NHVSP Update 5

We have now finished the first leg of our journey! We have worked hard on learning to ski with our heavy packs, falling a lot but nevertheless getting up a lot, too. We’re getting stronger daily.

We wake at about 5:30 each morning, and have ten to fifteen minutes to get dressed and get our backpacks packed, and then we eat a substantial amount of breakfast. (Trail Tip: when on the trail, one needs to eat quite a bit more than otherwise — both because of all the exercise and because we use so many calories staying warm!) We finish packing the tent and stacking the conifer boughs that form our floor. We take the boughs and set them around the bases of trees in thickets to form shelter that rabbits can use. Then, we leave camp, skiing long and skiing hard. We have small cloth bags that we have our day food in, and we eat it and enjoy it and ration it and trade it and save it. On trail, food becomes the most valued currency.

Skiing up hills and down hills, but mostly trying to ski around them…

～

We have two navigators, who are in charge of determining where we go. One is Sam, whose “big job” (which he will have until we reach the final layover at Northwoods) is Navigator. The other changes every day, as part of our trail jobs rotation. The other trail jobs are water manager, pole manager, woodchopper, trail sweep, tent setup managers (we have two!), keeper of the flame, cook, and day leader. The daily rotation of these jobs helps us learn all of the parts of going on an expedition.

Once we reach our evening camp, we start by unpacking all of our group gear and the day’s food. Then, we each go to collect a large armload of boughs for the tent floor. We start work on our individual jobs, which continue until ten or twenty minutes before supper. Then, we remove our ski boots and wash our feet with s­now, and meditate for a little while and become one with the day and the world around us. If we have time, we write in our journals then, beginning by recording certain observations about the day, such as location, travel, and weather.

We enjoy our delicious suppers enormously, and then get a readaloud from the book we are studying, Lies My Teacher Told Me, about the misrepresentations of the history of European contact with Native American civilizations. We then have our evening meeting, get our new job assignments, and crash to sleep, exhausted.

Thoughts from the trail

～

Be the wise man; be the curious boy. Allow your mind to question, and don’t allow your knowledge to make your thoughts stale. Only use it to help search for more. Learning and growth is a lifelong journey.

Wind is picking up now though. It’s not real cold, but it’s far less pleasant than a nice day with clear skies. I haven’t seen the sun in at least a week, and when I do, it’s just like a dim lightbulb in a thick felt blanket.

Have you ever seen the ladybug,

who by some unfortunate turn of events

has found itself lying on its shell?
Hopeless, he scrambles about

doing whatever he can to somehow turn

himself around and continue on his travels.

I am that ladybird, and my pack is my shell.

We move together, and when I go down,

down comes my shell.

Ahead of me lies a steep hill,

I lose my balance — down I go,

down comes my pack.

Impossible.

I can’t stand up — so I wriggle and toss

and I situate myself,

and I use all my might

to turn myself around.

To continue on my travels.

every morning,

we pull the firs, spruces, and hemlocks out of the packed snow floor, like plucking a chicken

the satisfying release of tension.

As we descend in the upper levels of the Green Mountains, we are greeted by a very Appalachian sight. Rusty horse trailers and pickup truck caps and sheds assembled from scrap metal and other junk — a hound dog runs up and greets us, sniffs my hand, and runs away barking. A few others join in. As we ski further on, we go past a large fence with about ten dogs in it, barking at us. At this point, there is a massive cacophony of barking, and we all start to chuckle. As we ski further on, we see about thirty dogs come from out of the latticework of broken down Challengers on blocks and decrepit lawnmowers. And then, we are greeted by a gentleman with the most magnificent schnauze, and a majestic beard worthy of an Ottoman Shah.

 

We left Moses Pond and are now camping on a beaver pond on the southern end of a beaver pond chain near the southern peak of Okemo. We traveled seventeen kilometers with little precipitation or wind. The moon is a waxing crescent. We made trains of four people going downhill. My train of Noah, Elliot, and Lotte was the only one to not fall. The temperature was in the mid twenties.

