After two years of COVID related life disruptions, vaccinations, and cancelations, we held a winter program! A very quick summary is that the event was a success!
While that assessment takes some liberty with the fact that the event was billed as a “cross country ski trip,” the very visible lack of snow may have been a downer for some. But these folks are seldom “down” about anything. We were determined to get outdoors to experience nature, exercise the body, and enjoy each other’s company on the property of Sky Lake.
Staff welcomed us to the retreat center, served up a hearty supper and we retired to the Underwood Lodge for evening events. Underwood housed our attendees in two and three person rooms similar to motel accommodations. Quite comfortable. On the lower level of the Underwood there is a large common area well appointed for gathering socially.
There were several of us that recalled the schedule from years ago of Introductions, Wine & Cheese Night, Gift Exchange, Game Night, Silent Auction, History Night. However, our games were locked in a storage container (more on that later) and no alcoholic beverages are allowed on the property. In place of the wine tasting was *Tea* tasting. Some may scoff but there are selections of tea out there that are decidedly unique and flavorful.
Monday dawned cold and overcast. Not a hint of snow anywhere. Nothing but the cold brown of a deciduous forrest with well marked trails littered with dried leaves. But to be fair, we knew this weeks ago thanks to the relatively accurate long range weather predictions from the National Weather Service. Tuesday brought pockets of rain and sleet and, finally, a bit of snow. Not near enough to ski on but it looked pretty in the morning for at least a few hours.
As the weather turned cold, it was predicted that precipitation might impact travel. Therefore, we wanted to get our “box of toys” out of the storage container before heavy weather came. Raisa and I undertook the task of retrieving the box. What should have been a simple task of unlocking the industrial padlock on a container door became a two day adventure in itself.
Locks are delicate. They don’t like dirt, moisture, rust, nor ice. And the key would not unlock the lock. So back to the lodge we went to re-assess our approach. After some counsel with friends Dan, Don, and Jenna, we equipped ourselves with the correct tools for access — fire, WD-40 (oil in a spray-can), and (as a last resort) big honkin’ bolt cutters! I am happy to report that only the first two items on the list were required.
In the gallery of photos that follow this paragraph, the lock is shown to be open without damage, then Raisa is seen pulling open the huge heavy door of the container to access our box of games. The last photo of the series shows our attempt at keeping contaminants from getting into the lock — a large plastic bag secured with lots of plastic tape. The next time we need to access the container, we’ll not only need the key (of course) but also scissors to cut through the multi-layered protective wrapping we put in place.
Meanwhile, back at Sky Lake, the other attendees were meeting our first time local guides and acquainting them with the trails around the lake.
The trails are well marked but as in any woodland situation, one who is unfamiliar with the general lay of the land may become slightly disoriented and wander off the path to some degree. This provided for some unintended but low key “lost in the woods” situations which made for great stories over supper.
On occasion, a tree, sometimes significantly large, may fall on the path. Typically, our host Jenna will find these before we are even out of bed in the morning and does the clearing for us. But sometimes our attendees like to be involved too.
For all the effort in toy box retrieval, it wasn’t all that necessary. Again, these folks are inventive. A make-shift shuffleboard table was put together using two 6ft long folding tables. Blue painter’s tape marked the point value areas and hiking poles served as a backstop for the pucks. Actual pucks for shuffleboard didn’t slide very well on the surface of the tables but the wrappers around Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies worked terrific. Using the wrapped creme pies as pucks turned the phrase “winner takes all” into “winner EATS all.”
By Wednesday we had a full fledged snow storm. It snowed for hours off and on for the rest of our visit. Then the precipitation turned to sleet then to a drizzle of rain and back to snow.
None of this impeded our hiking and it provided for some striking formations of ice on conifers, bushes, branches, and a snowman on the lawn!
I wasn’t able to capture a photo of our new guides because they were, um, out guiding! They were all practiced hikers and were not to be slowed by weather, downed trees, ice, nor snow.
A big “Thank You” to all the local guides who joined us. Having a full week of a winter program after two years of cancelations was a real treat. Thanks for being a part of our event.
Everybody took to the trails and went on progressively longer paths each trip. According to my electronic mileage counter, I racked up something approaching 5 miles per day. And I know, because of my admin duties, I did not hike nearly as much as the other attendees. So I’m guessing they all did something between 7 and 10 miles per day. Impressive! Good job on all the effort for VIP and GIP alike.
Now many readers here may already know the following information but I feel it is important to include it anyway. Read on.
The Northeastern Pennsylvania Regional Ski For Light and Sports For Health (NEPA SFL-SFH) depends on volunteers to operate and conduct activities for the blind and vision impaired. Specifically, our 501(c)(3) was incorporated for the following purpose:
“To arrange and coordinate recreational, sports, and related activities that bring sighted and blind [and low vision] individuals together in an effort to enable [them] to participate in and experience such activities that may require sighted assistance.”
You can learn more about Ski For Light International by visiting their official website: https://sfl.org.
Visit the official website for North East Pennsylvania Regional Ski For Light and Sports For Health here: https://nepaoutdoors.org.
