North Country Camps has been providing children with outdoor adventures in the Adirondacks for over 100 years. Generations of NCC campers and staff have had their sleepaway camp experience defined by hiking the peaks and paddling the waterways of this magnificent area. Whether it’s an afternoon canoe trip down the Ausable River to Lake Champlain, or five days of backpacking and climbing in the Cold River region, the magic of being out with your friends on a wilderness adventure is timeless. In the circle of camp life, kids develop a passion for trips and learn the skills necessary to have a safe, fun experience in the wilderness. They often return as staff members, handing down those passions and skills to the next generation. 

 

These days, every trip we take has an experienced trip leader aided by a second counselor. Given the major role our trip program plays in camp life, we spend considerable time each summer focused on trip leadership education. One goal we’ve had for many years has been to start doing more extensive training in the off-season. That finally happened recently when Matt Hickey, Aliyah Coplan, Sydney Jacobs, Eric Schwartz, Miles Johnson, Alayna Hester, Kira Weilerstein, Kate Cayne, Willem Hunt, Brian Anderson, Doug Furman, Jen Livingston and Sara Needleman (by Zoom) joined Ruth and Barry at their house in Essex to inaugurate our first annual Trip Leadership Training weekend.

 

Everyone met on Friday evening. It was a homecoming of sorts; most of us hadn’t seen each other since last summer.  Just like we do before trips with kids, we organized our gear, ensuring each person had the right clothing and equipment for the hikes we’d be doing over the weekend. The conditions tend to be a bit more challenging in February than in July, but the concepts are the same.     

 

Saturday morning we had a robust philosophical discussion about the NCCF Mission Statement and how it relates to why we take trips. We then put some of those ideas into practice as we headed off to climb Pinnacle and Bigelow. Low on the mountain we trekked through gusty winds and a strong localized snow squall:

 

 

Fifteen minutes later the skies cleared as we hiked toward the summit ridge:

 

 

It was windy and cold on top so we stuck around just long enough for a quick group photo before ducking behind the lean-to for a snack:

 

 

 

It’s never possible to pause for long on a winter hike so after that quick food break, our trip leaders all worked together to navigate over to Bigelow’s summit where we had great views looking east over Lake Champlain. We then retraced our steps back along the ridge and decided we would bushwhack straight down off the north side, using the terrain to navigate. After a fun romp in some steep, deep snow, we found our way back to the parking lot. We regrouped at the house for a great discussion about the appropriate use of technology on trips.

 

On Sunday morning we had an excellent discussion about teaching – what do we want to teach on trips and what are the techniques for accomplishing that? We followed that discussion with a refresher on map and compass navigation. We then set out to test those navigational skills.

 

We followed the trail to the summit of South Boquet. It was another beautiful day, but still cold and windy on top:

 

 

After a brief pause, the group gathered to plot a compass line for North Boquet. We bushwhacked northeast, following the compass to the end of the ridge where we could get a clear line-of-sight to North Boquet. We adjusted our compasses accordingly then started the steep descent to the valley, occasionally dodging cliffs and other obstacles while learning to hold the compass line. We paused in a few spots to enjoy the snow:

 

 

As we wandered across the valley floor between South and North Boquet, Doug pointed out various animal tracks (mouse, weasel, deer, etc.) and noted bear claw marks on the Beech trees. We then easily ascended North Boquet and, after pausing at the summit, walked over to the western lookout where we got views of Giant, Rocky Peak, Big Slide, Marcy, Whiteface and the Jay Range:

 

 

Our intrepid navigators then bushwhacked down past some icy cliffs and into the valley where we intersected the trail and headed out to the cars. Back at the house we had a pre-dinner discussion about mixed trips and also talked through a few trip scenarios. We continued working through some more scenarios Monday morning before everyone headed home. 

 

Matt Hickey nicely summed up the whole weekend: “The trip leadership weekend was a perfect microcosm of our trip program. We affirmed what we do well, designed improvements where desirable, and had opportunities to put our discussions into practice—even dealing with unexpected adverse weather—and most important, we had fun accomplishing all these goals in a community of people we’ve come to know, love, and trust. Bring on Summer ‘22!”