These past two weeks on trail have flown by so fast. I have learned to love everything about trail, waking up in the cold tent, listening to my skis slide across the snow, eating trail mix all day, coming into camp and setting it up with frozen toes, going to sleep by nine o’clock every night. I have learned so much on this first leg and can’t wait to learn so much more.

I sit content. Sometimes I catch myself being caught up in the stressful bustle of preparing for this trip. Sometimes I think back on my past times at home, but I feel good. I am healthier than I have been in months. I have grown close to the community around me, and I fill my day with productive work. I am tired, I am busy, and I am content.

Once we leave the Farm and Wilderness layover where we are now, we will continue skiing to the Battleground and Heart Beet layovers, and finally to the Northwoods layover, where we will transition into the spring part of our expedition. On the trail during the second leg of the trip we will work with two new teachers, Chris and Leah, and the academic focus will shift from learning the rhythms of winter travel to forest ecology and English.

Thank you to our wonderful first leg teachers, Emily and Misha, and to our trip teacher Zack and assistant Kreston. Thank you also to Farm and Wilderness for letting us stay here!­

Off They Go!

NHVSP Update 4

NHVSP Update 4

Noah prepares for carrying the stove

We are now coming to the end of our preparations for the expedition! We will be leaving on Tuesday. If we get enough snow by then, we will be able to ski right from the start — but if we don’t, this will become a hiking expedition instead for a little while. The weather has gotten a bit colder again, so hopefully if we do get snow it will stay.

Here's a look back at the last (and final) week at base camp:

On Monday we had a bonfire outside the Big Yurt. It took a little while to burn away the snow and get it going, but it was a fun evening nevertheless!

The next day we completed our big job presentations, which are our way of teaching the other students about the work each of us has been doing to prepare for the expedition. In the evening, Nathan Lyczak and his wife, Hanah, led us in a poetry and exercise class. Later, they sang, while we listened and unwound and worked with the wax they brought. It was very soothing after the ceaseless chaos of preparation.

On Wednesday, we test-packed the new backpacks we got. The packs are 105 liter Osprey Escalantes — nonretail specialty backpacking packs, notable for not having a large number of subcompartments but instead simply being a single large compartment. That makes it easier to extract equipment from them when it is time to set up camp, and easier to pack them in the mornings. Later in the day, it began getting warmer, and began raining a little. The gear test packout went well, and we went to Granite Gorge again and continued working on our telemark skiing.

 

On Thursday morning, it had flooded near the bathrooms, and the smaller bridges flooded out, — it had rained overnight and the creek had risen perhaps a foot and a half. It was very hot, probably 55 to 60 degrees. We finished sewing our gaiters Thursday, as well.(?)

On Friday, we met the freshmen students from the Lake Champlain Waldorf School, who had arrived for a weeklong winter camping trip at a nearby reservoir. We slept in the tent we will take on the trail for the first time. It’s cold! The tent is made of Egyptian cotton, with four hundred threads per inch. It has a separate fly, but the tent itself is so large the fly has to be carried by another person!

The tent has a small, lightweight woodstove that we will take with us, so we shouldn’t be too cold. The stove, which was custom-made for the Kroka program, has been in use since the first semester. Noah, the energy manager, will be carrying it in a special pack, this year. It is getting old, and it will probably need to be replaced soon. The stove is made of titanium, a very hard metal with useful heat transfer properties that make it both heat very quickly and cool very quickly. However, titanium is an unusually expensive and rare metal and is very difficult to extract from the ore, and so the stove is quite expensive. When it was first purchased, it cost about one thousand dollars, and now it would probably cost about three thousand.

Yesterday, we met our parents on Parents’ Day. We will next see them at the layover at Northwoods at the end of the winter half of the expedition.

