Cold, Colder, Colden

By Kim Bravo, Grace Gargan, & Abby Lateer

It’s Sunday morning. Eleven Arcadians are gathered outside the kitchen amidst water bottles, hiking boots, and bulky backpacks, chatting excitedly, absent-mindedly triple-checking gear. The air is cold and calm. We’re waiting for the assistant directors to finish locking up yurts and giving the kitchen a final sweep. We’ll be gone for a week, after all, so we want to be sure that everything’s in order when we come back.

The anticipation has been building for weeks now, ever since we got our group assignments and were tasked with planning our routes. It’s grown even more the past few days, as we’ve carefully calculated food rations and agonized over what clothes to bring. Now, the day has finally arrived: we’re embarking on our week-long backpacking trip in the High Peaks.

As the most trafficked hiking spot in the Adirondacks, the High Peaks region has special regulations to reduce human impact. Camping parties must consist of eight people or fewer, meaning we have to split up into two groups, which we’ve chosen to do according to experience and goals for the grip. The region is prone to bears—due to the high human traffic and hikers’ carelessness with food—so we dedicated a whole morning to packing our rations and anything else that might attract bears, like aromatic soaps and hand sanitizers, into the bear canisters that each of us would carry on the trip. Knowing that campfires were prohibited, we packed portable stoves for cooking and extra layers to keep us warm.

Now, armed with our maps and routes, the two groups of Arcadians hug goodbye and go their separate ways. Assistant director Eva leads Iain, Margo, Grace, Elder Autumn, Kim, and Abby to the Garden trailhead to start their adventure, while Will leads Matt, Anni, Alex, Finn, and Junior Autumn to the Adirondack Loj. In seven days’ time, the two groups will end up at each other’s starting points, and they’ll take the other group’s vehicle back to Arcadia. But now, we’re not thinking about the trip’s end—we’re only focused on its beginning.

Eva’s group enjoys a four-mile hike on their first day to a lean-to past Johns Brook Lodge, but an ominous forecast of thunderstorms puts a wrench in the next day’s plans. Abby, the leader of the day, decides that the group should forego the three peaks they were going to climb and instead make their way to a lean-to closer to Mt. Marcy, where they spend the afternoon watching lightning flash from their sleeping bags. On day three, Elder Autumn leads Eva’s group up 1,800 feet of elevation through flooded trails. Later, when asked to describe the eight-mile trek, Iain summed it up succinctly: “Wet. Cold. And a lot of uphill.” Elder Autumn also spoke to the unique learning opportunities presented to them: “I learned how to read a map by the end of the day!” The group decided to forego the extra elevation it would take to peak Marcy and instead elected to push farther than the planned campsite to camp in a lean-to near Avalanche Pass.

Day four, to compensate, was cloudless and sunny, but due to some foot injuries suffered the day before, the group decided that the day would be best spent drying out wet gear on the shores of Avalanche Lake while reading, swimming, and taking in the beautiful views. The group hiked their first peak the next day, armed with mostly dry boots and day packs, and were rewarded with a view worthy of one of the 46 highest peaks in the park. Grace, the leader for the day, reflected on the experience: “It was cool to see people out of their comfort zones. It lets them see what they’re capable of in situations they might not choose to be in, and everyone gets to enjoy the rewards.”

The morning of day six came with a surprise: flurries of snow. Eva’s group had a tough decision to make. Not everyone was prepared for sub-freezing temperatures, and some thought it was best to call the trip a day early. After talking it over, we decided that everyone’s physical and mental wellbeing was the top priority. So they hiked through Marcy Dam to the Adirondack Loj, celebrating the trip’s end with deli sandwiches before returning to Arcadia.

