NHVSP 2011 Update 8

A happy group arrived at NorthWoods Steward Ship Center
left to rt: Bridie, Nimrod, Zane, Sam, Serene, Rosa, Mathilde, Jon, Jake, Tim, Julian, Tobias.
Misha and Nate in the front

     Only a few days after I wrote down the last update, I sit here at the office of Northwoods Stewardship Center, writing my last update. We’ve gone about 300 miles since base camp in Marlow, NH and we’re now at the half point of our journey. Spring teases us with coming for a day or two and then disappearing in a blizzard.  This morning was around 0°F, and almost 3 feet of snow are still on the ground; yet catkins are appearing on trees, the sun is out for warm bits occasionally and we know spring won’t fail us. As we settle into base camp life in Northwoods, building our little village and wrapping up the winter expedition, we look towards spring: new big jobs, pounding ash for baskets, building canoes, carving paddles and preparing for our life on the river.

Nimrod 

There isn’t going to be a long update about the last few days so I will just add a few words about small group solos. After a long, hectic expedition preparation which went way into the night (most went to sleep between 12:30 and 2 AM), we woke up at the usual waking time, had a big, protein rich breakfast for heroes, finished our last-minute preparations, took down our camp, filled our water bottles with maple sap and set out in our groups of four. Tobias, Rosa, Mathilde and Tim set out first. Not long after Heartbeet they found a road-killed porcupine named Jimmy, which they skinned, gutted and roasted over the fire. Their tales are unknown from there, except the fact that they reached Northwoods safely. The second group to set out was Zane, Bridie, Julian and myself – we travelled fast across the North Country, so fast we almost forgot to camp one night. The third group was Sam, Jake, Serene and Jon, who did everything the right and safe way.

   To conclude this update, I will just say I loved talking to y’all over the last 10 weeks. To those who are confused, this is not the last update, but rather the last update I will write. So, goodbye!

         -Nimrod

Quote of the expedition: “Certainty of Death, Small Chance of Success, What are we Waiting For?” Gimli, son of Gloin

A Very Long Poet’s Yurt

On our last night

We slept together side by side

Held in a cradle of tree limbs

Projected by the moon onto our tent

I remember the feeling

So content

So confident

So eager and ready for the dawning of tomorrow.

         -Sam

As the daylight slips away, in comes the night sky with the moon and stars to take its stage.

A beautiful sight that doesn’t fade as you age.

Bridie

Why do we close the curtain to the stage by being in constant cage in this time and age?

I have opened my eyes to this beautiful starry sky by opening the stage curtain, for this is better than the constant cage I am certain.

The green boughs as my cradle,

The thermos cup as my ladle.

The wood to burn

Will keep me warm in turn.

This very memory of that night

Will stay shining bright

As long as the stars keep shining at night.

         -Bridie

Two-

Sharing one talent

Two-

Coming together

To play one song

A fiddle and guitar.

         -Tim

Shoveling out the base for "Honey Hollow"
Jon, Rosa, Serene and Jake

Work

I’m working but I want to work harder

I want to work and think only of my work

I want my hands to know where to go

And what to do

I’ve known idle time

I’ve known endless comfort

How it can kill

Body and soul

I don’t want to work for the end result

I want to work for the work itself

Because life is work

I want to stomp out all signs of my

Lazy youth

I want to never shy away from

The necessary effort

From the next task

From the painful, difficult but vital parts

Of life

         -Jon

The forest is my friend

I thought

As I sat under boughs and sticks

Warm in the winter snow

Who was it who told me

To be cautious of the woods

To be safe and not get lost

And be careful not to trip on roots?

‘cause the other day

I fell down the stairs

And they didn’t feel any safer to me

Than a fallen tree or bush

Who was it who warned me

About the cold and snow?

‘cause I’m feeling mighty warm right now

Out in the dark cold

I snuggled my feet towards the fire           

And laid my head on boughs

And thought of all the good hard work

Right here in my hands.