Later today, we will have our first hockey game!

 

Moments from the week:

I am content in the stillness of the rock on which I sit in the field, looking out at the world. It is a time and place when I am alone, but I am surrounded by everything I know, and I am glad to see it, and I am glad to be alone. I become nothing more than eyes and ears and skin, looking and listening and feeling the breeze blow cold upon me. And I pause and look within myself, and I think about time that has passed, and I remember things that have been and things that still are. I think about the time that will come, and how the memories from the past will call to me in the future. And I look again at the world around me, and the past and the future and this perfect moment I am in right now sitting on the rock in the field become one, all an interconnected, flowing stream of the sight and the sound and the breeze blowing upon my skin, and I am content.

~

Max…

I laid in the sun to-day, and I just soaked it up like some big old lizard, and I forgot about time, or concern… and I laid there, and I enjoyed it, very much.

~

Praise to the eggplant!

Your shiny purple skin glistens brightly and mirrors your flavorful beauties within.

Praise to the eggplant!

The oils and spices sink into your flesh as I prepare you for your transformation.

Praise to the eggplant!

Steaming and a delight to the senses as you arise from the casserole.

Praise to the eggplant!

~

Kerensa…

I am content when there is no other place that I wish to be except where I am, with the people who have somehow become my family. I am here now — this is my home, and when I sit around the woven rug eating a meal cooked by my new friends, I know I am content; I know that this is the life for me.

When I glide across the unbroken snow with a weary breath, and beads of sweat on my brow, I am content. I am moving by the power of me.

As I take the hands of my friends to join together and sing, I am content. We share a common goal, but we are our own selves.

We might not know exactly where we are going, or where we might end up, or what we might run into. But as a clan, we are content in our ways — content in our work, and content in our selves.

~

Wayland…

Oh Cletus the Mighty

Oh Cletus the Sharp

How your beauty does flourish

Through your grain so dark

From the gnarly burl

Of the sweet cherry tree

And a blade forged of steel

From across the vast sea

Toned and tempered

By an artisan Swede

I am glad you’re here

For you’re something I need

Oh Cletus the Strong

Oh Cletus the Wise

Soon you’ll prevent

My untimely demise

Sam mapping our route

NHVSP Update 3

Expedition food pack-out

 

Max overseeing pack-out

 Telemarking at Granite Gorge

Brita pulling logs past the girls lodge

This week our semester group began learning a new fun skill: how to manage our skis going downhill! It took a bit of practice to begin mastering this challenge, but by the end of the week we were enjoying it greatly, and now we’re eagerly awaiting our next opportunity to practice our new skill. We kept working on lots of other projects as well, trying to get fully prepared to leave on the expedition.

Lotte has been sewing herself a raccoon-skin cap for the trip, and we have all sewn protective mitten shells and stuff sacks (small tan drawstring bags) for the trail.

The men moved into a better-insulated shelter, during our recent cold snap, and so they are a lot warmer now.

We saunaed yesterday and all got clean and shiny for the new week, and we ate sixteen delicious pizzas (and learned how to make them!) in exchange for community service at the Orchard Hill community and school. We made the pizzas in Orchard Hill Breadworks’ Spanish Llopis oven, which replaced the previous cobb and brick ovens they used. Using those ovens, the baker, Noah, would get about two hundred loaves with about fourteen hours of work in each baking cycle. Using the Llopis, he can produce about seven to nine hundred loaves with about six to eight hours of work per cycle, representing a vast increase in productive capacity. Inspired by this, we have been exploring human energy efficiency within our own community.

We continued studying tracking and naturalist skills in the Naturalist Blocks. We have eaten a lot of kasha, which for us is boiled Russian buckwheat — very delicious!

We have seen maps of the route we will take, and are creating lists of all the items we need to take on the trip — so many, and yet so few! Preparations are going smoothly, and we’re all continuing to bond as a team.

