Al Chrone, helped Wawayanda in early FV days, has died

Al Chrone, long associated with the Westfield NJ YMCA, has died. In the early days of Wawayanda at Frost Valley, from 1958 through the early 1960s, Al worked hard to enroll Westfield and Westfield-area children into camp sessions here and also at Camp Speers (later Speers/Eljabar).

Below is a 1961 newspaper article reporting that the first three camp sessions at Wawayanda were full and that there were a few openings for fourth session. It was Al Chrone who announced this from his position at the Westfield Y. (For a slightly better image of the article, click on the image below.)

Al Chrone was beloved by the people at Speers-Eljabar and here is the text of the announcement made by them:

Dear Friends,
I am deeply saddened to inform you of the passing of a beloved member of the Camp Family, Al Chrone. Al was a young YMCA program director who in 1947-8 helped recruit the first group of campers to participate in what was at the time the first racially integrated YMCA Camp in the Y system. In subsequent years, Al became the Camp Director of Camp Speers. He and his family lived in the rustic cabin that sat above the lake each summer. Campers of that era often recall Al fishing during the evenings off the dock below the Director's Cabin. As "Taps" was played by the Camp Bugler, he would reel in his fishing line and go make his nightly rounds of the camp. Al later became the CEO of the Madison (NJ) YMCA where he continued to promote Camp Speers-Eljabar YMCA and summer camp experience for kids.
Al and his wife, Rae have been lifelong supports of Camp Speers-Eljabar YMCA. The Chrone Cabin now stands at the location of the old Director's Cabin and our annual award for program excellence is named in his honor. The Al Chrone Program Service Award is given to the group or individual who have supported, enhanced, and enriched our programs through their participation and leadership. The most recent recipient of the Al Chrone Program Service Award is Bob Lomauro, CEO of the Somerset Hills YMCA.
I was blessed to work with Al at the Madison YMCA during my college years as a part time sports instructor and then as an intern. At one point during my Junior year of college internship at the Madison Y, Al encouraged me to work at a sleep away camp as a way to really understand the depth and breadth of YMCA work. Of course, he pointed me to Camp Speers-Eljabar YMCA. I'm happy to give Al all the credit for helping me to connect with Camp Speers-Eljabar YMCA - a connection that has lasted all of my adult life and enriched my life beyond description.
There will be no funeral service. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in Al's name to any YMCA of your choice or to Bayshore Home Keystyle Living at 512 Bayshore Rd. Nokomis FL 34275. Cards and letters of sympathy may be sent to Rae Chrone 324 Dolphin Shores Circle Nokomis, FL 34275.

Bud Cox tells the story of Charles R. Scott, Wawayanda's founder

Bud Cox talks about Charles R. Scott, who founded Camp Wawayanda in 1901. Keep watching until the end and you'll hear the remarkable story of 1954: Scott, 80 years old by then, visits Wawayanda and its Andover, NJ, location (final year there), while Bud himself was at camp for the very first time. Scott passed away right there in the dining hall, just one table over from where Bud was sitting. Bud concludes by remarking on the symbolism of continuity in that encounter.

then Chuck White came with the world's largest shovel

At the beginning of the "in memoriam" service at Reflection Pond (during the recent big Labor Day reunion), I sang "Old Wawayanda." (Video shot by Mike Marder.)

discovery! cabins from Old Wawayanda

For two days recently I visited Camp Speers-Eljabar in Dingman's Ferry, PA. My older sister Nancy attended this camp and loved it. She came to Wawayanda once (her Tacoma summer) and was unhappy the entire time--missed her beloved Speers, with its gorgeous lake and cabins in groves of tall trees. During my first years at Wawayanda, at Frost Valley, I always knew that Speers was our sister camp, and visited a few times during my time as director. Anyway, it was good to be back there. We wandered around a lot and visited a group of little cabins in the woods - off from the rest of the buildings. To my surprise I learned that these were cabins from the Old Wawayanda - that they had been brought to nearby Speers at the time the Old Wawayanda property was sold off. I'll have to consult with Bud Cox to learn more specifically which cabins these are. My sense is that most the campers at the Andover NJ camp lived in platform tents. When were these little guys built? The Speers folks use them for storage. Below you have two photos and a short video.

