Kingdom Trails Slideshow

Here’s our slideshow for for the final project. It’s about Kingdom Trails.

Sharing the Road in the Northeast Kingdom

Lyndonville, Vt- In the Northeast Kingdom, the recent spring weather is bringing out recreational bicyclist of all kinds biking both around the area and Kingdom Trails, (http://www.kingdomtrails.com/) East Burke, causing drivers to alter the way they share the road in an effort to keep both themselves and others safe while driving.

The change in weather does more than melt the snow in this region; people all around the Northeast Kingdom and tourists alike take advantage of the different trails and roads this area has to offer for biking.

Kingdom Trails, which recently opened on May 1st for the spring season hosts most of its single-track mountain biking trails on the top of Darling Hill, East Burke, but some of the paths lead though the center of the town, taking bikers out of the woods and on to the road.

“I think it’s important to share the road with cyclists and make sure to give them enough room while passing to ensure everyone’s safety,” said Abbie Russo, a sustainability’s major at Lyndon State College, “if I’m the only car in the area and there’s room in the other lane to pass them then I feel ok, but when other cars are around and a biker is in the road I get nervous that they’ll sway further into my lane while I’m trying to pass them. “

The non-drivers on the road seem to give cyclists the space they need to enjoy their sport as well as stay safe while moving from one trail to another, or just going through town.

“People usually share the road if they can make room and I stay way to the side when I can too,” said Travis Cox, a Visual Arts major at Lyndon State College, “yeah, people sometimes like to obnoxiously honk to frighten me. I usually give them the finger.”

Both drivers and cyclists have certain steps to take to ensure the safe travel on the same road that involve both parties taking extra precautions and following different rules.

“The coexistence of cars and the road can present a danger to the less protected cyclist travelers unless safety measures are taken by both sides,” said Chris Mullen, Lyndon resident and cyclist, “cyclists wearing visibility and safety clothing and drivers having a greater awareness of the potential presence and vulnerabilities of cyclists, bicycles are entitled to just as much road as necessary for travel. “

Final Video

This video was taken on the campus mountain biking trails with sophomore Alex Bolcon

Final Podcast

Interview with Louis D. about Mountain Biking

Final Project Proposal

For the final project, Cody and I are going to focus primarily on mountain biking. We’ve decided to utilize several different types of multimedia, which include a slideshow, video, a podcast, and a 400-word story. The slideshow will contain images of bikes, gear, etc.  The video will have a story about someone from Lyndon and their biking career. The podcast will be an interview with someone else besides the person in the video that enjoys biking, and the 400-word story will feature top biking places in both the Lyndon area as well as the United States and the rest of the world. For this project, I plan to shoot and edit the video as well as create the podcast. Cody is in charge of writing the 400-word story and creating the slideshow. 

Hiking in the Northeast Kingdom

Lyndonville, Vt- Students from Lyndon State College take advantage of the all the region has to offer in terms of the variety of hiking destinations available whether they are choosing it as a hobby or the experience is part of a class.

The hiking options in the area can range from easy day trips too overnight time on the trial, allowing a wide selection of places for students with different experience levels to choose from. 

“Dog Mountain (St.Johnsbury), the Lyndon Institute Woods (Lyndon) and Victory Bogs (Underhill) are easy and carefree hikes,” said Emily Buckley, a senior in the Environmental Studies Department, “Pisgah (Westmore), Artists Bluff (Franconia, NH), and Jay Peak (Jay) are great although a little further out of the kingdom.”

Students at the college don’t have to look far for a place to hike, the Lyndon Institute Woods are just minutes down the hill from the college.

While the winter in the Northeast Kingdom seems to last longer than other areas in New England, the snow doesn’t stop students from still getting outside and hiking in the cold, sometimes dreary weather. 

“I snowshoed up Mt. Hor, (Westmore) for Hydrology class this past winter,” said Chris McCray, a junior in the Atmospheric Science Department, “it was nice to get out of the classroom for the day even on a cold and windy day.”

In the surrounding area of the college many of the hikes students take lead them to the top of mountains that overlook a large portion of the kingdom, such as Wheeler Mountain, Sutton, which overlooks parts of Lake Willoughby, Westmore.

“My favorite place would be Mount Pisgah because the top overlooks Lake Willoughby which is one of my favorite places,” said Nikki Slabinski, a senior in the Exercise Science Department. “On a scale of one being like flat road, and ten being the hardest hike I ever did, I’d say it’s a five. It’s challenging, but not that hard.”

“My favorite local place to hike is Mt. Pisgah, not because it’s the most fun place to go, but rather because the reward you get when you’re at the viewpoints overlooking Willoughby,” said Dustin Brooks, a senior at the college.

The surrounding area provides a lot of opportunity for students to have a choice of where they want to hike, without necessarily giving up a great view at the end of the trial.

iReport Posting

Here’s the link to our Video 2 project on CNN. 

Video 2 Project

This is our project about hiking.

Video 2 Idea

For this project, Cody and I are going to shoot a video on “preparing for a hike.”  We plan to use Dave Cowley as our subject because he has a good grasp on hiking and what’s needed to be safe.  We will be sure to interview him with his thoughts on hiking, but we also are going to voice over each piece of gear he uses to go hiking with and the benefit of that specific piece of equipment.  We will be using natural sound from Dave actually using the gear, but as of now, we are unsure on what other sounds we will use besides music.  My assignment for this project is to shoot and edit the video, while Cody’s job is to write the 400-word story to accompany the story.  

The Inside Details About Off Campus Eating

Lyndonville, Vt- Eating off campus at Lyndon State College is a luxury that is rarely taken for granted by the student body, but not without their fair share of sacrifices in order to save money during their outing.

While the Steven’s Dining Hall offers a variety of food and drinks provided by Sodexo, one of the leading food distributors that cater to colleges, students tend to move off campus for their dinning experience to get away from the routine. By doing this students are forgoing a meal paid for at the beginning of the semester by their meal plans, for one they have to purchase.

“I definitely need a brake from the Dining Hall food,” said Chris McCray, a junior in the Atmospheric Science Department at Lyndon State College, “I actually don’t even have a meal plan anymore because I didn’t really care for the same food all the time. It just gets boring.”

The need for something different during the week brings students out to the different restaurants in the surrounding area of Lyndonville, St. Johnsbury and even East Burke. Restaurants in the area offer a variety of options ranging from American style, Chinese, and Thai food. With all the different options some students get creative to save some money while eating off campus.

“I always order water to cut costs and never get desert,” said Abbie Russo, a sophomore in the Sustainability Department at Lyndon State College, “If I really want to save money I will split the meal.”

“You can save a lot of money by splitting the parts of a meal, “ said McCray, “Some restaurants make you buy a side or a drink to get the deal. Sometimes, the side costs nearly as much as the main meal, so if a friend pays you and gets the side it can sometimes cut the cost of the bill in half.”

It’s not just the students trying to get a deal; the local restaurants are also trying to attract more students through their doors with certain specials. Multiple restaurants such as Pizzaman, in Lyndonville and The Pub Out Back, in East Burke offer certain wing night specials, giving deals on wings in the hope that students will buy other food as well.

The local restaurants particularly Pizzaman and The Pub Out Back hold their wing night special on Mondays while Lyndonville’s newest restaurant, The Stage holds theirs on a Thursday nights.