Proctor's extensive woodlands are assets on three fronts: education, recreation and economic (we are, among other things, a tree farm). Future Corners will explore the educational realm; today we turn to recreation. From any spot on campus, a ten minute walk on open trails brings one to cascading streams, seasonal pools, mature stands of oak and pine and ancient cisterns that watered sheep pastures that dominated this landscape one hundred and seventy years ago.
The sense of escape is immediate and therapeutic. For those with an hour or more to spare, The Cabin beckons to the north. The original Cabin, built by Roland Burbank's Cabin Club between 1935 and 1937, is gone, but a tidy new structure is available on the same site for overnight camping excursions to students and teachers.
Soon, the trails that criss-cross Proctor lands, networking campsites, ponds and outlooks, will be buried in snow, and we will be skiing--barely under control. This is a good time for some trail maintenance. Derek Mansell tends to an old bridge crossing Mitchell Brook.
Eben, a sophomore, scratches his nails on a beech already shredded by bear....