Jess Gonzalez tells her Frost Valley story

Here's Jess, telling her story:

In 2008 the new Program Director, Mike Obremski, called me over and over until I applied to work at Frost Valley. That June, I started training to be the Village Chief for Pokey Totem. I knew little about the valley at the time…just that my church use to use the site for youth retreats. I would soon find out that I had not one but two connections to Frost Valley history.

That first summer, I explained the breakdown of Frost Valley to my mother. When I mentioned the separation of the camp into Wawayanda and the Hird, she stopped me to tell me that my grandfather had gone to Camp Wawayanda as a child. I questioned my grandfather about it though at the time, he did not offer up much information. However, he did venture up from Sparta to visit me on my day off 4th session. He was so excited to get a tour around camp and hear that the villages that existed when he was a camper were still around. That Christmas, he shared with me a treasure that I one day hope to own. It was a wood burned and painted map of Camp Wawayanda that his brother had made during their time at camp.

My second connection to Frost Valley comes through the land that it once inhabited. I grew up going to and working at a small camp in northwest New Jersey called Camp Johnsonburg. This land was previously owned by Stevens Institute of Technology and served as the transition home for Wawayanda in the mid-50s. A few weeks into my first summer, I also found out that Stu Alexander had worked at Johnsonburg before coming to the valley. It seems that everywhere I look in my own history, I find a bit of Frost Valley that I did not know existed…and I couldn’t be happier to find it.

125th year campfire

Below are photos taken at the campfire we held for the entire camp (huge number of people at one campfire!) to celebrate 125 years of Y camping - a week ago today. Camps around the country celebrated this milestone and we chose July 14 to do it. Seemed like a good day - for one thing, our Wawayanda director, Dan Weir, had his birthday on that day. Twenty-nine, not 125. But whatever. We seriously contemplated an Order of the Oar ceremony, tossing Dan in the air 125 times, since he embodies Wawayanda currently. But we stuck with 29 and he was seasick enough from that. But back to the campfire. It was beautifully and meaningfully hosted by Jeff Daly, who was so good as introducer and leader that by the end--improvisationally--he laid down on his back on the ground, facing the lake - that is, lying down and facing in the same direction as all of the campers and staff and (using a mic) talked us through the wonder of the stars. "Each of us has his or her camp star, the star you wish on when you're a camper. Let's all find a star. I've found mine. Now look at this star. Make a camp wish..." etc. Marvelous. Complete silence. Hundreds of kids, in the utter darkness (or almost dark--the campfire had burned down quite a bit). Earlier highlights: Bud Cox, atop a ladder (with director-spotters), doing a grand, loud and crazy rendition of "Lion Hunt." (Bud began by telling the history of the founding of Wawayanda (and the split-off when Wawayanda and Dudley went separate ways) and had been introduced as someone who'd been a 10-year-old camper in 1954 and was present in the Andover NJ dining hall when Charles Scott suffered his fatal heart attack.) Bob Eddings reprised his "Singing in the Rain." I led an old-time camp song - "Green Grass Growing All Around" and led the old Wawayanda cheer (W - a - w - a [pause] y - a - EN-dee-ay) with everyone holding up double-victory fingers to form W's. In the end two thirds of the "Assorted Favorites" harmonizing trio (Chris Harper and Lexi Cariello) and I sang a three-part "Four Strong Winds." Lexi, feeling very emotional, lost harmony-consciousness and sang melody on the last chorus, but it was all the more gorgeous for that. Thanke you, Lexi, for feeling all this so deeply. And thanks, Jeff, more for the camp star even than for the Jeffburger.

Congress says happy 125th to us

On Wednesday we celebrated 125 years of camping. As most readers of this blog know, in 1886 the tiny camp that had been established in 1885 set up at Lake Wawayanda in New Jersey. Eventually that camp split into two - in 1901: one camp, subsequently named Camp
Dudley, moved to the Adirondacks, and Camp Wawayanda, led by Charles Scott, remained at Lake Wawayanda. So we can rightly claim that the first camp was ours - that Dudley and Wawayanda started together 125 years ago.

More about our celebration in subsequent blog posts. Meantime, click on the image here to see a closer-up view of a proclamation entered at the U.S. Congress noting this occasion.

1956 staff list

Yes, you read that right--1956. A rare item. This was of course before Wawayanda moved to Frost Valley. If anyone knows there whereabouts of any of these people, please let me know.

