Kroka Vermont Semester 2014: Vermont Semester Update #6

Leg 2 was awesome! We have realized that we are already more than halfway done with the winter expedition and that is a really shocking and sad realization.

Chris Knapp and Bonnie Bee

Chris Knapp joined us for the first week of the second leg and he taught us many things. He opened our eyes to “the bush” as he calls it, taught us how to build warm dry shelters in the woods, identify trees, and notice the signs of early settlers.

Shelter building was a blast! We had great weather and devoted a whole day to the process. In the late morning we had a lesson and Chris described to us some of the basic ideas and requirements for building our future shelters: reflector wall, correctly angled lean-to, thick bough roof, creativity, and comfort. For the rest of the day we constructed our shelters in pairs. Sofia and I found the foundation of an old homestead and decided to use one side of the corner as a wall and the other as the reflector wall for our fire. We had an excellent pole yard just several yards to the west of our shelter and we were able to gather poles for rafters and firewood with considerable ease. After we had completed our shelter and eaten a dinner of mac and cheese, we prepared the fire by starting to burn the poles (burning poles allows you to easily stoke the fire in the middle of the night by just dragging them further onto the fire). Sadly the fire wouldn’t keep itself going for some reason and so we had to crawl into our sleeping bags and snuggle in for the night. The night was clear and as I lay there I could see the moon through the rafters of our roof just before I fell asleep.

Chris demonstrating techniques of shelter building

Per and Finn

Adrian and Forest

Molly and Jazmine

Meg and Rosa

Maja and Sofia

Kevin and Zac

Sofia wrote in her daily journal: “The next morning we woke up in our shelter to Chris playing the violin! We packed up and went back to the group tent. We had a breakfast of acorn flour pancakes! They were delicious and we learned about the time consuming process of making the flour. After breakfast we went on a tour of everyone’s shelters. We then had to take apart our own shelters which was very sad. After we came back we rested and played frisbee with a pot lid. We read from The Education of Little Tree and went to bed.

Distance: none

Temp: 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit

Wind: 5 mph N/NW

Precipitation: none”

On day 4 of leg 2, we traveled 10 kilometers. The plan for the day was to travel 20 plus kilometers but it felt right to stop early and pitch the tent, so we did. Just a short ways up the road there was the foundation of an old homestead. After camp was set up, we skied up to the homestead foundation. As the sun was setting, Chris instructed us to take just a moment and imagine what it would have been like to live in that spot some 200 years ago. It was beautiful and I had a lot of fun imagining different events for each of the four seasons.

VT Semester's homestead

On day 5 of leg 2 we had to wake up at 4am in order to finish up the distance from the day before and keep our appointment with Lawrence “Tweeter” Felion at noon. I thought it would be horrible but it turned out to be one of my favorite days, most likely because as we skied out of camp, the sun was just rising in a gorgeous array of colors. Another reason was that we had an excellent breakfast of oatmeal with winter apples (winter apples are apples that have been left on the tree and are now slightly brown and shriveled, frozen, sweet, and a bit fermented).

Dinner prep

Garlic bread!

Tweeter is a native Vermonter and lifetime logger. He knows so much about what he does and the people and events in the area (Goshen Four Corners). He told us many stories and you could see in his eyes and hear in his voice the great love for doing a good job and telling people his story. He told us about many of the locations that he has logged. He has spent most of his life in Vermont but is probably better traveled than anyone I know because he gets to know the land where he is. Tweeter also told us about his many injuries. At one point in his life he cut his stomach with a chainsaw. Right after the accident he had to walk almost one kilometer while holding in his guts. It took two and a half hours before they finally stitched up the cut that was a quarter inch away from his diaphragm. It sounded really intense and it amazed me greatly at how much the human body is capable of.

As we headed back to camp after talking with Tweeter, we found a guy who had gone out four wheeling and his car was stuck in the snow/ditch. He tried several different things to free up the car but they didn’t work and so we ended up just pushing him out of the ditch. It was fun to lend a helping hand!

On this leg we covered more distance in less time compared to the first leg. We had many long, tough days, both physically and emotionally but there was something that kept us going!

“My lovely, steadfast snack bag:

How can you sustain both my belly and my soul? I portion you out meticulously, daydreaming about finally eating your well-savored piece of birdseed bar when I start to sing the tumba stomping song. You always know what will get me through the day and each day I delight in reaching in to you, my magician’s pouch, and pulling out not a rabbit or a long rainbow cloth but a chocolate orange energy bar--so much better. I find myself lovingly admiring your neat, stylish embroidery that proclaims that you are mine. All mine!

Your treasures have come to me from sea to shining sea to other shining sea, to land, to truck to Marlow, NH to Somerset Reservoir to my excited, grumbling belly, to be left behind in some poop hole somewhere along the trail. Your treasures are finite; you, however, are not. Although you have a tear in your side that I have neglected to patch and ripped bags inside that I have forgotten to remove, do not think, dear snack bag, that you, too, are neglected and forgotten. Your are loved, and always will be.”
-Molly (ode to a piece of gear)

We also learned how to build fires in the woods when there is deep snow on the ground.

“Fire, Warmth, I have missed you out here in the winter. Your flames leap in the air with beauty and joy. I am very grateful to have you in my shelter even if you shoot sparks onto my gear and cause me finger burns. You keep me out of death and cold’s grasping bite.”

-Adrian (love letter to fire)