Dear family and friends,

Right now I am cozy and warm, sitting in the reading room of the Sterling College library. We arrived here on Tuesday, each of us individually, returning from our solo. We left Green River Reservoir on our own and skied the day, all the while searching for a good place to build our bough-lean-to shelters. Although we past each other several times on the Catamount Trail, it was still a dignifying and independent experience, taking on this life alone, knowing that we can make our own shelter and navigate ourselves to Sterling. And the sound of the clicking ax in the distance was comforting. Although I was alone, the rest of my family was out there, too, each having there own experience, parallel to mine. The next day we proceeded to ski until we reached Craftsbury Commons, a cozy, old time village, and nestled within it, the campus of Sterling College. The sun was brighter than bright. The light reflected off the snow and all the buildings in sight, for they were all painted white. With my skis stuffed in my pack and poles in hand, I walked down the dirt road feeling pretty triumphant, and turned the corner to find an array of college students, hanging out and playing Frisbee. . “He-heeey, you made it!” One of them shouted. I guess they had heard about our group coming. I roamed the area until finding some familiar Kroka faces. We all rolled in at different times, and it felt so good when everyone was together again.  We set up our tent and have been “living on campus” for three days now. The Sterling community couldn’t be more welcoming. We’ve been eating meals with the students and staff, got a tour of the campus, dropped in on some of the classes, and we’ve had time to wander freely and mingle with the people here. It’s been an enjoyable layover for us. However, it will be nice to band together again when we take of, tomorrow morning.

This leg has been an exciting one. We left On the Loose and got dropped off at the Smiley School. “The happiest school in the world!” sung the principle and janitor as we chatted in the cafeteria.  

Kroka at the Smiley SchoolWe made our homestead right behind the school, next to the play structure and mini-greenhouse. It felt a little goofy and all too amusing. Our reason for being there was to give a presentation to the grade-schoolers about who were are and what we are doing. We prepared our skit the night before, including songs, stories charades and show and tell. We were all set, but thee next morning foul weather showed up in place of the kids. So we stayed an extra day, carved spoons, looked at trees, and learned how to make and use a bow drill. The following morning students came and we gave our presentation. It was fun to engage the kids and the presentation went smoothly. Afterwards we broke camp, and with fully stocked packs, we set out to start our 4th leg. Finally, it had been a full week since we had skied last, and what a better challenge than to start out climbing 2,900 feet in elevation, up Bolton trap traverse. It took two days to ski up and then down Bolton trap, and it was fun and challenging. The second day we reached the peak and had a lunch break, the view was breath taking; from there you could see where we had started. The snow was fluffy and so deep. When Eric took a few steps off the trail he sunk chest height. Oops, he is disappearing! It’s quite possible that there’s a weather angel watching over us, for the perfect conditions always come when we need it. Unfortunately Celeste was not with us. Although her ankle has been healing well, it is still tender and starting off with rugged terrain didn’t seem like the safest idea. We met up with her the second day at the bottom of Bolton Valley. And a wise choice that was, for coming down Bolton we probably each fell 30 times over, myself more like 50. But spirits were high and every now and then one of us would whip down the hill, around the curve, through the trees, and come to a steady stop without falling or stumbling. You’d be left thinking “wow, that worked out!” Those moments made it well worth it. The epic crashes made it pretty well worth it.