Dave King and Bud Cox both remember that Art Lockett stayed with Wawayanda and became a staff member at Frost Valley. Dave remembers that Art worked in Outpost in '58. Dave also wonder if Larry B. Gatlin of Oklahoma City could be the Larry Gatlin of country music fame. Ah, but the famed Larry Gatlin was born in 1948 (in Texas) and would have been just 8 years old at the time of this Wawayanda staff.

order of the oar

Someone will have to tell me where our version of "The Order of the Oar" came from and when it began. I just remember it here always. Maybe it came to us from the Navy (through some Navy/Wawayanda guy), maybe from a fraternity. Maybe it's just an Old Wawayanda thing. A birthday ritual: he or she celebrating a birthday gets summoned by staff marching around the dining hall with an oar, chanting over and over: We are, we are, we are, we are, the Order of the Oar, whereupon the celebrated one is brought to the front, tossed in the air, and paddled a number of times equal to the number of years on the planet. This just happened, as it has for--how many? 50? 80? years--just now, no more than 10 minutes ago. For Kirsten Williams, a Junior Counselor, 17 years young. Almost certainly the record for this is 101 tosses. And it was I who got tossed that many times. During our 2001 Wawayanda centennial reunion, several former Wawayanda directors were brought to the front, and I was chosen to receive the 101 paddlings, one each for a year of Wawayanda's history, plus one for good measure.

These days--thankfully--this particular celebration is only done for staff and it's optional even for them.

started at Old Wawayanda in '56

"I was a camper at the old Wawayanda in Johnsonburg, NJ in 1956 and 57 and at FV in 1958 and 59. After a year's absence to attend the Boy Scout Jamboree in 1960, I returned to FV in 1961 and 62 as a staff member. I enjoy these newsletters and Al Filreis's blog. Most of the names are unfamiliar and much as changed but as I look at the pictures of today's campers, one thing definitely has not changed. The smiles and happy expressions say that FV is still a GREAT place to spend some or all of your summer when you're a kid. What a fabulous place!"--Bill Sonsin, Prescott AZ

"Old Wawayanda" at closing campfire, 1985

At my final closing campfire as director, at the end of the 2nd session in '85, Adam Diamond (then a camper) and I led everyone in a sweet-quiet last go-around at "Old Wawayanda." Eric Wechter made a cassette recording of this and other songs sung around my retirement from active FV staff duty and recently mailed me the old tape. I've digitized and reminisced while listening. Wooh. Here's the mp3 version of "Old Wawayanda." You can download, of course, or also just listen. Stay tuned to this channel for some more songs converted into mp3s from that old cassette. And thanks, Eric, for stirring up the memories.

Here's a 2007 version of the song.

old patch, worn but cherished

Someone sent me a photograph of his beloved Wawayanda 1 (first year) patch. I'm sorry I can't remember who it is, but that's just as well because the symbolism is generic, universal. Many of us have one of these somewhere, in the attic, in the back of a drawer, sewn onto the sleeve of an old jacket or sweatshirt.

archiving with Windsong

One of the counselors in Windsong - Anna Armstrong, who herself has been here for years beginning as a young camper - organized a double-period session with me yesterday here in the Historical Room of the Ad Office. We gathered her and I described what was in the Frost Valley/Wawayanda archive, a deep closet now very very well organized with file drawers, archive boxes, deeds and meeting minutes and annual reports, photos, old issues of The Wawayanda Whirlwind and the Wawayanda Wasp and Frost Valley Life, staff lists and even camper lists for early years.

Carefully recording the files removed, we handed our archive folders to each of the girls who wanted to read them. Others sorted through old staff shirts dating back to the 1960s, others read through the 1979-1980 Staff Wellness Manual with the idea of comparing our ideas about health and wellness now with these revolutionary ideas of the late 70s, and still another group sat my computer and tried to Google the names of campers from the 1968 camper lists, seeing if we could locate any. (We did!)