         -Rosa

Beautiful Northeast Kingdom

They come with a

Strong presence and large vibrations

They come across the stream

Slithered over our tangled veins

Threw down their burdens and took all

Their work

They take from us

They change the scene, changing the sounds,

Changing the smells, smoke, food, socks,

The odors of a dozen or so unwashed

Teenagers

They change the vibrations

Slamming axes, dragging saws, moving feet

Now they are silent, lost in their thoughts

Them like us are growing

But them unlike us are going

This is only a stop on the map

A moment in a much larger scheme

Will they even remember taking our boughs

And our wood? Probably not. Will they ever

Come back? Probably not. But for now they

Love us.

         -Tobias

Jake, Tim and Tobias

Weather moving in to put weight on my belt.

Making me appreciate the sun.

Mighty Northwest

Cold, blue.  Bright.

Through the frigid air

      Radiates a warmth.

The Grey

       Warmer, freezes deeper

Bringing the burden of the heavens

         Unfolded

And the freedom of that weight

In the confines of my mind

   Is no longer a distraction.

         -Jake

Serene

Invitation to group solo

Will you join me on this

Wild adventure through the woods?

We might get lost, we may get hurt

We will get tired

But we will do it together

We will lift each other up along the way

When the going is hard

Our hands/minds will work together

In unison

For we are a family on this adventure.

-Serene

To be Alone

Fear fills most hearts when exploring the

Dark spaces of their brain. The forgotten

Memories, some decidedly left behind, others

Blissfully washed away. But still forgotten,

It is not often one gets to

Sit by themselves and think deep. Putting

On the Indiana Jones hats and

Diving into the unknown regions of self.

Most see their caves, and shy

Away wishing for company to comfort them

Out of the self. Those people are lonely.

It is only when you can be at peace

With your past, present and future

That you can find serenity and joy

In being alone.

Being lonely is not bad, seeking comfort

And confidence in someone helps you grow

In a completely different way.

But next time you find yourself looking down a dark corridor

Turn off your light

And take a step

Into yourself

And welcome what comes with understanding

And a sense of gratitude

Mathilde, Serene and Tobias

For who you are today

And learn to be alone.

-Zane

I would stay here and live well. Live

Beautifully, here by this stream, these

Trees, this open sky, these three people

That I have around me. This is not all

There is in the world, and I would not

Stay forever. But for a few days,

We could build a life here, if we

Had them. Let our souls settle for

A while.

-Mathilde

Fire, so much power

Burning so brightly

In forest so nightly.

Fire, warmth and strength

The secret to success

Of the human race.

 This is to you,

Friend, foe and lover,

Who stands beside me,

Against me and behind me.

-Nimrod

       

NHVSP 2011 Update 7

   Our short layover at Battleground was quickly over and we left civilization, heading into the forest.  Once again we were leaving our teachers Chris and Lu behind. This leg was different; our teachers weren’t going to be part of the daily routine any longer. When weather permitted, they would spend the night outside of the tent.

   As usual, we found ourselves eating melted ice cream in unusually hot weather, so hot that Jake and Tim skied pant-less. After a short while Chris and Lu caught up with us but stayed in the back, trying not to get involved. As we found camp they skied in and built a quick snow and bough shelter for themselves. We ate our trail mush with great cheer, prepared by Jake and Sam – the first Cook’s Challenge contestants. The third leg would test the skills we learned during the first and second legs, from setting up the tent and stove to finding dry firewood to identifying trees and twigs.

   The second day started with steep long uphill and then a long descent.  We met Tim Yandow (Tobias’ father) and skied some more. It was an eventful day known for “gravitational breaks”- falling for no reason while standing. We found ourselves lost many times. We ended up on a wild bushwhack through the private properties of a big farm, and when we finally caught up to Chris and Lu, they'd been waiting for an hour. We made camp under cover of big, angry storm clouds, which unloaded a torrential downpour just after we went inside the tent for more trail mush and sleep. 

   On the third day we awoke to pouring rain. Chris and Lu announced that in their opinion, moving was not necessary, but instead we should stay and live over. However, the option was up to us. We decided to listen to the call of the bush and stay at our campsite. That came in useful as we learned how to make fuzz-sticks and hand-split firewood with knives, two good strategies for starting fires in the rain, and Tim lit his under cover of a root ball. We each lit our own fires successfully. It was a day of learning and saying goodbye to Chris, who would soon leave us.

