Pellston, Mich.—The setting sun ventured in and out from behind the slouching branches of pine trees, weighed down by wet packing snow; it illuminated the snow that covered the ground a buttery shade of yellow. The forest was quiet as a group of snowshoers trotted through, led by four Community High School teachers.

The group of snowshoers, the CHS Ecology Club, had been planning this trip up north to Pellston since the beginning of the year—the fourth trip up north to be taken by the ecology club.    The group departed from  CHS at 9 a.m. on Fri., March 3 and arrived at the University of Michigan Biological Station—nicknamed “the biostation”—soon after 1 p.m. It wasn’t long before students began to strap on snowshoes and explore the snow-covered frozen Douglas Lake that sat just outside the dorm that the club was staying in.

Over the course of the weekend, the ecology club stargazed, snowshoed, cooked meals, played board games and was guided on a tour of the biostation campus by the leader of the ecology club, Courtney Kiley. Fellow teachers Liz Stern, Marcy McCormick and Ed Kulka chaperoned the trip.

“I feel like this time of year, teachers have a lot of burnout and I think students do too. It reminds me every year, and this is going to sound cheesy, that this is why I like teaching… Seeing kids be goofy and have fun and play games together and play in the snow,” Kiley said. “It just reminds me that this is why I love my job so much. It’s just relaxing and it’s so beautiful up there. It’s like a restorative weekend, and I think kids need that now more than ever. Kids are so busy that they need to take a break and get away for awhile.”

On the first night of the trip, the ecology club warmed up inside the living area of the dorm after snowshoeing on the lake, ate spaghetti for dinner and then went on a short walk outside to stargaze before watching a movie by the fire. The next morning, Kulka and students made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast before beginning their day. Before the teachers went on a hike around the lake, the club teamed up to attempt answering all of the questions on one Trivial Pursuit card correctly. The club was unsuccessful in answering all of the questions on one card—an ecology club field trip tradition—but still had fun in the process.

After lunch, the ecology club got dressed into their cold weather gear before a walking tour and then piled into the rental cars for a quick drive to a nearby trailhead. The club was unable to find the trailhead, so they began their hike down Hogsback Road—a seasonal road covered in approximately a foot of snow. From the road, the group was able to find a map for the trail that they had been searching for and climbed up a steep hill to reach it. The trail was about a two mile loop around the perimeter of a gorge that Little Carp River flowed through.

When the trail reached the gorge, some of the club members took off their snowshoes and began sledding down the snowy hill that led into the gorge.

“Just hiking around there and then sledding down the gorge on my snow pants, just really it was beautiful, it was amazing,” Kiley said.

The ecology club returned to the dorm at the biostation and made tacos for dinner before going to bed. In the morning, the group ate cereal and eggs for breakfast and then packed up for the road trip back Ann Arbor.

“It’s a great opportunity for people who don’t get out into nature and the north woods a chance to be there and also just a place to relax, get your technology away and be with people that like nature and like to be outside and like snuggling and playing games,” Kiley said.