September 29, 2009

The wonder that is Moosilauke

It's only been a fortnight since I set foot on the land of opportunities, and boy is that right. Somehow before I left India, I felt that my stay in the US was going to be marred by homesickness, being ostracized and an overall feeling of emptiness. But lo and behold, I felt like I had walked head on into the loving warmth of a family, the Dartmouth family. The past ten days has been a torrent of activities, most noteworthy of mention being The Moosilauke Ravine Lodge Trip organized by Thayer School of Engineering.

Around 70 of us were packed and ready to leave on a warm Friday evening to Moosilauke, the car journey was uneventful for the most time, until of course we almost got lost in Vermont (another story another day :-D). We reached the lodge just in time for dinner (frankly everything that night seems to be a bit of haze now), but the Dartmouth students and Alumni there did a wonderful job with it. With the dishes cleared began the party! (a small insight into parties in India, they aren't as colorful and as happening as you would expect it to be) And wow, what a beginning. (For my personal safety, I can not divulge the "nitty gritties" of the happening, but it was amazing.)

Check out this video made from Screen shots of the Moosilauke Thayer Trip

(Thanks to Brittany Kaplan for making and sharing this video)

The next morning began "bright" and "shiny" (for some of us at least), and we formed a team of about 15 people to do the whole hike (a little under 4 and a 1/2 hour thing,) The hike up was preceded by breakfast, again quite a spread. We set out for the hike on what seemed a warm fall morning, doing good time, at least that's what veteran hiker Eric (presently pursuing his PhD in Thayer) said, we reached the peak in just around 2 hours. The view from the top was simply breathtaking, tons of bright red and gold all throughout, signaling the onset of fall. Pictures can be viewed here. The climb down and the drive back home were relatively subdued, except for the awesome ice cream Eric treated us to at Fat Bob's, an ice cream parlor in the middle of nowhere.

On the whole, the trip was amazing, and probably the best welcome present any student could ever wish for.

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