take a hike...

into the mountains! since coming home from maine, my play outdoors has shifted from the beach to the lawn and garden, hills and mountains--though with the good rains we have had lately, it sometimes seems like it is almost as wet. speaking of rain, immediately after unpacking, i started in on weeding the lush growth out in the garden. gandhi's favorite edible plant, purslane, was starting to take over. running the cultivator through rows quickly clogged the tines and i found myself hauling the uprooted plants to the end of the rows. again the next day, i was out doing close in work around individual plants in their rows. a steady rain made weeding easy, but a bit on the muddy side, at least on the hands. i was off to a week of sead that evening and wanted to leave things fairly clean before going so i stuck to it for a long while.

my part in the summer enrichment at dartmouth, sead, was teaching a comix seminar. i had started this class in the previous sead iv and was looking forward to doing it again. this cohort, also in their fourth and final year, just graduated high school and most were headed to college in the fall--some of those missing were already there in early start programs. activities outside of the classroom included plenty of outdoor play time. i got in a game of soccer and one of ultimate frisbee on the green during the afternoon free times. on thursday, we bussed out of hanover headed to the moosilauke ravine lodge up beyond warren nh.

very early on friday morning, more than a dozen of us trooped up the mountain, or at least started. turns out one scholar and one staff made it just about to treeline when time dictated they turn back. the two 'jack rabbits' i ended up following actually went right by the turn onto the trail everybody else took. in their defense it was still pretty dark, though i was already thinking of turning off my headlamp. 20 meters ahead of me--and just out of site in the dimness and trees--they went charging past the two orange 'gorge brook' and 'snapper' signs. having skied the mtn. dozens of times and hiked it more than a handful, i didn't stop them, but did speed up a bit to catch them. right as the snapper tee'd into the carriage road we stopped for a sip of water and i told them of their alternate route.

they didn't seem at all bothered, and i figured jay wouldn't mind as long i didn't lose them. after a short break for one to throw up at the glenn cliff junction, we continued up into denser and denser fog/cloud. the weather was not unusual. of all the times i had been up there, most of them had been either socked in or precipitating--snow in the winter / rain in the summer. weather is more likely to be extreme up this high than sunny and pleasant. right along a spine, where the trees are just above head high, i told the two we called the section, "the icy sluice of death" as it often forms a narrow, wind blown tunnel of rime.




soon enough we were above treeline on the large south-eastern shoulder leading up to the summit. even though we had slowed our pace some, i figured we would be the first ones up there, unless of course jay decided to run ahead of the others trying to catch us. we were not to be caught since we were not even on the same trail. that meant he would be sitting alone and wondering, well they are strong hikers and are with koby...what could possibly go wrong. fortunately, nothing did--beyond the 'going too fast and drinking too much water' hurling event. sure enough, a gnomish, shadowy figure appeared as we topped out on the summit.








after a quick couple of photos we headed down to see how the others were fairing. breakfast was at 7:30 and the bus home was due an hour later. if people were going to make it to the top, they had to be pretty high up and moving along. there were two cars that could take some hikers, but at least the two boys and i would have to get down and bus it. we met people soon enough and let two groups continue up and turned back a pair in the back--after congratulating them on getting so high at such an early hour.









when we got down the sun was just rising above a ridge off to the southeast and breakfast was getting to the tables of the sleepy non-hikers. after changing out my sweaty shirt for a dry one, i thoroughly enjoyed a couple of bowls oatmeal and a stack of pumpkin pancakes before packing and boarding the bus. not a bad day and it was still before 9:00! to top it off, it was birthday.

back to the dorms about 10-ish, we had sometime to unpack and cleanup. it was our next to last full day and there was plenty to do for students and staff. after the whirlwind crunch-time, graduation, and 'prom'/scrap book share can be, we were planning another before-breakfast hike the very last day we would be together. this one was much shorter and, as it turned out, clear and sunny. that morning, about two dozen sead-ers got on the bus and we pulled out a bit after 6:30. we were going to hike to the fire tower on gile mtn. just over the river and through some woods in norwich vermont. everybody made it up the mile or so to the tower and most everybody climbed the forty or so feet to the tower platform. jamie, a former sead staffer, was already there with hot chocolate for the crew!

we got a full breakfast when we got back to the choates and deemed it another fine morning! for those of us who went it seemed like a good way to say goodbye to sead.