Melanie Vargas took notes on wellness then and now. She wrote this, in part: "No TCS. No Too Cool Syndrome. No camper should be 'too cool' for any activity. This creates a stress-free environment. This makes FV the true melting pot America is supposed to be. The country itself may only be the ingredients but Frost Valley is the real melting pot where the flavors blend to become the tempting stew. From Building Wellness Lifestyle page 4, paragraph 1, line 2, I read: 'Learn more from what we do than from what we say.' Recently a counselor said to me, "Youdon't realize what an effect you have on us." Just yesterday I learned about Sunshine Village [a one-week village of kids undergoing drug rehab]. It's meant to show those just out of rehab what else there is, what opportunities they have. Having attended FV myself since 10 years old I've been exposed to those opportunities. I'd never have been so liberal, open-minded, or cultured without this place. Here we're away from the judgments and harsh cruelty of society. In a few short weeks here we lose our own judgments and gossip doesn't change our opinions. First impressions don't matter. All campers gain courage and confidence."

During our session our CEO Jerry Huncosky stopped in to talk with the girls. One of the girls was reading through a long-range planning document that called for the replacement of all cabins with lodges, one super-lodge for each existing village of five cabins. She asked Jerry his view of the cabins vs. the lodges. Before he describe his preference (strongly for the cabins) the girls discussed it with them. All but one preferred the cabins. Later Georgia Gleason wrote about this: "Campers at Frost Valley who have lived in lodges and cabins usually have an opinion about which they prefer.... It's cool in the cabins to look at all the names and dates carved in the walls. Thinking about all the different girls and boys who slept in the bunks long ago is interesting to dream about. Cabins provide 8 individuals the same age an opportunity to bond and grow very close to each other. Lodges on the other hand hold more people and allow everyone to be part of a bigger family. Lodges such as Kresge [where Windsong lives] are really great because they have a main room in the center where the girls meet to hang out and say goodnight. Wherever you stay at Frost Valley there will be fun things to do, great times to experience, and the most fun, cool and exciting people on earth."

Tammy Oruwariye became fascinated with a document dated 1966. The "Construction Engineers" (CE) program had not gone well the previous summer apparently. "Bad leadership" was the complaint and the situation was presented to the trustee-led "Wawayanda Committee," which recommended at one of its fall meetings that the CE Program be discontinued. Tammy asked me what the CE program was and why it was shut down and she wanted to imagine what overnight camping and hiking would be like today if the trails and lean-tos and overnight sites had been kept up by camper volunteers in CE all those summers. She first wrote about her own overnight experiences. Then: "Imagine if we had the CEs now. It would make hiking so much better and easier." The end of the CEs, she wrote, "remains a mystery in my mind." What did she mean by this, I asked her later. "It seems like such a good idea. Maybe we can do something like this again."

Sherley Wetherheld was another who read the Wellness Lifestyles manual and it got her to thinking about her own time here. "As a Windsong camper (the equivalent of Cherokee Village, for those of you who remember playing 45s of the Beatles and the Doors), my last days as a camper loom darkly and inevitable. I have done quite a big of thinking lately. What will I say at Vespers? How have I made my mark on Frost Valley? Will I make CIT? How will my life be changed? I can try to answer one question: What is the allure and magic of Frost Valley? It's the feel-goodness that surrounds us every time we set foot on Frost Valley property. While flipping through "Building Wellness Lifestyles" I realized that all of the ideals Frost Valley stood for in the 70s still hold true in the 21st century. Here's the conclusion of the old booklet: We hope all of us will agree that after spending the summer together that wellness was never intended to be boring coursework, putting people down, getting everyone to behave the same way, a program for super-jocks, or a drag. It is intended to be health enhancing, enlivening, inspiring, and to make us feel good inside. Which is exactly what Frost Valley does for me. It makes me feel good. The way we all share our secrets and keep them too, the way we become a family, but closer, and know that we will always be friends, and in our hearts, we'll always be campers, and know where to find some of that Frost Valley magic."

I had a centennial year staff T-shirt to give away to one of the Windsong kids at the end of the program but they were all so into this exploration into their camp's history it didn't seem appropriate to single out one kid, but everyone instantly agreed that Anna Armstrong, the counselor who came up with this idea, should have it. She was delighted and wore it the rest of the day. It turns out that today, the next day, she was leaving camp for the summer (needing to go back to college a bit early). So this was a fine farewell gathering, some reflection, some connecting to the larger community here, and a new shirt to prove it. The girls applauded her when she showed them her new FV possession.

hope you had the time of your life

Brendan Heldenfels put together a beautiful 9 1/2-minute video montage, set to stirring music, of photographs across all years. It's been posted to YouTube. Just get your popcorn, dim the lights, find someone to whom you want to tell camp stories, and click on the image above.

