Spring 2004 Dartmouth Outing Club NONPROFIT Dartmouth College U.S. POSTAGE PAID P.O. Box 9, Hanover, NH 03755-0009 DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Woodsmoke Woodsmoke Spring 2004 Spring 2004 Woodsmoke From the Editor Articles Life is full of adventure. Some adventures Winter Carnival: a Seussentennial take you to cold places and remote regions, or by Will Morrison ‘05 .................... 2 to raging rivers and dense jungles. Sometimes A Great Adventure in Moving a paddle down the Connecticut River can be by Nate Monnig ‘05 .................... 4 an adventure. More Ways to have fun: Schlitz Fund As you can see from these pages, adventure by Katey Blumenthal ‘06 .................... 8 is an important element in the life of a Dart- Fifty Miles to Go Before I Sleep mouth student. Taking an Friday afternoon by Brett Carr ‘07 .................... 9 to paddle the rapids of Hartlands can be the A Day In the Woods With Alcott Smith best medicine after a rough week of meetings, by Matt Kemp ‘04 .................... 13 classes, and papers. An expedition that spans Lost in Batholith Country an entire off- term can be a centering force in by Victor McConnell ‘04 .................... 14 our life and can put the rest of our Dartmouth Cabins and Trails years in a new perspective. Adventure is about by Kelly Swartz ‘05 .................... 22 growing, learning, being challenged, being Excerpts from “Big Salmon Creek” excited, being rejuvinated, and having fun. by Zack Strong ‘05 .................... 24 Adventure has the power to calm our nerves A Voyageur at Night and change our souls. by Matthew Richardson ‘07 ................... 28 Our beloved club, the DOC, is a great catalyst Climbing Will Save All Our Souls for adventure. It brings us together, inspires by Brenda Whitney ‘02 .................... 30 us with its rich history, and feeds the flames Mementos From the Tropics of inspiration.With the encouragement of the by Barry Hashimoto ‘06 .................... 36 North Woods, it fosters the spirit of adventure in all its members. Poetry With this new edition of Woodsmoke in your Swayambu’s Shadow hands, I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy by Arjun Heimsath .................... 12 a good armchair adventure. Walking the Dusty Road by Arjun Heimsath .................... 16 Finding Gold Will Morrison ‘05 by Brenda Whitney ‘02 .................... 29 Woodsmoke Photography Spring 2004 Vicki Allen ‘06, Jeff Bate ‘07, Jacquelin Burnett ‘02, Pamela Collins ‘07, Rory Editor-in-Chief Will Morrison ‘05 Gawler ‘05, Libby Hadzima ‘06, Barry Editors Katey Blumenthal ‘06, Catrina Hashimoto ‘06, Arjun Heimsath, Jen Hill ‘04, Lindgren ‘04, Matthew Richardson ‘07 James Joslin ‘05, Page Kyle ‘02, Melina Marmarelis ‘07, Nate Monnig ‘05, Will Contributors Morrison ‘05, Matthew Richardson ‘07, Katey Blumenthal ‘06, Brett Carr ‘07, Barry Zack Strong ‘05, Nick Taranto ‘06 Hashimoto ‘06, Arjun Heimsath, Matt Kemp ‘04, Victor McConnell ‘04, Nate front cover: A climber on the lower pitches of Monnig ‘05, Will Morrison ‘05, Matthew El Capitan (Photo: James Joslin ‘05) Richardson ‘07, Kelly Swartz ‘05, Zack back cover: Trees in the White Mountains Strong ‘05, Brenda Whitney ‘02 (Photo: Pamela Collins ‘07) 2 Woodsmoke From the Editor Reflections Spring 2004 47 Notes 46 Woodsmoke Winter Carnival: a Seussentennial by Will Morrison ‘05 An Seussian cat sat coyly on his hat little snow in the preceeding weeks, behind President Wright as he spoke to the situation had appeared bleak, but open Winter Carnival 2004. The voices a timely blessing from the snow gods of a capella groups rang in the night precipitated the frenzy. In fine Dart- as the ski team marched by, glowing mouth style, the sculpture was finished torches in hand. It was another typi- in the eleventh hour. cally peaceful ceremony to begin one Winter Carnival, themed“Oh, the of the most celebrated weekends on Places It Snows,” kicked off the multi- the Dartmouth calendar. week celebration of Dr. Seuss’s 100th But fifteen hours earlier on that very birthday. Seuss, whose real name spot, volunteers onthe Winter Carnival was Theodore Geisel, graduated from Committee, led by Jeff Woodward ‘06 Dartmouth in 1925. His fun and imagi- and Victoria Solbert ‘07, shovelled and native spirit set the tone for a Winter sculpted frantically to give the cat and Carnival that will go down in history. his hat their recognizable shapes. With The snow sculpture dominates the Green with Baker Tower in the background. (photo: Vicki Allen ‘06) Spring 2004 3 A Great Adventure In Moving by Nate Monnig ‘05 At 5:30 AM on November 14, 2003, Mike Holliday ‘05 and I checked in for our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. For $25 apiece, Taca