Today was the hike day for the Wild Ways Teen Homeschool group! We got to the trailhead and were surrounded by cows, mooing loudly amid the green grassy fields rolling gently out of the “Hopper”—an enormous mountainous bowl formed on the western flank of Mount Greylock, punctuated by several clear mountain streams.
We did our usual routine of expressing gratitude, talked about trail etiquette, and warned them about a “torturous activity” that we would commence further down the trail. Then we set off through farmland, transitioning to groves of Hemlock, Oak, and Beech hillsides and the Spruce and Yellow Birch forests with crowded understories of Hobblebush reminiscent of the more northern latitudes due to the elevation.
The pace was quick- these guys are fit! After huffing and puffing up the mountainside for a while, we stopped for snack and introduced the torturous activity. Josh shared a story about identifying a pattern/behavior in my life that wasn’t serving me and choosing to cut it out of my life. These patterns we equated to carrying dead weight around with us, weighing us down each step of the way and slowly taking its toll. Each student thought of a pattern in their own life that fit this description and picked up a rock of their choosing to signify the dead weight in their own lives that they would eventually dispose of. These rocks traveled in our packs for a good few miles of uphill hiking. Upon reaching the summit of our adventure, we were rewarded with the most incredible view of the valleys below. We circled up with our stones, shared the patterns that we were ready to rid ourselves of and ceremoniously hurled them off the edge of the mountain with a big sigh of relief. We encouraged them to remember this practice in their lives (with or without the rock).
We cruised down the ridge line from there, with wonderful views on each side, eventually making our descent down a hair-raising section of rocky trail carpeted with slick leaves. Our return was delayed by indulging in everyone’s homemade snack contribution—dried apple slices, muffins, Autumn Olive fruit leather, an Indian trail mix, seasoned peanuts, sourdough bread, delicious popcorn … what a feast! We started a game of Manhunt, which had everyone dashing all over the forest on the way back. Around that time, a few of us smashed stone cobbles from the stream to produce field expedient stone tools.
What a day. We covered roughly ten miles in no time, had great fun and conversations along the way, engaged in many naturalist questions and identification, played games, reflected on our lives, and had a great time.