Gunnery Outdoor Club Takes On Steep Rock Challenge

The 15 members of The Gunnery’s Outdoor Club are oiling their hiking boots, cleaning their water bottles, and poring over their maps as they prepare to accept the Steep Rock Challenge. The Challenge, which is open to all, involves the payment of $36 and the commitment to hike each of the 36 miles of Steep Rock trails in the Reservation: Steep Rock, Hidden Valley, and the Macricostas Preserve. Those who complete the trails receive a Steep Rock cap. Chick Treadway (Chairman of the Preservation Committee), Natalie Dyer (Chairman of the Trails Committee), trustee Manny Clark and Kirsten Peckerman (Trustee of both Steep Rock and The Gunnery) have joined Gunnery college counselor Emily Fitzhugh in sponsoring the students in their quest. The Outdoor Club this year is supervised by English teacher Dana Jackson, a great grandson of a founding trustee of Steep Rock, Hamilton Gibson, and history teacher Chapin Miller, a great-great grandson of Frederick Gunn with whom Steep Rock founder, Ehrick Rossiter, first explored the preserve in the 1860s. The Outdoor Club is the equivalent of an athletic commitment at The Gunnery, and meets every afternoon of the school week during the fall and spring terms. Students practice outdoor skills including trail blazing and cleaning, “leave no trace” outdoor policy, and general nature observation. Front row, from left, are Peter MacKenna, Nick Raffanello, faculty adviser Chip Miller, faculty adviser Dana Jackson, Dylan Crittenden and Elizabeth Hawley. Back row: Joe Mashburn, Alex Strelov Jared Kloth of Newtown, Zach Elston, John Hartmann and Julian Schwartz.