Airlines took our whitewater kayaks, pathetically wrapped up in black plastic and duct tape disguised as surfboards, and we left the frigid temperatures of Boston for Central America. After changing planes in El Salvador, a quick flight landed us in Costa Rica. A lot of argu- ing in my newly revived Spanish hired us a van into downtown San Jose for a few dollars less than the going rate. an acceptable home base. They didn’t After a nice stay at the Hostal Pangea ask much about our strange ways, (the best place to stay in the whole and we didn’t ask about theirs. It country) we made the trip to Turrialba, was a good thing Mike and I are very the center of Costa Rican whitewater. sound sleepers. To say the least, Costa At a price of around $1.50, the 30-mile Rica is a very noisy country, and the trip took a mere two hours on the Primavera was no exception. Loud ultra-fast Directo Bus. Our next mis- music blasted over the partial walls sion was to find a cheap place to stay all through the night to muffle the less that we would make our home for the reputable goings on down the hall, I next week or so. Our ever-so-helpful suppose. It was worth it though; any Lonely Planet Guide recommended the money we could save on hotels was Hostal Primavera (“Hotel Spring”) as more we could spend on boating. a cheap, basic place with shared bath. Our seven-week trip to Costa Rica Well, it was cheap. Known better to the could best be described as a great ad- locals as the “sex hotel,” it provided us venture in moving. Navigating the bus system, while quite reliable, was quite a hassle at times with our heavy plas- tic kayaks. We spent countless hours waiting in bus stations, as one full bus after another couldn’t take our boats. We became experts at roping our kay- aks into the trunks of small taxis in mere seconds, before they could tell us “No cabe!” In the Turrialba area, we paddled the Lower Pacuare, the Pascua section of the Reventazon, and the Pejibaye Rivers—mostly big water, class III- 4 Woodsmoke shelter, and began privy construction. Cabin and Trail hosted a feed in the With assistance from David Hooke ’84, fall following a major Smarts moun- construction began at the start of Fall tain trailwork trip, with special guest Term. With the help of Eric Benson ’04, Bernie Waugh, class of 1974, on guitar trips to the shelter went out almost playing great sing-along songs. Atten- every weekend, consisting usually of dance at this feed was so big that even only one or two upperclassmen and the huge quantities of food normally large groups of excited ‘shmen and prepared for a CnT feed were barely ‘shwomen. Construction has halted for able to nourish the masses of hungry the winter season, but should finish up Chubbers—but rest assured that this is early in the spring term. a rare occurrence. A Mt. Isolation back- It has also been a banner year for pack, Lafayette hike, Camel’s Hump, the Forestry team. In the spring meet Franconia Ridge, and many other great at Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, hikes are the bread and butter of CnT’s Dartmouth fielded a men’s, a women’s repertoire. and an alumni team. Kim Iwamoto ’03 Under the direction of alternating came home with her fourth consecutive Chairs Eleanor Alexander ’04, Matt doubles canoeing title. After a summer Kemp ’04 and Chelsea Lane-Miller of using the skills gained in “practices” ’04, and Summer Co-Chairs Whitney up on Moose Mountain, the team went Maughan ’05 and Rory Gawler ’05, to the University of New Hampshire the club has continued to welcome in the fall and came home with two beginner and more advanced outdoor trophies, one in men’s Team Relay and enthusiasts. Coming up is a great one in men’s Wood Splitting. The team spring break trip to the Petrified Forest also had a good showing at the winter National Park (Arizona) and an excit- meet at McGill University in Montreal, ing revitalization of the leader training Quebec, Canada, with a second place process. Cabin and Trail meets Mon- finish in women’s Axe Throwing. The day nights at 10 PM in the basement team has now begun the extensive of Robinson Hall. Even if you’ve never preparations for what will certainly heard a single song in the songbook, be an exciting meet at Dartmouth this Cabin and Trail can’t wait to help you spring. The 58th Annual Spring Woods- get outside! men’s Weekend will take place at Oak Hill on Friday April 23rd, and on the Green on Saturday April 24th. Rory Gawler ‘05 CnT continues to run all sorts of ex- Vicki Allen ‘06 citing hikes and trailwork trips, some- times as often as every day. Although a disturbing number of local diners have closed down, DinerToure has bounced back and found new diners for cheap, good eats in the mornings.