Journals from the week

Monday

“Woodchopper’s Euphoria”

The whistling axe,

The snapping crack,

My arms revived,

Blood pumps

Through my veins,

Even expended,

My energy is vast

And glowing

Like the rising sun

Life pours through

My body,

And I welcome the morning

With a heart

Full of joy.

Tuesday

Moving to the new lodge has been really nice. It’s been warm and it’s much cozier than the old one. Waking up and not seeing my breath is an incredible moment.

Wednesday

Today has not been as magical as some days. Some days sparkle, like drops of water on a spider’s web in the sun. Today only had a few fragmented moments like that. This morning, going up the boardwalk to farm chores, the sun shone on the frost on the boards, and those gleaming jewels were the morning’s first sparkle. While I greeted the day, I noticed the elegance and grace of the twigs of the bush growing around and encircling the rock upon which I sat, and knowing and becoming part of the bush was another sparkling moment. But most of the day for me was in shadows. Now as I write these words I am holding the knife I made and I know that she will be with me and care for me, and that knowledge gives me strength. I will be alive, and I too will become strong, and kind, and graceful, and supporting. The ripples on her handle speak in echoes to me through the years to come.

Thursday

“coon skin cap”

raccoon hide

once a living animal

possibly even happy

I now have your skin

I am eternally grateful

and will love you forever

I will not pretend you are alive

or play with your skin

as a grim puppet

but wear you as a fashionable hat

so much better.

Friday

 My boots crunch through the snow’s crust to the white powder underneath. I lift my hand to shield my eyes from a pine bow released from its tree by our teacher Hans. He abruptly stops and bends down on one knee. When I look to see what has caught his attention, I notice cat-like tracks in the snow. This animal must have weighed considerably less than I, for he did not break through the thin crust over the snow, but only left light, shallow impressions. The first things I look for are how long the animal could have been and whether there are any claw marks in the tracks. The tracks are directly registered, meaning the creature stepped in each track twice. My first thought goes to a fox, but there are no claw marks, and the tracks are not in a line, as is typical for a fox. The body length seems a bit short for a fox, as well. As we followed the track, I continue to imagine a cat-like creature. Now, further along, I see these bounding tracks, hinting at something in the weasel family…

Headlamp haircuts with Emily

Thanks to Angus, Max, Rosa, Noah, and Lotte to their lovely submissions to this week’s update!

 NHVSP Update 2

This second week of our semester, we continued preparing for the expedition. We skied several times, and sewed mitten shells and stuff sacks. We studied tracking, and practiced improving our senses in the outdoors. We named our knives, and had a ceremony for them. We sang songs. We ate, and laughed, and worked. It has been a good week.

Max and Kenya drying jerky for the trail

Journals from the week…

Monday
I am worn out and tired. Ahead of me lies a steep uphill climb. My heels are burning and I am sweating. I slowly begin to make my way up. Slow and then a little bit faster. I pick up speed and try to forget the blisters. The hills no longer seem so bad, and I push myself more than ever — I conquer the mountain.

Tuesday
Getting snow after losing all of it was a very joyous thing to wake up to. We may actually get to ski from the farm if it stays cold!

Angus sewing shells for his mittens 

Wednesday
To the stars:

Something is illuminated
within me when you sing,
dark and bright,
clear,
in the shining night.

Thursday

I have been quickly gaining strength from my daily exercise regimen, and have been feeling much healthier.

Friday

I’m missing home — soft sheets in a warm bed, spiced milk, dried cranberries, being cold and then getting warm, my family — but that’s okay. There’s so much that is wonderful right here that I am still at peace.

Saturday
Im happy and healthy and feel like I'm part of something wholesome and different. The sunrise is fiery and the food is hearty. What more could I ask for?

Kerensa at Orchard Hill

Rosa pulling firewood

Drawing tracks during a Naturalist Block

Community service at Orchard Hill

Nap time...