You're tuning into an old-style radio, with a dial. Turn the dial a bit and hear a song from the '60s (and now the cabins are new, the docks at the lake seem in the wrong place, a few crewcuts mixed with some fairly hip-looking characters), finger the dial again and it's another time and set of images. Tune time back and forward.

A number of the photographs date back to the Old Wawayanda prior to the move to Frost Valley fifty summers ago. But for the most part the video traces our work and play across the decades, with songs and photos from the 60s, then the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s. Certain themes merge in and out of the decades: coming & going; the buildings; outdoor education and conferencing; etc.

Some highlights to watch for:

[] Halbe Brown's red plaid pants, circa 1976.

[] wellness-minded girl campers surround chain-smoker Chuck White as they take his blood pressure and listen to his heart.

[] misty sunrise over Lake Cole.

[] Eva Gottscho (co-creator of our dialysis program) with dialysis camper Stevie Bell in her lap.

[] the late John Ketcham blowing on the embers, in Canada, a Trailblazer for all time.

[] Wawayanda camp directors across the decades gather together to lead the noonday grace at a recent reunion.

[] You ain't goin' nowhere.

[] Lenape boys, clad in white Wawayanda tees, head out for an overnight...walking in a perfectly straight line.

[] the old garage before it was Hayden Lodge.

[] the late Oran Giannotti hanging out with good friends.

[] tons of Hirdstock shots.

[] lighting the Olympic torch.

[] everyone wearing really short shorts.

[] Mac guy learns to ride a bike.

I hope you had the time of you life. If so, I'll be joining you in that good company.

patches are back

Until the mid-1970s, every camper, at his or her final closing campfire of the summer, received a "Wawayanda patch." It was treasured. The number on your patch signified the number of summers. I remember holding my W5 during my Lenape summer (I was there six weeks), proud as all get-out, watching the embers of the fire, mesmerized by the last part of the patch-awarding sequence where people like Bud Cox, Digger Shortt, Dave King and others got their W12, W14.... (I got both of those later.)

For a summer or two in the mid-70s we experimented with "FV" patches - big colorful things - but they didn't seem to have the value of the old felt black-and-orange W's.

I remember strolling as a teenager in Manhattan, seeing some freaky long-haired guy sitting on a bench in Central Park. I took a second look and saw that he was wearing a jacket that had ten of these Wawayanda patches sewed onto it. Of course I approached him and we talked for an hour about camp.

In the earliest years, the patch was shaped as a W - with no number or shield.

Anyway, these patches were always merely symbolic and the system was administratively complex (you want to give each kid the right patch, at the right campfire), but it's one of those things that brings kids back the next summer.

There are many people who, upon reading this entry, will go to the closet and find their patches. There are several FV generations who will respond by wondering why we gave up the patches before their time.

Well, Dan Weir and others among the current directors are bringing back the patches - for the summer of 2008 and beyond. Campers this summer will get their new patch at the end of their stay, and apparently will receive (in the mail?) all their previous patches. Campers in Hird - for the older kids, Sacky and Hemlock and older - will receive, e.g., an "H4" if it's the fourth summer camp; but she also will have a W1 for her Pokey summer, a W2 for Susky, a W3 for Lakota, and the H4 for the first summer in Hird (Sacky). The directors will have to deal with the clamor among staff for their patches and figure out whether post-camper-years patches will be W's or H's. I'm Old School and would grab the W.

So here, below, are your sneak previews of...the return of the patches.

dying from in-door-ness

This is the 1915 Camp Wawayanda brochure. It's in the Kautz Family YMCA Archive which is housed at the University of Minnesota. Melissa Pauls found, on the web, an article by historian Michael Smith that describes the history of "the ego ideal of the good camper." Smith reproduces our old brochure in his article, and here is his caption:

This brochure for Camp Wawayanda, one of the oldest boys' summer camps in the United States, evokes the countermodern ethos of the organized camping movement. Many early camp leaders focused on the power of "roughing it" in nature to build character and uplift spirits, to save the race from "dying from in-door-ness."

