.

Don’t shove them in the way you want to.

So things change every day,

There is a small price to pay-

Consistence and pride comes on.

“When your light is cast to darkness, call and I will come.”               

-12 word poem

Noa with a big grin.

“I’m the guyliest girl here!”

-Emma

“The momentum of the trail forces you to be.”

-Izzy

Izzy and Emma, both alumni of the 2014 Kroka Ecuador Semester, challenge themselves to balance together.

“The next step is going to be glorious. The ending of one expedition is just the beginning of another.”

-Misha

“I am homesick for trail life”

-Cat

“I’m excited to be somewhere new”

-Hazel

“That there is a well cut bagel”

-Chase

Blog 4: Farm & Wilderness to the Kingsbury Farmhouse

Dear Friends & Family,

Our second leg was a success! From spoon carving to tree identification, we learned new skills each and every day.  Cassandra Sherts, 2014 Vermont Semester Alumni joined us for the entirety of this leg, and brought along her own knowledge of life on the trail.

 On March 7^th, long-time Kroka teacher Chris Knapp joined us for a two-day live-over. and shelter-building workshop.  On Sunday morning we awakened early and followed Chris into the woods. He led us to the shelter he had carefully created the evening before and described the key elements of successfully building and using such a shelter. The main elements we sought were: protection from the wind, the nearness of resources, (such as boughs and firewood) and a good reflector/base wall. After the lesson, we broke into pairs and went in search of shelter sites. Some picked overturned tree roots, others chose the sides of rocks, and others still decided to build their own reflector walls.  Once locations had been agreed on and our temporary homes created, we built fires and began cooking ourselves dinner. The rest of the night's events were unique to each group: some stayed awake all night to tend their fire and others settled down in their sleeping bags to get some well-earned sleep. The next morning was a joyful reunion of tired smiles, hugs, and hilariously exaggerated stories. We relished a breakfast cooked by teachers, bid farewell to Chris and set out on our skis.

            
As the leg wore on, we began to find ourselves coming across outsiders more and more often. Just two days before we reached Kingsbury farm, we made some particularly memorable friends. We sat at the bottom of Lincoln Gap, resting and practicing our tree identification before making the long uphill trek to find camp. Down the trail came two friendly faces who stopped to make conversation on the way to their car. After a pleasant exchange, they brought out some sweets that seemed almost foreign after being on trail for so long. However, this was not the extent of their generosity…

            
The following day, we had a unique agenda. Leaving our camp set up, we received some visitors from Kroka: Hanah, Meg, Lisl, and Nimrod. Our merry crew then proceeded to hike up to the top of Sugarbush, and had an enjoyable ski down the mountain- all without packs! To get back to camp, the group made their way back to Lincoln Gap and happened to pass a junction with the Catamount Trail on the way. We found a note and were soon led to a trail sign laden with goodies. Chris and Sue, if you are reading this, you are true angels!

            
This leg of our trip was full of adventures, many more than can be described in the short period of time I am given to write this update. We are all overjoyed to be here at Kingsbury Farm preparing for our last leg of winter trail; 18 days of skiing, natural history, and adventure. We are sending our love and joy out to our parents, loved ones, and the Kroka community at large.

Happy almost spring!

           
- Mayah 

Andrew and Nathanael:

“We enjoyed the creativity of building a frame with Y sticks as well as creating a bough floor and back wall reflector and then settled down in our sleeping bags warmed by the radiating rock wall and protected from the falling snow by our slanted roof. The next morning we skied in to camp and enjoyed a warm bowl of kasha.”

Mayah and Emma:

“Our shelter was constructed relatively quickly and efficiently, and by the time the sun set the fire was lit and dinner was cooking. We had the interesting challenge of making spaghetti in a frying pan, but it worked out in the end and our meal was concluded with delicious cheesy biscuits created by Emma. The rest of the night consisted of reading, conversation, and fire watching. In the morning we skied back to camp with a better understanding of each other and the wilderness we are existing in.”

Sam and Chase:

“We started early and ended early! A lot of creative ideas were bounced around, and the finished product was something we were proud to call home for the night, even if our roof looked like it was “laid by a bunch of wild boys, not Cree women.” We slept warm, and had a blast in the woods.”

Cat, Rachel and Noa:

“The perfect work-brings me through day and into night as a complete reflection of my inner soundness working under swaying trees, bent into the bush, then hushing beside a flame; arms entangled around friends and our central tree, and waves of warmth. The snow falls just beyond my nose, the moon wanes, the stars pour down. I am safe in every move.”

Ezra and Jamie:

We built a shelter using two fallen trees to our advantage. We shoveled out the snow and then laid poles and evergreen boughs over the sides. Just as our dinner was finished, we realized that the fire was a little bit too close to the wall, and decided to evacuate. Nevertheless, we had a great night.

Alone with a fire

Letter to fire

Chase

To my friend and companion old man fire:

I wanted to thank you for the natural warmth you give me. The idea of warmth comes from you and is used greatly. To me fire is a source of life and can die but always is brought back.

