3 Shots: Three Ridges with the Freshmen

It's October, and that means hiking on the Appalachian trail with the Freshmen Outdoor Leaders.  Here are three shots. It very much still applies.

This is patently not a good photograph - it's blurred and distorted, and the sun is overwhelmingly over-exposed.  But I like it nonetheless; I think it captures the feeling of our first afternoon.

This one, on the other hand, captures 9th graders.

This isn't a great shot either, but it's a picture of 9th grade Chinese girl heading off on her solo hike.  This was the first time she'd backpacked at all, and here she is heading confidently into the woods all by herself (though to be fair, there were kids 5 minutes up and down the trail on either side).  But this is why I go on these trips

Bonus shot: a rock that I also took a picture of last time.  This rock is on top of another rock, which itself is on top of a 4,000 ft mountain.  Thinking about how this came to be really boggles the mind.