Day 18: Week 3 Reflection

Today was a much more quiet week than the previous two. It was a mixture of week one and week two because we did things both on and off campus, so it was a nice way to wrap up and summarize everything that we have done. In terms of hiking we have done easier trails on the most part, but time wise we did not fall behind when compared to the other two weeks. I have personally enjoyed this week a lot because although we did not go to very different places each day and our explorations really narrowed down to the Proctor woodlot I found that I had time to prioritize the other part of our senior project, which is reading and writing. In particular writing and reflecting, because I have had more alone time both hiking and to free write on my journal, and this has allowed me to really think about my past here at Proctor and what my future is going to be like, at least for the next five years. 

I find that this week was really about reflections. I’ve though about many things; some I wrote in my journal, other times my mind was going too fast tying things together and I just sat in the woods pondering. But I find that I have come more in contact with myself, if that makes sense. I took time to listen to what I thought, to analyze why I though in a certain way, to just hear myself out, which sounds so basic but I realize now that I don’t do this often enough. I was away from technology, away from people (including Daisy some days) for hours and hours, and I just though on what I like, why I like it, and what I am going to do to keep protecting the things I enjoy in the future.

I think that although we did visit some beautiful places this week, like the Bulkhead (I don’t think my journey at Proctor would have been complete without our visit to the Bulkhead) the most meaningful thing I did this week was think. Graduation is so close now, and I am so very glad that I had time to adjust and prepare myself for this great change; great both because it is a significant change and because it will bring many opportunities, and I want to be mentally open to explore each and every single one of them. 

Now that I have taken the time to hear myself out I feel like I know myself better, and I am more ready to graduate (although it still feels like a really bittersweet moment). 

Day 17: Actually Found the Bulkhead

So if you go back to Day 14, I tried to find the Bulkhead on my own, and I wasn't able to find it. Today went much better though, because Daisy and I hiked up to the Cabin and decided that we had to go to the Bulkhead at least once before graduating. So, we started hiking up, found the trail (which was actually a different trail than the one I'd gone on before, which would explain why I didn't get to the Bulkhead). Neither of us had been there before, so we were kind of guessing. We didn't know how long the hike would be (it was a bit longer than I'd expected) nor how hard it would be (it was a bit harder than I expected too), but once we got there the views were so beautiful and impressive, a lot more beautiful than I expected as well. We took our pictures and just sat there for a little bit taking everything in. Lately I have begun to process that I'll be leaving in less than a week, and going up to the Bulkhead made me feel a bit better, more ready to go. Deep down I felt as though I hadn't fully accomplished my work during my four years here because I hadn't been able to find the Bulkhead, and I felt really accomplished when we finally made it up there. The views were so beautiful, and I am really glad that we found our way there.

Day 16: Proctor Hikes

Today I hiked on my own a little bit more. It was a more moderate hike; I stayed on trails that I already knew, including the Cistern Trail which I think is one of my favorite trails around campus.
I really enjoyed this time of hiking in silence, it's very different from hiking with someone else. I explored a little bit around Mac House and the trails that leave from there, taking some random turns just to see where I would end up.

In the afternoon I read a little bit more, but overall this was a pretty quiet day for me.

Day 15: Water Day

Today really revolved around water. In the morning we woke up early to do our own polar swim again, since the last time we did it we had a lot of fun. However once we got there we found that the water was a bit cold, so we decided to make some time and wait for the day to warm up. We hiked around the area for a little bit, and then we mustered the courage to jump in (it wasn't that bad once we were in the water).

In the afternoon we headed to Profile Falls in Bristol. Karen suggested that we go there and the place was so beautiful, Daisy and I decided to hang out there for a little bit. One thing that really surprised me is that the waterfall smelled like ocean water. The weather was really nice, there were no bugs, and the cascade was surprisingly big and impressive. I'm really glad we decided to go there.        

             

          

Day 14: Nature Walk

Today was a more relaxed day after the adventure at Mud Pond that left us a little battered. We woke up pretty early and headed to the woods; our initial plan was to hike up to the Bulkhead. However, halfway there we realized that the trails were not going to be very doable since Dave Pilla had mentioned how not taken care of the trail is. So instead we decided to just explore the trails around Mac House. My favorite one was the Cistern trail, it was very pretty and quiet and I'd never really heard of it before.