Here is a link to Smith's article. The notion (uplift spirits, get kids away from cities, etc.) is described generally in a book by Jackson Lears about "anti-modernism" in the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th. This was of course the era in which Wawayanda was born (1901).

Lake Wawayanda today

This is Lake Wawayanda, Sussex Country, NJ, as seen today. Many thanks to Donna Marines for taking and sending me this photo.

Now compare this view with the romantic painting that was done in 1876.

"Old Wawayanda" dedicated to the '07 staff

The song "Old Wawayanda" is alive and well--its spirit never dies, indeed--and we've been singing it all along, but finally two nights ago had a chance to record it. Here is that recording. The preface is my dedication of the song to the 2007 staff. I asked three other FV generations to help me lead it: Jeff Daly, Chris Harper and my daughter Hannah--and attempted to convey to today's campers and staff that there's a lot of you folks out there who would have given eye teeth to sing along with us or at least to convey the same feelings. That spirit never does die.

An earlier entry includes the lyrics to this song.

"Old Wawayanda" sung for the first time

At Hirdstock '84 I sang "Old Wawayanda" for the first time - along with Adam Diamond (then a camper).

When I was a young boy at Old Wawayanda
Just 2 hours from the city, so peaceful, sublime.
In Mr. Carey’s old rec hall, The K Court in session,
Got a pie in the face, and had me a time.

Chorus (sing after each verse)
Well, daddy, won’t you take me back to Old Wawayanda
Down by Biscuit River where paradise lay
Well I’m sorry my son but you’re too late in asking
Mr. Carey’s old rec hall is all laid away.

Got a little bit older, and so did that rec hall
All them pies in the face, they made me a man.
The Chuck White came with the world’s largest shovel
And knocked it all down, for the “progress of camp.”

Sang songs and made friends, in a hall they called “Dining”
‘Till fire burned through her, though the sign said “Build Strong”
Then Chuck White came with the world’s biggest slide rule
And figured it all out, and sang me this song.

When I die let my ashes flow down Biscuit River
Let ‘em roll on in water the color of sky
I’ll be halfway to heaven at a New Wawayanda
Saying “Wawayanda spirit, it never did die.”

[after the final chorus:]
Saying “Wawayanda spirit, it never does die”
Saying “Wawayanda spirit, it never does die”
Saying “Wawayanda spirit, it never does die”

"K Court" in the first stanza refers of course to the old gone (and perhaps lamented) all-camp evening program, Kangaroo Court.

The song was written as a semi-serious protest against the renovation of the old "Rec Hall" (recreation hall)--a rebuilding that was Chuck White's first major construction project...a project that produced Margetts Lodge, which we cynics dubbed "The Halbe Hilton." We couldn't imagine it--at camp? a lodge that had rooms like a Howard Johnson's motel? How could this be? Give us back our old dumpy cowbarn-turned-rec-hall. The old rec hall had been the main barn of the Forstmann-era farm, and when campers first came to Wawayanda at FV in 1958, before the dining hall was built, they used the Rec Hall as a dining hall. John Ketcham once told me that as you ate your meals that summer you could still faintly smell the scent of manure.

The phrase "Mr. Carey's old Rec Hall" refers to Dick Carey, an early director.

I'll have something to say someday about the fire that took our beloved dining hall, especially as I have some photos of the fire and immediate aftermath, pictures that Chuck White gave me a few years ago.

[Sometime after I wrote this entry, I recorded a performance of this song at closing campfire. Go here for more.]

Lake Wawayanda in 1876

Lake Wawayanda in the northwest corner of New Jersey was the site of the original Camp Wawayanda beginning in 1901. Here is the same lake as it was depicted in a painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey done in 1876. Several people who know the lake suggest that the painting is highly romanticized - painted by Cropsey to befit the dramatic natural aesthetic of the mid-19th century Hudson River School. Notice for instance how high and looming the mountains are in the background here; well, the actual scene has no peaks quite so dramatic. Perhaps there's a convergence here: the Hudson River School painters focused many of their landscape paintings on the Catskill Mountains - dramatic scenes yet rounded "soft" mountains, that blue-green mountain-forest color we all know and love so well. What I like, then, is that the Catskills aesthetic trained its eye on Lake Wawayanda, conceptually tying together this New Jersey site to its future in the mountains to the north.