October 2019 | Vol. 19 Iss. 10
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CLIMBING MOULINS, KAYAKING BY GLACIERS
WATERFORD STUDENTS EXPERIENCE ALASKAN WILDERNESS FIRSTHAND
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By Julie Slama | julie@mycityjournals.com
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welve Waterford high school students and their adviser, along with wilderness guides, were dropped off by a bush plane in a remote area of Alaska. With gear on their backs, they backpacked days in solitude, crossing a 27-mile-long glacier, then a second and third glacier. Then, after practicing their ice-climbing skills, they summited a 5,000-foot peak. This was before they jumped into sea kayaks to paddle alongside seals, porpoises, sea lions and many waterfowl. “It was incredible to see,” Waterford senior Niklas Nilsson said. “It was a stark contrast, but really amazing. It was two trips combined in one trip. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Hiking, ice climbing and sea kayaking were some of the highlights Waterford’s outdoor program students experienced after embarking this past July on an Alaskan adventure in which they planned and prepared for. “There are no words to describe the beauty of what we saw,” said outdoor program teacher Christopher Watkins. “But this wasn’t a sightseeing trip, it was a wilderness experience, and the students used their outdoor skills to expediate and survive.” Watkins, who has taught many of these 12 students three days per week for each term since seventh and eighth grade, had them submit their ideas for the trip so they could develop the ability to create an itinerary. From there, two upperclassmen ironed out the details of the 17-day trip, which included 14 days sleeping on the ground and using skills in two different landscapes. Nilsson, who has been enrolled in the outdoor program two terms per year since seventh grade, helped plan the back-
Twelve Waterford students, joined by their teacher and local guides, jumped into sea kayaks and paddled near glaciers and wildlife in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. (Photo courtesy of Christopher Watkins/Waterford School)
packing portion of the trip since his family has a cabin in the area. “I’ve gone on day trips, but never anything like this. I love backpacking, but this was more challenging,” he said, comparing it to his backpacking trips in the Uinta Mountains as well as in Olympic National Park with Waterford.
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The students’ adventure began after arriving in Anchorage and catching a van shuttle to McCarthy, Alaska. “There’s a fascinating history in McCarthy,” Watkins said. “We walked around the town and went to the McCarthy Museum and toured Kennecott Copper Mining, which is the same Kennecott as here in Utah, and learned its fascinatContinued page 17
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