   The next day started with a clash and a bang as the slightly rotten birch center pole Julian made broke at 4:30 AM, under the weight of two feet of snow. Bridie was trapped under the heavy cotton and snow and yelled at us while bench -pressing the tent: “I can breathe!” which everyone mistook for: “I can’t breathe!” which for some reason made us all laugh. Sam and Lu sprinted like lightning and shoveled snow off the tent while Chris got a new center pole. By the time we finished cleaning up the mess, it was already time to get up. That day was a hard day: we found that yesterday’s rain had made all our packs wet and frozen overnight. All our buckles and straps were frozen and almost impossible to adjust. I skied half a day without using either the hip strap or the sternum strap, which made my pack seem much heavier than it was. The tent also froze and was huge, barely fitting into Jake’s 95 liter pack. The skiing was difficult that day, having to break through 2 feet of powder, and we started a trail-breaking rotation for the first time in the entire expedition. 

Jon, Tim and Sam
carrying the canoe to the potential put in

That day was the notorious Winooski River Crossing day, when semester students traditionally cross the Winooski River with a canoe through the deadly cold water. If a person fell in, the expertise of no teacher could save him. Just before we launched the canoe at a treacherous put-in, since the traditional landing was frozen with thin yet unpaddleable slush, a man named Healey stopped by and asked us not to cross the river, saying he would drive us to our destination if necessary. Although Chris was confident of his and our abilities to safely cross the river, he decided to accept the offer to be polite to the man. Healey drove Chris and half our group to Smilie Elementary School with all the gear, while Lu and those of us to whom it was important not to drive walked seven miles to the bridge and across to Smilie School.

   The next day was the end of the journey with Chris and the start of the journey with Nate. We gave our presentation to the Smilie schoolchildren and invited them to come to visit our tent.  Then we packed up and road-walked the steep Bolton Valley access road. With Tobias navigating, we hiked up the road all the way up to the Nordic Valley Ski Center, sweat dripping all over the place from the long, hard climb. We then skied up to Bryant’s cabin where we stayed the night. We arrived at camp early and we didn’t have to set it up, so we went for a few runs down the steep hills of the cross-country ski center, in the perfect two feet of powder. We slept on the stiff boards of the cabin floor that night, missing the soft, fragrant boughs.

Bolton Trapp Traverse

   The next day, as Jon the navigator announced it, was the notorious Bolton-Trapp Traverse day. For those who are not familiar with Cross-Country ski trails, Bolton Trapp Traverse is an extremely steep, narrow trail down Bolton Mountain, filled to the brim with signs that say things like: “Experts only! Long, steep, narrow, unpatrolled trail, travel at your own risk!” That morning had to start with a breakfast for heroes in order for the day to succeed. Roger, Lu’s friend from Burlington, came in with about $100 worth of food, including bacon, eggs, blueberries and fresh milk, and the highlight was half a gallon of his own homemade maple syrup, which fit in perfectly with our own oatmeal. We then started up the mountain from Bryant’s cabin, and after a long ascent in which I had a very deep conversation with Mathilde about the usefulness of birch bark as wiping material, we started to traverse and descend in short, steep, narrow and winding sections through the powder. We could not but be very grateful for the beautiful conditions we had. After a while we stopped on a ridge where we could see our surroundings, ate some of Nate’s salmon jerky, had a conversation about the existence of catamounts/mountain lions, and started down the real descent, the one that wasn’t only steep and narrow but also long without stopping. We whirled down the mountain through the powder with great joy and pride of our skiing abilities. Eventually the forest around us became an open hardwood forest as we descended down the mountain. Tobias, Tim and Julian found a root covered in snow that served as a very big jump. They all went over it, which was amusing as they all fell and rose with big, snowy smiles. Julian’s jump was especially spectacular as he jumped off unbalanced, limbs flailing with a look of astonishment on his face. After we went down the hill we came to our resupply at Lake Mansfield Trout Club, and loaded the biggest amount of food we’ve ever carried on trail. Most people had two food bags, and Tim’s load had to be confiscated from him as he tried to carry three. After Rosa finished dealing out the last of the dried sourdough biscuits, we skied over to our campsite and had a nice big dinner.