Later on the day I was feeling pretty brave so I decided to try the Bulkhead again. I hiked up to the cabin on my own, and the experience was so different from the other hikes I've done so far. I walked a lot slower, and I was looking up as I hiked, which I usually forget to do. Normally when I'm hiking up I'm so focused on getting there that I forget to enjoy the hike itself. Today though I cruised by the woods quietly and slowly, looking for chipmunks and up to the tree tops. Once I got to the cabin I sat down and wrote a bit about this experience, wrote a poem, and then kept going on the trail to the Bulkhead. Now, the highest I've ever gone in the Proctor woodlands is the cabin; I've never really talked about the trail with anyone either nor gotten any directions, so my hike today was just full of guessing and hoping that I was making the right turns (which I think I did). The trail was really pretty, but not very good as a trail because it was a little run down – there were bushes and thin trees starting to grow in the middle of the trail, so most of the time I was trying to make my way through the foliage. I ended up getting to this clearing, and I found two smaller trails. I tried to take the one on the right, but I had to turn back because I just did not see very clearly what was part of the trail and what was woods.


Once I got back to the cabin I wrote for a little bit longer and I sketched the trail (or what I could see of it). Overall today was a very different experience that I really enjoyed.

Day 13: Mud Pond Part II

On Sunday night we headed up to Mud Pond for the second time this week, only this time we were much better prepared and brought everything we needed to spend the night.
The day was cold and windy so we managed to avoid all the flies, but unfortunately that stopped us from being able to start a fire (it kept dying because of the wind). We still managed to enjoy the evening though and we cooked a delicious dinner that we then ate while watching the beautiful pond right in front of us. Cooking was very fun and we have a video coming up soon that shows some of our many cooking adventures, because we had to get a bit creative at times. But dinner was delicious and everything worked out great.

We set up our things on the platform and after washing our dishes down at the creek decided to read and write before heading to bed. We went to sleep pretty early, and once we woke up the wilderness really decided to test us. Within our first ten minutes awake we ran out of gas to warm up our breakfast, our lighter stopped working, we found out that a mouse/rat/squirrel had been munching on my bagel during the night, and Daisy sliced her finger open. At this point we were pretty cold and still tired, so we decided to head back to campus so that Daisy could get her finger taken care of (it was a pretty deep cut, nothing too serious though) and then go get some breakfast. So Sunday was a better day for us than Monday, but honestly that dinner was so good that it was kind of worth the cold temperatures during the night (the cut seemed pretty painful though, sorry Daisy).

Day 12: Senior Project Polar Swim & Weekly Reflection

This Saturday we decided to wake up early and head to our own polar swim. We fought against the early morning laziness and we overcame the cool morning air and carefully walked into Elbow Pond. The water was not as bad as I'd expected, but it still took us a while to get used to the cold. Actually, we spent about five minutes just standing there before we finally had the courage to jump all the way in. The morning was beautiful, so was the pond, and there were no black flies. The experience was a lot better than I'd expected and I had a lot of fun doing it, we may even repeat next Saturday.

This week was very different from our first one. Location wise, we got to spend a lot more time exploring the Proctor woodlands which was very refreshing. It was nice to come back to campus, I'd actually missed it. And there are so many more trails and places to visit around campus than I'd originally expected. This week was very special to me because I had a lot of time to think about my four years at Proctor and what they meant to me, and also about what I am going to take away with me next year, how I've grown and how I still want to keep going. The day we spent at the cabin is one of my favorite ones so far, for I finally had the chance to mentally disconnect from the frantic schedule I always seem to follow (although doing this was hard at the beginning) and really spend some time jolting down ideas about how I have changed and how I want to change in the future.
It was also really nice to be around campus and see everyone again. The day we spent with Mel's Intro to Lit classes were actually very productive because we had to really explain what we were doing, and this reminded me of my goals for these three weeks. It was also very inspiring to see that the freshmen class seems to be so interested about the woods, and I really tried to emphasize that they should spend some time getting to know all the cool places around Proctor because this is some advice I wish I'd gotten when I was a freshman. Still, I was happy to hear that so many students want their senior projects to involve some kind of hiking/outdoors activity.
We have done so many things this week, and they have all been so different. I have really enjoyed everything we have done and I feel like I am never bored and always doing something, which is a great feeling.