Yesterday afternoon at approximately 5:00 p.m., eleven very tired, but extremely proud, Mountain Valley teenagers completed the first ever MVTC Biathlon. This grueling event commenced on Sunday with a 25 mile mountain bike trek from Plymouth, NH to a “wilderness” campsite in nearby Beaver Meadows. After a wonderfully restful night’s sleep in tents of various shapes and sizes, our adventurers then loaded eight canoes onto the Upper Valley Stewardship Center’s boat trailer and rumbled north to Monroe, NH where they entered the mighty Connecticut River at picturesque Dodge Falls. The six hour paddling journey included water safety and canoeing refresher mini-courses, a sandbar lunch break, Connecticut River history lessons, violent rainstorms, warm water swims, occasional sunshine, multiple Bald Eagle sightings, white water rapids, great attitudes, and very little, if any, complaining!

Our residents and their impressed (and impressive!) Residential Faculty were treated to a special dinner upon their return to the Farm House’s Biathlon Base Camp, during which our tired teens, sporting well-earned senses of self-accomplishment, regaled themselves with tales of biking mishaps, deep woods animal sightings, and near capsizes. A good time was had by all, and we thank Alicia Huysmans, Team Leader extraordinaire, for organizing what is sure to become a tradition at Mountain Valley.

Tags
,