   The next day we skied through the nicely groomed trails of the Trapp Family Lodge Ski Trails – the very same ones from The Sound of Music! After a long, gradual ascent we travelled downhill, at about the fastest pace we’ve travelled before due to the trail quality. We then broke off into the Catamount Trail and decided to bushwhack instead of going on a long loop. We got lost and decided to just continue downhill to the highway we knew existed there. We roadwalked on the highway, getting splatters of slush from passing cars, all the way to a hotel where the catamount trail was to be found. That night we camped in a beautiful hemlock magical Narnia land.

   On day eight, a rainy, misty, springy day, we broke trail uphill through the magical Narnia land while learning what type of trees grow in Narnia. After a long while of breaking trail and getting lost in the front yard of a hotel, we finally hit a groomed snowmobile trail, the kind that likes to go up and down and up and down. The trail brought back many memories of the first leg, where most of the paths we travelled on were of that sort. After a super long downhill we found a present from the gods: a patch of sugar maple trees – with buckets attached! The day was a perfect sugaring day: a cold, below freezing night draws the sap up the tree, and the warm day that follows sends it back down, into the holes drilled by man and into the buckets. Rosa must have chugged at least a full bucket of sap. After the refreshing drink we kept skiing, all the while smelling the strong earthy smell of plants and animals coming alive. We knew spring was on its way. We reached our liveover spot on a beautiful beaver flowage. This time of the year, beaver ponds are not as safe as they were in February, and we needed to use caution while skiing around the pond during to the melting of the ice.

   The next day was our first liveover with Nate. After a breakfast which included yummy sourdough, honey and apple biscuits we drew some more trees and learnt how to make a birch twig carabineer. During our walk in the woods we discovered a porcupine den with a lot of porcupine poop, and the owner itself sunbathing on top of the tree. One delicious lunch later we went into skills test. We showed our ability to tie knots and sharpen a knife to be razor sharp to Lu, and our abilities to navigate, light a match on the first try, and identify softwood and hardwood to Nate. Everyone did very well. Overall, it was a restful day.

Gert Lepine

   On day 10 we went and visited the Vermont legend: the Lepine Sisters. They used to be four, however one sister died recently. They led a hard farming life, raising one of the best Jersey herds in the nation, and working 45 years with not one day of break. They retired about ten years ago and sold the herd at an auction, and now live an active life of kayaking, fishing and exploring. They gave us raw milk from a neighboring farm, cookies and fresh bananas, lots of advice about working and their life stories, which were very interesting. We then skied on; most of the ski was through civilization. We camped on a beaver flowage around which we could see many tracks of Hare, Mink and Fischer amongst others. That was to be our last expedition camp with our teachers Nate and Lu.

   The next day started out with our last skills test to date – the twig and tree identification page. Ten twigs were laid on the snow, and we were to write their names in order on a piece of paper. Next we were all taken to the tree test, where Nate chose trees for us to identify – some obvious some more challenging. After the test came the pinnacle of the third leg: the large group solo, where we all travelled for three days and two nights with Lu and Nate following far behind and camping far away. We left the beaver flowage towards Mt. Elmore and climbed over and around it. Skiing conditions were icy and slippery, and the ski both uphill and downhill was slippery but fun. We saw a fox napping under a tree and managed to get really close to it before it suddenly woke up and trotted away. Eventually we hit a snowshoe/hiking trail full of footmarks, which were all iced in. This made the ski downhill very challenging and bumpy. Just on the bottom of the steep downgrade there was a metal gate, and as Zane rushed down not knowing what’s ahead, he heard Tim screaming: “stop, stop there’s a gate!” As he flew downhill trying to stop with all his might, and saying things that need not be repeated here, he managed to stop barely inches from the gate. He breathed a sigh of relief, carefully stepped over the gate and fell. A few kilometers later we found the Lake Elmore General Store, which sold many local, organic foods. We had group money, which we used to buy ice cream, milk, bread and sausage. That night camp was set up in record time around a fir burl forest.