You give many people hope and love with all the things you can do. Individuals consume this energy without knowing what its greatest power is. To me its “life” it can take or give hope and life that is more powerful than the warmth it gives.

To that I thank you with my being and inner warmth. Thank you for life, hope, warmth, and love.

With regards,

Chase Jaye

Mayah’s Haiku

The wind shall carry

Bolder breath into your lungs,

Even through blizzards

Digging out a shelter

Our "Quinzee" Snow Shelter

Here they come!

There they go!

Mount Abe

Blog 4: Leg One of Expedition

Dear Family & Friends,

           Our first weeks of travel were full of learning, laughter and movement. Each day that we make and break camp, we become just a little bit more efficient. With a little bit of help and a lot of willpower, we have learned all of the skills required to live outdoors during the winter months.

            Our travel days consist mainly of eating, skiing and sleeping. First comes breakfast, a study block, and breaking camp. About three hours after we rise, we are ready to pull on our packs and move onwards. We strap on skis and say farewell to our temporary home. From there, it is all movement. We spend the majority of our day talking, trekking up hills, breaking trail, falling down hills, eating, and reflecting as we constantly glide towards our next destination. At the end of the day we choose a good place to camp, and split up into groups: some head out again to collect boughs, others find our firewood, and the rest are left to set up the tent. This whole process may take us hours, but we are kept working by our excitement for dinner and the warmth that awaits. When firewood is cut and split, boughs are laid inside the tent, and dinner is cooking, we pull on our slippers and clamber into our candle lit sanctuary at last.

            Due to our studies, Misha has nicknamed us all as characters from The Odyssey. We have fun trying to use Homeric language as we go about our daily tasks, and come up with creative epithets for one another as we ski along. In addition to English, we enjoyed a short wilderness medicine course where we learned about the risks that come with outdoor living, and how to prevent and deal with different situations that could arise while on trail.

            As students begin to do long shares, (fifteen minutes of time for an individual to share about themselves with the group), the community is starting to shape itself in new and beautiful ways. With every task we accomplish and every meal we share we become more interdependent. At the same time we are seeing one another and ourselves more clearly with every bend in the trail. As individuals are pushed beyond their comfort zone by the long days and chilly nights, we are day by day discovering parts of our beings that we never knew existed. This is the beauty of carrying all that you need upon your back… This is the beauty of life on trail.

Creative writing from the trail:

The Language of the Heart

Rachel

There is a language that we are developing here, within the canvas walls of our tent and the boundless freedom of the wilderness. Is it there in Ezra’s ever moving hands, in Hazel’s joyous laughter, in the small sudden smile of Cat. Whenever I see Andrew, lost in thought while leaning against a centuries old maple or Mayah curled up in a corner with pen flying across the pages of her journal or Emma bent over her maps, it feels like the world is all contained within that moment. The stove with sides glowing red under Chase’s care warms our small world and allows us to venture out into the wider and wilder one. We few who brave this winter with naught but the packs on our backs, we are learning to speak without words; we are finding the language of heart.

Welcome To Vermont

Sam

There is always traffic roaring

Over roads

And under bridges pouring

Dull metal in luxury

Light Filled Beings

Mayah

As ice and grit envelope our bones,

We are constantly embraced by a deep desire for light.

Our cells soak up what little they find;

Great puddles of warmth being stored

Just below our freezing skin.

We must not forget what it is we hold out for-

That on the darkest of nights we may still find home.

That we may notice it all inside of ourselves,

Tucked away in corners we have yet to explore.

This is but the beginning…

Keep searching.

Cold Hands

Sammy

My hands are coldest

Returning from morning poops

After using snow

I asked a few people to describe first leg in one word… Here’s what they said.

Ezra: “Immersing”

Nathanael  “New-but-yet-familiar”

Noa  “Challenging”

Jamie  “Growing”

Izzy  “Hungry Mongrels!”

Emma  “Mountains”

Cat  “Orientation”

Some quotes from students:

Andrew

“We are surrounded by grandparents of the forest”

Hazel

“I remember on the first day getting on skis after the road walk and skiing down to Lake Warren… my backpack was so heavy and I was thinking, ‘how on earth am I going to do this?’ It’s just an incredible feeling to be at the end of leg one. I feel so accomplished.”

Chase

“I remember when I first started skiing, I fell constantly. Now I fly down hills all the time and it feels so easy.”

Crossing the Connecticut River...frozen for the first time in Kroka semester history

Chase carrying the titanium stove dutifully

Crossing Saxton's River

Students making bread-on-a-stick at the CCC cabin in Grafton

Jamie

You can guess what is about to happen...

A beautiful learning moment caught on camera

Hazel, well equipped with twigs for the fire screen.

Winter campsite

Mayah splitting wood for the evening's meal

A stunning contrast of light on forest greens.

Izzy practicing the self-arrest on a beautifully groomed snowmobile trail.

The semester crew at Mayah's family Farmhouse.

Skiing down Tinker Brook. The perfect opportunity to practice telemark turns.