Greetings from Vagabond Ranch and the Snow Science Adventure Trip! Today was an absolutely wonderful day - below you'll find a few snapshots of our day and I'll do my best to check in again tomorrow. The internet is a little sketchy, so don't be concerned if you don't hear from us!
This morning we met at eight to depart. Students loaded up skis, snowshoes, snowboards and their packs into a Suburban, Yukon, and a Subaru. We headed up the Poudre Canyon and over Cameron pass. The roads were decent with some heavy snow as we crossed over. We took a bathroom break and topped off gas in Walden before finishing our trek crossing over Willow Creek pass.
Once we got to Stillwater Pass, we pulled into a very snowy parking lot and unloaded everything but the hot springs bags :) Bags for the hut went to the snowmobile shuttle and then we took some time to talk about winter safety before heading out on skis with skins and snowshoes. We hiked almost four miles and students faced many challenges BUT overcame them and helped each other out in a way that we would expect Polaris students to.
We arrived at the "hut" (cabin...) just before nightfall and students worked hard getting boots and bags organized, beds claimed, dinner made, and muscles warmed up. Dinner featured spaghetti and garlic bread with salad and kids (and adults...) ate up. We spent some time hanging out, playing games, and relaxing before clean-up and group circle up.
Today our topic focused on overcoming challenges. We read Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" and then spent about twelve minutes journaling about challenges. Students then shared thoughts about challenges that have happened to them in the past, challenges from today, or general thoughts about challenges.
The clock is slowly ticking toward bedtime so the kids are milling around finishing cups of tea, playing the "dot" game, setting up bed, and preparing for the morning. We'll get going around eight with breakfast and then from there we will be learning about snow science and safe route finding, we will be learning how to dig snow pits to assess avalanche danger/snow safety and we will also be learning to use beacons. In addition, we'll have some time to play in the snow (powder!) dinner, and another round of reflection. Check back tomorrow for an update! I'm hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon - but like I said, the internet is a little sketchy so they may or may not get loaded :)
Love from all of the Penguins!
-Lizard
This morning we met at eight to depart. Students loaded up skis, snowshoes, snowboards and their packs into a Suburban, Yukon, and a Subaru. We headed up the Poudre Canyon and over Cameron pass. The roads were decent with some heavy snow as we crossed over. We took a bathroom break and topped off gas in Walden before finishing our trek crossing over Willow Creek pass.
Once we got to Stillwater Pass, we pulled into a very snowy parking lot and unloaded everything but the hot springs bags :) Bags for the hut went to the snowmobile shuttle and then we took some time to talk about winter safety before heading out on skis with skins and snowshoes. We hiked almost four miles and students faced many challenges BUT overcame them and helped each other out in a way that we would expect Polaris students to.
We arrived at the "hut" (cabin...) just before nightfall and students worked hard getting boots and bags organized, beds claimed, dinner made, and muscles warmed up. Dinner featured spaghetti and garlic bread with salad and kids (and adults...) ate up. We spent some time hanging out, playing games, and relaxing before clean-up and group circle up.
Today our topic focused on overcoming challenges. We read Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" and then spent about twelve minutes journaling about challenges. Students then shared thoughts about challenges that have happened to them in the past, challenges from today, or general thoughts about challenges.
The clock is slowly ticking toward bedtime so the kids are milling around finishing cups of tea, playing the "dot" game, setting up bed, and preparing for the morning. We'll get going around eight with breakfast and then from there we will be learning about snow science and safe route finding, we will be learning how to dig snow pits to assess avalanche danger/snow safety and we will also be learning to use beacons. In addition, we'll have some time to play in the snow (powder!) dinner, and another round of reflection. Check back tomorrow for an update! I'm hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon - but like I said, the internet is a little sketchy so they may or may not get loaded :)
Love from all of the Penguins!
-Lizard