   The twelfth day was one of the iciest, sunniest days we’ve experienced. Skiing down snowmobile trails was insanely fast and difficult on even the slightest downgrade. We stopped to sunbathe in sunny fields and kept going. On one downhill we took off our skis and let them glide down the trail ownerless. We picked the skis up and skied through forest and field, road walking some and coming very close to the Magic Garden Waldorf School. We bushwhacked downhill through conditions that were not as icy because the warm sun had started to melt the snow. We ended up in “an awesome dude’s driveway” as Tim described it before we met the dude, who did end up being pretty awesome and offering us his sauna. We had to politely decline as time was running at its usual pace. We camped on a beautiful campsite on the bank of a brook going into Wolcott pond. It was our last night as group on the expedition, and we all felt sad, but looking forward to new adventures.

   The last day of our expedition as a group was full of maple sap. Julian, who navigated, decided he did not want to go the way he had drawn. As a result, we arrived at Heartbeet 15 minutes late.  On the plus side, we met many people along the way. It started with a woman who shouted greetings to us from her window and offered help in finding our route, but did not know where to go. We then met another man who had a hot tub next to sugar maples with sap buckets, and finally a man on the slopes next to Heartbeet who owned a sugaring operation called “Ever Fair Sugar Makers” who showed us the right way through his sugar bush and the forest. We arrived at our last layover spot, set up the tent where we will be cooking our meals and settled in the barn where we will be sleeping.

   This layover offers much more interaction with people than our last two did. It is a small Camphill community dedicated for people with special needs. Every day, we interact with the “friends” (the people with special needs) and coworkers who take care of them. We help take care of the farm animals every morning and just finished a service project in their barn. We are busily preparing for the last challenge of the winter expedition: the small group solos, where we will divide in groups of four and travel the distance to Northwoods Stewardship Center.

         -Nimrod

  

The Poet’s Yurt

To whom this may reach:

We like you

If you would have it

We will happily shove you deep under the cover of our community.

Don’t worry, suffocation is not likely

Although time to breathe may be short

If you like to work and you are willing

to discuss everything that happens, you will find yourself most at home

We offer:

      1.     Moral support

      2.     Constructive criticism

      3.     Friendly advice

      4.     A point in the right direction

      5.     And pats on the back

You don’t have to join, but I think you should.

          -Zane Reid

Quote of the Trail: “We must be the change we wish to see in the world” Mohandas Ghandi

NHVSP 2011 Update 6

Mathilde dipping from a spring

After saying a sad goodbye to Misha and cheering ourselves up with melted ice cream, we left Farm and Wilderness in a rainstorm. We ascended the slopes over Woodward reservoir and kept going on the groomed snowmobile trails in slushy conditions. We were happy – we were back on trail!

The second leg went by even quicker than the first. We had a total of four liveover days – twice as many as in the first leg. We used these nonmoving days to learn bush skills: how to build a fire on top of the snow, how to build a winter-worthy shelter, identify trees, learn about the history of logging and forestry in the Northeast and tell the weather, among other things. On one liveover, we had a two-hour fire solo alone in the woods.  Each of us built and tended our own fires on top of the snow.  To be honest, my fire solo was closer to three hours, which caused a good amount of amusement when I came back in the middle of lunch.

Tim, Rosa, and Bridie's shelter

Another liveover was spent in groups of three in secluded spots throughout a beaver flowage.  We built shelters, cooked dinner and spent the night out. Everyone made exceptionally beautiful shelters and stayed comfortable and warm without a sleeping bag through the night. Julian, Jon and myself underestimated the amount of firewood we needed, and so we went on a firewood hunt at 5:00 AM. Bridie declared it “the best night ever!”

Tobias on the icy trail.

One glorious day, we missed a turn and instead of our planned gradual descent we found ourselves descending Bloodroot Mountain on extremely steep slopes. That night, spirits were high. We camped on an old homestead, surrounded by beautiful stone walls and apple trees.

As a part of our Vermont History curriculum we met Tweeter, an old-time logger who knows the ways of the forest. We made camp early and skied down tricky hills, without packs – a challenge we all craved. We listened to Tweeter’s interesting stories about his life and the business of logging. When we returned to camp, Sam stacked the immense amount of twigs we had onto one pile.  That night, he lit a giant bonfire, around which he and a number of other people danced and hollered. Serene spent that evening without a cup after Zane hung it on the top of the tent post as a punishment for leaving it everywhere.

