What a classroom...
To get here we had to snowshoe for a good 3/4 mile. You can see Lake Superior steaming in the background. Instructor in Blue with the red hat. Giving out Licorice sticks, and I didn't get one because I was over here taking a picture. Hope you appreciate the sacrifice.
For the last half of the hike up I was the caboose, making sure none of the kids lagged so far behind we lost them. A. in particular - I knew her from Madi's girl scout troop a couple of years ago - snowshoes just weren't her thing. Mk. would fall behind too, then surge ahead. Madi got the prize for losing her showshoes, I think I reattached one or the other 7 or 8 times. She did real well on them if they didn't fall off. I kept a sharp eye on her, she has a tendency to wander off and it was in full force for this little trek. Only kid I've ever been paged on: "we have a little girl at the hospitality tent... " Was at the Blaine air show years ago. Kept my happy voice on and kept encouraging A. every time she got her snowshoes wrapped up and backwards. Mk. had the worst fall that I saw. Her shoes stayed on but the tail of one went through the nose of the other, then caught on the ice claws that these have built into them. She could have struggled forever, if I hadn't come over and freed her or if she hadn't takent them off she never would have gotten out of the situation. I don't think she could have reached the tangle to free it.
We snowshoed across one frozen lake on the way up then across a different one on the way back. The second one was brutal because the wind was coming in our face. By the time we reached the far shore my chin was knumb. On the way out, one boy, Tr., pointed up at the rock face and said, "... It looks like a cathedral..." . Perceptive kid.
Pause to let stragglers catch up on the first Lake:
Total trip was about 1 and a half miles, Madi, A. and Mk. kept up until they got their showshoes off, then together seemed to run out of gas. There was still a hike to get back to the campus including a long set of stairs. The instructor Katie and I escorted them back, everyone else had put their shoes back on the rack by the time we got in.
For the last half of the hike up I was the caboose, making sure none of the kids lagged so far behind we lost them. A. in particular - I knew her from Madi's girl scout troop a couple of years ago - snowshoes just weren't her thing. Mk. would fall behind too, then surge ahead. Madi got the prize for losing her showshoes, I think I reattached one or the other 7 or 8 times. She did real well on them if they didn't fall off. I kept a sharp eye on her, she has a tendency to wander off and it was in full force for this little trek. Only kid I've ever been paged on: "we have a little girl at the hospitality tent... " Was at the Blaine air show years ago. Kept my happy voice on and kept encouraging A. every time she got her snowshoes wrapped up and backwards. Mk. had the worst fall that I saw. Her shoes stayed on but the tail of one went through the nose of the other, then caught on the ice claws that these have built into them. She could have struggled forever, if I hadn't come over and freed her or if she hadn't takent them off she never would have gotten out of the situation. I don't think she could have reached the tangle to free it.
We snowshoed across one frozen lake on the way up then across a different one on the way back. The second one was brutal because the wind was coming in our face. By the time we reached the far shore my chin was knumb. On the way out, one boy, Tr., pointed up at the rock face and said, "... It looks like a cathedral..." . Perceptive kid.
Pause to let stragglers catch up on the first Lake:
Total trip was about 1 and a half miles, Madi, A. and Mk. kept up until they got their showshoes off, then together seemed to run out of gas. There was still a hike to get back to the campus including a long set of stairs. The instructor Katie and I escorted them back, everyone else had put their shoes back on the rack by the time we got in.