Thank you to the contributors to this update! Sam and Kerensa contributed passages, as well as some lovely anonymous submissions.  Thank you also to Kreston (the apprentice who will accompany us on the expedition) and Emily (our wonderful instructor) for their invaluable help and support in compiling these updates, and to my kind editor, Jenny.

Noah keeping warm

NHVSP Update 1

Left to right: Kreston, Elliot, Wayland, Lotte, Rosa, Kerensa, Max, Sam, Kenya, Angus, and Noah.

We are the 2013 Kroka Vermont Semester. We are a group of ten participants in a five month-long experience during which we will traverse the length of Vermont without mechanical assistance. We will first ski about three hundred miles north, leaving from New Hampshire. Then we will cross briefly into Canada by canoe, row the length of Lake Champlain, and return to New Hampshire on bicycles, caving and mountain climbing along the way. We will spend the month of January preparing our minds and bodies for this substantial undertaking. Without further ado, we present the participants in this endeavor:

Kroka Campus and Farm

Angus

I came to Kroka for, and desire to bring away from it, change. I’m from Shelburne, Vermont.

Learning to turn

Mounting bindings

Elliot

I will be compiling these updates for the winter half of the semester. I’m from Hull’s Cove, Maine.

Kenya

I’m from Belgrade, Maine. I had friends who did the Kroka semester and recommended it to me. I came here because I cross-country ski and wanted to learn to live in the wilderness.

Kerensa

I’m just learning to ski. It’s fun. I’m enjoying all the delicious food here, and love sledding. I miss my little bro. I came to Kroka to become a better person and to learn how to ski. The skiing has been my favorite part of the first week here. I’m from Keene, New Hampshire.

Lotte

Making our knife handles

I’m from Brooklyn, New York. I was attracted to Kroka by the opportunity to learn wilderness survival skills, and learn how to live outdoors in the woods. I went to the Farm and Wilderness Camp, which sparked my interest in survival skills.

Max

I’m from Los Angeles, California. I came to Kroka to learn sustainability. I hope to gain skills in alternative living.

Noah

I’m from Damariscotta, Maine. I was brought to Kroka by the opportunity to have an adventure in the second half of my senior year of high school. I want to learn to live healthily, sustainably, and minimally.

Rosa

I’m Rosa from Ferrisburg, Vermont. I go to the Lake Champlain Waldorf School. I love to sing and write poetry. I love being in the outdoors. I love Kroka too.

Sewing

Sam I’m from Hallowell, Maine. I was attracted to Kroka by its sustainability, adventure, and tightly knit community. I hope to gain strong leadership skills, and a better understanding of and connection to the world around me.

Wayland

I’m Wayland from Nelson, in tenth grade. I love skiing, wrestling, the outdoors, nature, and being barbarous.

A moment from the week…                                   

The sky today is very dark. The deep grey clouds, furrowed into long lines, steam their way across the vast sky, making our skis seem small and slow against the amazing power of the elements. It is an awe-inspiring sensation, climbing up the enormous hill and looking up the expanse of white, seeing the trees on the horizon, and now gazing further upwards, to the stormy, ominous sky. Time is frozen at the top of the snowy hill, stretching into eternity in the moment before the descent. The powerful wind presses us into the trees as we try not to fall.

Skiing is floating in the water, without the fear of drowning. It is flying across the snow — or is it air? — and hoping I will never land. It is being a wolf looking for Paradise at the end of the world. It is the hope that I can hear the world around me, and speak to it in my turn. It is falling, and wondering how to get up. It is writing a poem with the edges of my skis. It is waiting quietly, patiently, for a fish that never bites the hook, and it is enjoying sitting by the water anyway. It is clearing my vision in the mirror that is the world around me. It is the clear song of the hermit thrush in the forest.

Is skiing all these things, or is it only traveling across the snow on two pieces of wood?

Or maybe, just maybe, it is both?