That same day was when Jake felt an irresistible “call of the wild,” he went up ahead during one of our stops. A few minutes later, a bunch of snowmobilers came up on the trail and stopped to see what we were up to – ‘tis not every day you see a bunch of cross-country skiers with packs! The first snowmobiler said to us, somewhat concerned: “We saw a lone pack ahead, on the side of the trail, and we were wondering…“ and then his friend came up to the first and whispered to him: “We found him - he was pooping in the woods.” The snowmobilers went away and soon we found a very-surprised Jake and all was good.

Sam sets the stove.

  A wave of vomit went through some of our troops on our longest day yet – 20 kilometers. Our leader for that day was a sick Rosa, who passed out on her pack every time we stopped, and fell asleep as soon as we got to camp, covered in sleeping bags.   Tobias was also sick that night, and very gracefully excused himself from evening meeting with the phrase “Oh, Word!”  The next day, they felt much better and ate ravenously.

One sleety day, Serene was helping out in the wood yard, and paused to ask Chris a question.  She had a huge log in her arms, and so when we looked over it seemed like she was waltzing with the log, swaying back and forth with her eyes focused on the distance. That same day, we heard much Norwegian as Mathilde got tired of speaking English.

On another day we climbed up Mt. Abraham all the way to its icy top while dragging our skis behind. We were rewarded for our efforts by rare, perfect weather on the peak, allowing us to see from the White Mountains to the Adirondacks and all across the state of Vermont. We kept skiing on the ridge, dodging strong mountain spruce branches until we got to the peak of Lincoln Peak – the top of Sugar Bush ski resort, one of the biggest downhill ski resorts in Vermont, where we got many questioning looks from passing skiers as we skied down the slopes, and sometimes we were even stopped by interested skiers.

On top of Mt Abe.

After our little encounter with civilization, which included smells from the resort’s restaurant, we reached our last camp for the second leg at the “cheesy swamp,” a beaver bog where we could see houses on the shore.

Nimrod, our scribe.

On the way to our second layover, I was concentrating on skiing downhill through the thick crust when I was suddenly ambushed by a herd of fleeing deer. I had to fall backwards so as to not crash into one of them as it jumped over my skis. They whirled around me for about 30 seconds until they disappeared into the bush. That was the same day when Tim, instead of traversing downhill like everyone else, decided to go straight downhill through the bush, a decision which resulted in a beautiful faceplant out of which he rose with a happy, snow-covered smile.

  

We’re now on our second layover in The Battleground Condominium number 18, where we’re wrapping up the last leg.  We are excited for the next leg, where we will be much more independent from our teachers Chris, Nate and Lu, and preparing for the group solo.

-Nimrod

The Poet’s Yurt

Looooove letter to fire

My dearest and most wonderful fire.

I looooove you!

Thank you for holding me tight on that chilly night

Without you I wouldn’t know what to do

Could you be more perfect? Here

I’ll cook your meal, boil your water, dry your wet clothes

And keep you warm, just feed me

And I’ll sit here and look just fantastic.

You babe!

You look sooo good all the time

I could stare at you for hours!

I’m gonna take you out for a steak.

Thank you for bringing light and warmth

Into my life.

Your beautiful glow and voice that talks

I don’t even mind when you burn my socks. It’s my B

I’ll see you soon because we can’t be apart, Hot Stuff

Love, Tobias Yandow

Ode to fire

I built myself a house, a place to rest my body,

a dwelling for my nightly thoughts and dreams.

A shelter from wind and water. At it’s center,

And in my heart’s center, I build you a

House. You, who comes with warmth and

Light, awakens my spirit.

There is no home in a house without

You, nor life in my body.

I call for you, and if I call with love,

You come. If I build you a home in recalling of

All our moments together, long of stolen glints, our shared

Pleasures, you will come. I am learning to

Know you, I’m on the path to understanding

And you in turn will love me, and

Answer your kin’s calls with pleasure.

My hands are tender around you, and all the

time you stay with me I care for

you as were you my own blood,

though I know you are bigger than all my

life and hold power I can never match.

Fire, you are in everything,

Hear my praise.

-Mathilde Vikene

  

Quote of the Trail: “Roads go ever-ever on” – J.R.R Tolkien