Sterling Terrain V02 - Flipbook - Page 39
Sterling College | 37
Photo: Lou Lepping
Really hot weather. I am leading the base
camp this year in Craftsbury. We harvested sweet corn from a local farmer, boiled it,
cut it off the cob, and froze it to be ready
for the September Community Dinner.
We have two service projects this year: pulling up knotweed along the Lamoille River
crossing and general trail maintenance from
the river to Prospect Rock. The knotweed
project is part of an ongoing control effort
and – good news! – seems to be working.
The native vegetation remains established.
Photo: Ryan Conners
Today we cleared a few water bars, clipped
back encroaching brush, sawed off a few
overhanging branches, and removed one
medium sized dead tree hanging low over
the trail.
We planned to have a short hiking day today and focus more on trail work in this
hard-to-reach section of the ridge, like
we had in 2020. However, last night some
Long Trail thru-hikers told us the weather
forecast was for a 100% chance of thunderstorms and our plan put us on the top
of the ridge, not a safe location. Instead we
hiked across the ridge and down VT Route
58, making it to camp by 4pm despite
stops to clear 10 fallen trees. Our legs are
rubber but we made it to the van before the
weather moved in.
Adrian Owens,
Faculty in Outdoor Education
Photo: Lou Lepping
Adrian grew up near a tidal river in
Rhode Island which started his connection to the natural world. He has
been teaching at Sterling since 1991 and
enjoys the connection to the world that
building and living in a small off-grid
solar homestead provides.These values
show up in his teaching of hand-tool
skills, outdoor travel, forestry, trail work,
renewable energy, and environmental
science. When not at Sterling, Adrian
adventures by foot, bike, ski, or canoe
and often with a map and compass.
Photo: Will Freihofer