Senior Project

 day 13, tuesday may 24 2022 Today was a productive work day but I still manages to get outside and enjoy the day. We made a checklist for what we had to get done for our presentation and all we have left to do is print out a couple things. This morning we found a campground in Cape Breton that is first come first serve but we will be able to get there early based on our current schedule. The days are winding down until graduation and our roadtrip. Most of the details at this point are buttoned up including the international phone plan that we found out is included in verizons unlimited plan. We finished our hours today after working for awhile and then going for a run around proctor along with some tennis in the afternoon.  hours 4 Total hours 56

 Day 12, Monday may 23 2022 Today I woke up on the earlier side and drove to school to be productive. I worked on the gear list for our excursion in the morning and made sure to check sources for important items. I decided to go for a run after lunch to unwind and enjoy the nice day and went for another trot up the ski hill. After taking off 2 ticks, I wandered back to campus. There, I met up with meg and we worked on looking for a camp ground in cape Breton for the end of our journey. After dinner we played tennis for awhile. It was fun to do something different than our usual afternoon activity. Tomorrow will be strictly planning and getting ready for the presentation!  Hours: 6 Total hours 52

 Day 11, Saturday may 21 2022 On Saturday I decided that I needed to get outside and embrace the 90 degree weather. I decided to go for a short bike ride, only 5 miles this time to redeem myself a little after the last one. I wanted to do it quickly this time. 5 Miles felt like a breeze although my body still had a slight amount of PTSD from our last ride. After sweating up a storm, I went to a nearby lake and jumped in for a bit of a swim. To my surprise, the water was warmer than I anticipated. Meg and I were separated from each other this weekend so we did some individual work.  Hours 2 Total hours 46

Week number two of senior project in the books and it has been a great way to close out my time at Proctor. It allows for more freedom while doing things I really enjoy. Meg and I indulged in a variety of activities this week that brought us outside and occasionally outside our comfort zones. For example, we golfed 9 extremely humbling holes this week. I went over the details in a past blog but let it be known that it was not my most athletic look! We also went for a couple more hikes and were able to go with friends which is nice when sometimes you need a third opinion on which trail leads where. This whole experience has benefited me in more ways than one and it has prepared me and Meg for our post graduation journey into reality. We have learned the value of sticking to a bit of a schedule when we have a lot of time on our hands but also being able to be ok with switching it around to fit our priorities the best. On our adventure to balanced rock after we went about a mile of track,...

 day 10, may 20th 2022 Today meg ciaran and I went for a long hike up to the bulkhead and then past it in search of the infamous balanced rock in proctors woods. We were hoping that if we found it we would be able to combine all our strength and push it over. I still think that if we had been able to find it, we would have found success. However, after following the sign from bulkhead that said BALANCED ROCK, somehow, we were unable to find it. We wandered around in the woods for awhile looking for it but found no success. The view from bulkhead was amazing after the fog cleared and we sat down to absorb it for awhile. We hiked back down after getting swarmed with bugs and made it back to campus slightly disappointed with our ability to navigate the proctor woodlands. After having a snack, I went to visit allie at highland lake where she was fishing for the day. I spent a little over an hour there and got back for a lacrosse commitment.  Hours: 6 total hours: 44

 Day 9, Thursday may 19th 2022 Today meg and I got outside to take a walk before the rain kicked in. We wanted to get a breath of fresh air before sitting down to work on this rainy Thursday. Once we got working, we printed our papers from crossing the boarder. The vision of our trip is coming into reality and it’s stressful but also very exciting. After talking with Annie again we have decided on a few more details to make things run smoothly on the road. For one, having a folder to encompass all of our papers and information for easy access. This is a small thing but will be very helpful. We are excited for our hike tomorrow.  Hours 5 Total hours 43

 Day 8, may 18 2022 Today we weren’t able to get outside to hike because we had an early game. We got some work done after waking up early knowing that we would have limited time. We met with Annie to go over a few things including some random notes she gave us. For one, we need to remember to get an international phone plan for our journey. Secondly, we started to calculate gas for our budget. We also reconfigured our schedule for the trip a little and made it more realistic with driving hours.  Hours 4 Total hours 38

 Day 7, may 17th 2022 After waking up fairly early today, Meg and I got ready to play golf with our friends, Annabelle Chappy jack and Quinn! Overall it was a humbling experience for me but still very fun. It was nice to get outside and do something that different than hiking or biking. After four holes, both of my balls somehow disappeared and I became a part time golfer and golf cart driver. 5 more holes later we finished and headed back to Proctor for practice. Knowing that we still had some logistical work to do for our road trip today, we went home early to do planning for about an 1.5 hours. Overall, today was successful and we were able to fit a lot into the short amount of daylight we had! Hours: 5 Total hours: 34 

