Date: 2005-08-10
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Stratton/Arlington Road
Miles today: 3.6

When Break and I left Washington for New England, our hike plan was to meet up with her friends from RawArt at a place called Grout Pond, just off the AT on Stratton/Arlington Road on August 10 - which is today! We hiked the 3.6 miles to the road, and then another 3 miles or so to the Grout Pound camping area, arriving about 11:30. The van from RawArt was not due until about 12:30, but camp sites were only available on a first-come, first served basis, so Break and I hustled on down to camp site #1 - the largest one - and staked our claim.By 1PM, the van had arrived and we carried the gear down to the site and got tents set up. It was a really great group - four of the nicest kids you'd ever want to meet and three leaders who were expert in both he arts and the outdoors. When the tents were set up, we all piled into the van and headed off for a hike cum nature and art event.We traveled by forest road back to within 1.6 miles of Story Spring Shelter, where we'd slept last night, and set off for the shelter - just to give the kids a taste of what hiking on the AT was like.When we arrived the group leaders provided general instructions, which were essentially to use things found in nature to create a work of art.Never being very good at art in general, but not wanting to just sit around twiddling my thumbs, I decided to resort to the practical arts, and collect wood for a campfire for whoever might stay at the shelter that night.A good campfire, one you can light with only one match and that wil burn for a couple of hours, requires three kinds of wood: really thin, dry twigs (the thinner the better) called tinder; somewhat thicker pieces of wood, 1-2 inches in diameter called kindling; and then a number of pretty heavy, hard wood pieces that will burn for a long time, called fuel wood. I gathered and stacked the tinder, and then next to it, the kindling, in my usual meticulous manner (something my kids have another name for....). Looking at the neat stacks of wood, with the light shinning off the silvery bark, and contrasted with the grey and soot-blackened rocks, I decided that it was, indeed, a serious piece of art work. Okay, maybe you have to love campfires like I do to see appreciate the full virtues of my creation, but I didn't care what anyone else thought, I thought it looked great, so I took a couple of pictures, and declared my art work complete. To complete the original project, however, I then rounded up some bigger logs for fuelwood, leaving all of the ingredients in place for tonight's shelter occupants to enjoy.The kids, of course, were far more creative with their efforts. One I especially liked was quite simple in composition but really elegant in effect -consisting of a pine cone placed in the middle of a leaf, set on a large, rotting log. The contrasts of shape, size, color, and texture were quite striking, especially when the light struck them a certain way. Other pieces were also very good, and everyone seemed to have as satisfying a time as I did, so it was really quite a successful outing.We hiked back to the car and returned to Grout Pond for dinner - soup and hot dogs cooked over a campfire, followed by the mandatory outdoor desert - S'mores.Before dinner, we all went for a swim in the pond - my first occasion to do so since I started this little walk in the woods. It felt great, and I vowed it would not be my last, especialy since were were now in an area whee ponds abound.As evening fell, the rest of the group stayed up to listen to a ghost story before tuning in while yours truely crashed early. Once again, a happy camper. Another fabulous day on the trail!Todays hike is dedicated to all of the young artists out there, and to the adult leaders who nuture their talents, their self esteem, and their leadership abilities through programs such as RawArt.Break is supporting this group though her hike. You can read all about it (and all about Break!) at Stay tuned, Longhaul------------------------------Sent via PocketMailEmail Anywherewww.pocketmail.com