All-girls
Strong Wings excursion tackles
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Students prep for grueling climb on rock wall, bicycles and kayaks
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When you live on Nantucket and you want to get yourself in shape to climb Mount Washington," said Megan Oberg of the Strong Wings Adventure School, "the best way to condition yourself is mountain biking through the moors and hiking on the beach with a backpack and running up and down the occasional set of beach stairs."
Oberg speaks from experience. She just returned from taking a group of nine Nantucket girls to Mount Washington.
"The highest elevation on-island is Folger Hill at 111 feet, with Altar Rock a close second," said Oberg. |
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"Growing up
on Nantucket is a |
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"The girls were excited to be 2,000 feet above sea level when we first arrived at the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center."
At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States.
The girls - high school freshmen Jesse Lang, Ellie Smith, Charlotte Butler and Rachel Foulkes; eighth grader Erica Lang and seventh graders Robin Gottlieb, Merrill McCluskey, Britt LeBaron-Brien and Quinn Rogliano - had been training since last year to prepare themselves for the grueling and rocky hike to Crawford Notch, an uphill clib of 1,920 feet.
In addition to mountain biking and walking the beaches, the girls prepared for their Mount Washington hike on the rock wall at the Strong Wings campus on Nobadeer Farm Road, and by kayaking.
"Growing up on Nantucket is a different world when it comes to hiking," said Oberg, a 1994 graduate of Nantucket High School.
Before she went to work for Strong Wings seven years ago, Oberg participated in the program when she was a girl.
According to Oberg, this was the first time a Strong Wings High Adventure trip was "girl-specific." "I've known the girls through the years and they are very athletic," said Oberg, who designed the first part of the hike to be a two-hour walk to a hut at Zealand Falls where the girls spent the night.
The huts sleep about 50 people, both men and women, and according to Oberg, the Nantucket group shared one room with two other people. "The girls got to meet many people who have literally been hiking the Appalachian Trail since April," she said. "This was a hard concept for most of the girls to grasp, to hike a rocky, mountainous trail for months on end."
On day three of the trip, the girls hiked for six hours to Crawford Notch. "The first portion of the hike was going up, a steady rise the whole time," said Oberg. "Some of the girls were complaining, short of breath, and dizzy. It was like climbing a rock staircase 50 to 75 yards long."
The group didn't reach the summit, but that was never really the point.
There is a lot to hiking a mountain, especially when you live at sea level. "The girls had to learn to pace themselves, so they could breathe," said Oberg. "When the girls reached the highest point of that hike, they thought it would be easier hiking down the trail."
But the descent is more difficult than the climb, Oberg said. "This hike would be difficult for someone who has had a lot of hiking experience," she said. "By the end of the hike, they were completely blown away to see what they had accomplished."
Kirby Fowler accompanied the girls on the trip as the second leader. "Kirby does a lot of mountain biking and is fit," said Oberg. "I needed a second leader to help in case of an accident and be able to take over the group in an emergency."
Strong Wings was founded 18 years ago by John Simms, who first worked on-island at Nantucket Counseling Services with at-risk youth. Out of that experience, Simms was surprised that the adolescents he worked with did not know the island outside of the downtown area and the schools.
Strong Wings serves kindergarten through eighth grade with Outward Bound-style programs including its rock wall and fort-building on the island, and off-island excursions to the Cape Cod National Seashore, Nickerson State Park and Mount Washington. As a result of the four girls on this trip entering high school this year, Oberg is designing an after-school program that would accommodate high school students.
"We try to connect our students to the island and ultimately to the earth," said Oberg. "We hope when they become leaders they consider the environment in their decision-making."
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From left: Jesse Lang,
Charlotte Butler, Quinn Rogliano, Merrill McCluskey, |
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By Margaret Carroll-Bergman : I&M Staff Writer |
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© Strong Wings 2000-2008 |