 Day 6, Monday May 16th   Today was a long fun-filled day. We began our day at a small mountain in concord called oak hill where we took a trail named “bowl trail” 1.5 miles to the top. The view was pretty and it didn’t take too long as we were expecting to get rained out in the afternoon. Once we got to proctor, we met with our advisor, pete, to go over our application for the Scott pond prize. He helped us to finish it up and make any last minute edits to our answers. It was relieving to finish it and fingers crossed that we win it! I decided to go for a run on the rail trail and around the Proctor woodlands ending by taking a dip in Blackwater. The ski was looking very inviting so I also decided to take a trip to the top! It was nice to have a moment to reflect while looking over the proctor campus.  Hours: 6 Total hours: 29

The first week of senior project had its challenges as well as its successes. In the first few hours of our first day we felt a huge surge of freedom that we needed to learn how to manage after being on a tight schedule for the past 4 years at Proctor. Although ecstatic to begin planning our trip and start adventuring, we were still at a loss for where to start. A huge reason that Meg and I decided to do this project was to gain independence and learn how to do something that would help us in real life so Annie helped us to settle into our project after those first few hours. Her experience with planning this sort of trip is very beneficial for us.  Our first hike was to the cabin where we got the first glimpse of what we would be doing for the next 2.5 weeks. It was amazing to get outside on a nice day and explore the woodlands behind Proctor. We biked to school one day and the distance that I drive each day really set in and I can appreciate the ability I have to drive to Proctor...

 Day 5  Friday may 13th After the last couple days of adventures, we sat down to plan more of our road trip today. With a game today and tomorrow, we needed to make steady progress to further our trips itinerary! We planned campgrounds for the 2 nights following Acadia National Park and left room for some fun day activities along the way. River crossing and lakes stops will be out friend!! The next obstacle we are facing is finding a car service to take from our point to point hike in the chic chocs. It’s around 30 miles to backpack from one point to the other so we would need to find a shuttle or car to bring us back to our car. Our small outside activity today was visiting Elbow pond to cool off after our game! It offered a little sanctuary after a busy work day. Finally, we watched Thelma and Louis, a movie about 2 women who went on a road trip, and realized what not to do when we leave for ours!  Hours 4.5 Total hours 23

Day 4,Thursday may 12th  We woke up early today to a forecast of 85 degrees and sunny! Wanting to get outside and do something spontaneous, we made the decision to bike to school. After pumping up tires and tracking down helmets, we were off. The New Hampshire rail trail leads directly up to proctor from Boscawen, only 5 minutes from my house. The first 5 miles came easy and the pretty green grass and flower fields had our attention grabbed. The next five we a little more uncomfortable as our butts started to become one with the seat and the pathway became long, flat, and straight. Nevertheless, we hit mile marker 52, starting at 62 and counting down, in good spirits. We were slightly mislead in the amount of miles it would take us to reach Proctor so at mile 16 we were contemplating whether we would make it by dark. 3.5 hours later and 21 miles biked, our legs felt well warmed up for lacrosse practice and our butts appreciated the running we would do later as we ran through the sp...

 Day 3 May 11 2022 Today was the third day of senior project and it was the coolest day so far. Meg and I hiked Ragged mountain through the green trail. During tick season we encountered some unwelcoming guests on our shoes and socks totaling around 10. The trail in all was very well maintained and not too strenuous, perfect for families with smaller children who are looking for a solid hike with a good view. The top was familiar as I have skied at Ragged a few times. Our hike spiked conversation about potential ideas for our road trip so when we returned to campus, we did research for another hour and a half before heading to practice. We started a gear list and asked family members to borrow gear.  hours: 5  total hours: 14 

 Day 2, Tuesday May 10th  Today was a productive work day for Meg and me. We started off by going to a local bookstore and grabbing a map of the Chic Choc mountains and a road atlas for Maine and Canada. After driving to Proctor, we sat down to finish writing our application for the Scott Pond Prize. We realized that in order to write for the application, we needed more details about our trip. Due to this. we began researching the Canada boarder and how feasible it would be to cross as as 17 and 18 year old. We ran into a couple different responses, some of which told us that it would be possible and some that denied it. After calling the Canada embassy in Boston we got redirected to the boarder patrol however they did not answer. Not our first road block and wouldnt be our last. Regardless, we continued planning and found the location of our backpacking trip in the Chic Chocs. The 27.7 mile, point to point, hike will take us 3 days and the final day will put us on the coast o...

 Day 1 - Monday, May 9th  Embarking on our 2 week adventure this morning, we started off by eating a hardy breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, and coffee. Although we did not know exactly how to start planning the road-trip, we set dates and made sure to schedule around summer jobs and graduation. Setting the stepping stones for the road trip were crucial and exciting. Our long awaited goal was finally in view but we needed help figuring out the broader details so we could narrow down campsites. Annie, our mentor, really helped us with this later. Needing to take a step back from planning, we went on a hike to the cabin in the woods behind Proctor. The last time we had been there was freshmen year when the whole grade went together as naive, young 14 year olds. We hiked up behind the Johnson dorm and into the woods for a half an hour until we reached the cabin and found another camp spot along mud pond that grabbed our attention. We left wanting to spend a night in one of the two s...