Meanwhile, the other group of Arcadians was having their own adventure in the High Peaks. Faced with the same weather forecast and an ambition to cover ground, they set off from the Adirondack Loj on day one. Matt Ferland, a fellow Arcadian and member of this group, gave us some of the highlights. Hiking each day in the rain led to some very wet terrain (and socks). Morale was kept high during one of the earlier days when the lyrics “Stream Walkin’” were sung to the tune of “Dream On” by Aerosmith, which helped people to laugh about the fact that they were indeed walking through a trail-turned-stream. The week was full of High Peak summits such as Cliff and Redfield—two that Will needed to get closer to his 46—along with Grey, Skylight, and of course, Mt. Marcy. This group was determined to summit Marcy with full packs, so with the positivity that comes from the first time seeing sun in four days, and their special chant (“We love poop” repeated three times, followed by “poop troop!”) [Editor’s Note: this chant was a product of a few very funny experiences / inside jokes, and we recognize it is a bit gross out of context... but in an ongoing attempt to normalize talking about bodily functions and preserving the authenticity of the narrative, we decided to leave it in], they set out into the bush. It was a day of ups and downs, but it culminated in the accomplishment and joy that comes from the view on top of the highest peak in New York State and was accompanied by the smiling face of this group’s recurring trail friend, Mike. Afterwards, they had to face the reality of a steep descent with full packs after a long day.

When asked about her hiking experience, Arcadian Anni Panici said, “Weather makes all the difference—but when you’re with the right people, you can persevere.” This statement reflects the importance of the community we’ve been building as Arcadians. The weather was a challenge that we needed to navigate when deciding what to do each day and how to keep people engaged and uplifted. Autumn Nealis, Arcadia’s resident spontaneous motivator [Editor’s Note: do a quick search of No Doze Leadership Styles for more information about this well-earned moniker], commented on how to keep spirits high when dealing with weather obstacles: “You have to think of the bigger picture—a dry lean-to, the view from the mountain, etc. Everything will get better eventually.” This mentality led this group to bag several more peaks, such as Big Slide and the Wolfjaws. Even though they woke up seeing snow on the ground, they returned to the yurt village with smiles on their faces.

During our trip, it was important to learn about the place that we were visiting. The Adirondack High Peaks are famous for their trails and beautiful sights that attract people to their mountaintops. The peaks attract tourists every year, yet they’re lacking enough people to work on maintenance and management. Our assistant director Eva Wetzel gave us some insight and asked us to think about the potential issues associated with tourism culture in the High Peaks. She said, “As the High Peaks of the Adirondacks gain popularity, they face the complicated problem of overcrowding. Folks on the ground are asking for help; funding is difficult to get. This brings up the question of how to balance access to this wonderful space with taking care of the High Peaks region. How do we take all the people who use this space into consideration?” We talked about realistic solutions and concluded that bears with ranger hats would solve all the problems related to this topic and more.

After we returned from our trip, we talked in our class “Knowing Nature” about the importance of recreation and what it means to us. We decided there is importance in play and physical activity, and we recognized our privilege in being here, that we have the opportunity to learn so much about ourselves as well as explore this historic region.

When we left Arcadia on that brisk Sunday morning before our trip, we all know what we were leaving behind: our organized class schedules, incessant laughter around the dinner table, and acoustic covers of songs around the fire pit at night. What we didn’t know was what would replace the activities we have grown accustomed to. But, with a fervent desire for adventure and an open heart ready to embrace the High Peaks, we were optimistic about what awaited us. The unpredictability of our days on Mt. Marcy and Colden bolstered the gratification we received when we were on the summits. Creativity inspired our meals, as was evident in our hot-sauce-tortillas and leftover Ziplock-bag-pad-Thai. Most importantly, our enthusiastic spirits never failed to recite our unique group chants when the chance arose. Now we realize that no matter where we are, our Arcadian lifestyle will be omnipresent. Even though we were surrounded by streams and boulders instead of Massawepie Lake and twinkling night stars, our attitudes remained unwavering. We exemplified the values at the heart of our Arcadian society: unwavering fun and infinite perseverance.