On the first Saturday of Chewonki, we were hit with an insane seventeen-inch snowstorm. As a Texan, I had never seen anything like this and it left campus covered in a powdery white blanket, and I was eager to get out onto it. I had tried cross country skiing during the snowstorm when it was still thin, so me and two of my friends decided to get up early on Tuesday morning to fully experience the new snow on a sunrise ski to The Point.

We woke up bright and early at 5:30 before dawn, checked out the supplies, and began our trek. The forest was eerily quiet as if the snow had eaten up all the usual sounds of campus, and it wasn long until the spooky calls of a Barred Owl startled me as I went down the first hill. The contrast of the ocean with the snow created an amazing lighting I had never seen before.

Cross country skiing felt like sliding across a wood floor on socks and it was so fun. When we were about ¾ the way there we realized that, 1) We weren’t gonna make it back in time for our morning meeting, and 2) The sun was rising on the opposite side of the horizon behind the tree-line so we decided we should head back then. We slid back right in time for the morning meeting and were greeted by all our friends. It was such a beautiful experience that I recommend it to everyone who can get the chance!

Thomas Carnegie, Austin High School, Austin, TX