Tideline School in Portland, Maine, is starting the ninth-grade year with a four-day hut-to-hut trek in the White Mountains of New Hampshire: 20.9 miles on the Appalachian Trail and its approach trails from Franconia Notch to Crawford Notch, with three nights in the Appalachian Mountain Club's huts. ETI360 brought together the school's plan, the huts' published information, and the national forest's rules, measured each day's distance, climb, and daylight from the route itself, checked the plan against the wilderness boundary and the roads, and listed the emergency departments by drive time from every trailhead; the school confirms which one the group uses. Each document below is written for the person who uses it, and each opens in full.

Tideline School is a fictional school; its location is shown for illustrative purposes.

Trip
White Mountains Hut-to-Hut Trek, Tuesday, September 7 to Friday, September 10, 2027
Group
20 ninth-grade students and four trail adults, one adult for every five students, walking as two parties of twelve; a fifth adult in the valley
Program
Outdoor education, with a science and history unit on the White Mountains: alpine ecology, the Appalachian Trail, and the history of the huts
On foot
20.9 miles and 8,710 feet of climb over four days, above treeline on Wednesday and Thursday mornings
Nights
Three nights in the Appalachian Mountain Club's huts: Greenleaf, Galehead, and Zealand Falls
Travel
Charter coach out to Franconia Notch and home from Crawford Notch, with a coach on call on Wednesday and Thursday mornings for the weather routes
School
Tideline School, Portland, Maine, a fictional school

Decision by decision

Each decision the school makes about the trip, and the documents that support it. Every document is written for the person who uses it, and every one opens in full. Under each document, Look inside shows three of its pages as the school receives them; select a page to open the US Letter edition at that page.

ETI360 builds every document to two paper sizes. The US Letter edition (8.5 × 11 inches) is the standard in the United States; the A4 edition (210 × 297 mm) is the standard in most other countries.

Approving the trip

The record the office files, and the Trip Risk Working File for the school to review, complete, and approve.

First page of the School Trip Record

School

School Trip Record

The office copy: the trip in one place, the people who run it, the huts, the coach and the permits, the emergency care, the cost, and what the research found and how the plan changed.

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Look inside
School Trip Record, page 2
The trip in one page: dates, program, group and ratio, the leader and the school contact at any hour, and the four days with their distance and climb.
School Trip Record, page 3
Huts, transport and permits: the three hut nights with their beds and what each hut provides, the meal times and the season, what the booking asks of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the coach.
School Trip Record, page 7
What the research found and how the plan changed: two parties of twelve, a longer coach time, a Friday exit on a paved road at Crawford Notch, a fifth adult in the valley, and measured distances shorter than the published ones.
First page of the Trip Risk Working File

School

Trip Risk Working File

Hazards, controls, and emergency actions organized one section per activity group, from the coach and the hut nights to the open ridge and rescue in the backcountry, with the live-assessment prompts for the trip leader. The school reviews it, completes it, amends it, and approves it.

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Trip Risk Working File, page 6
What the school confirms with the huts, the coach operator, the ranger district, and the state park before the trip, with a line for who confirmed it and when.
Trip Risk Working File, page 22
Above treeline on Mount Lafayette and the Twinway: when and where the group is on open ground, the supervision, the emergency care, and lightning on an open ridge, rated before and with its controls.
Trip Risk Working File, page 26
The road access from Wednesday's exit trailheads to Littleton Regional Healthcare, and the checks the trip leader makes on the day, with the turnaround time for each summit.

Telling families

What each day asks, the huts, what to pack, and the consent, fitness, and health forms that come back with the deposit.

First page of the Family Trip Brief

Families

Family Trip Brief

What the trek is and what the walking asks, the huts and how families hear from the school, what to pack and what it costs, then the backcountry consent, fitness confirmation, and health update that return with the deposit.

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Family Trip Brief, page 2
What the trek is: the four days with their distance and climb, what the walking asks of a student, and how the leader reads the mountain forecast each ridge morning.
Family Trip Brief, page 3
The huts from a family's side, food and allergies, reaching the group through the school, and the coach times at each end.
Family Trip Brief, page 5
The backcountry consent, returned to the school office with the deposit: walking above treeline, three hut nights, the coach, and emergency treatment.

Preparing the leader and trail adults

A Route Intelligence page for each hiking day, the weather call and the turn-back triggers, the procedures, and the emergency departments by drive time from every trailhead.

First page of the Trip Leader Card

Trip leader

Trip Leader Card

Parties, contacts, and standards, the week in outline, a Route Intelligence page for each hiking day, the communication plan and the weather decision, and the emergency plan. Every trail adult carries a copy.

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Trip Leader Card, page 11
Wednesday's Route Intelligence page: distance, climb, moving time at a school group's pace, and sunset, with the route from Greenleaf Hut over Mount Lafayette and Garfield Ridge to Galehead Hut.
Trip Leader Card, page 14
Wednesday's exits and road access, water, light and tree cover, and the drive time from each exit trailhead to the emergency department.
Trip Leader Card, page 25
The emergency plan: the action sequence first, search and rescue in New Hampshire, and the drive time by road from every trailhead on the trek to the emergency department.
First page of the Chaperone Briefing and Pocket Card

Trail adults

Chaperone Briefing and Pocket Card

For the adults who each take five students all week: their group and place in the party, the shape of a hut-to-hut day, what to do when something happens, the calls in order, and a pocket card to cut out and carry.

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Chaperone Briefing and Pocket Card, page 2
Each adult's group and place on the trail, the valley support adult's role, and the shape of every hiking day from the hut to the ridge and back.
Chaperone Briefing and Pocket Card, page 3
What to do after a fall, for a student who is cold, a student who cannot continue, and a student who is missing, then the calls in order.
Chaperone Briefing and Pocket Card, page 4
The pocket card: the call order, every working number, the emergency department, the huts, and the conditions that send the group down, not on.

Timing each hiking day

How much light each day has, how the planned day sits inside it, and how much of each route is open ground above the trees.

First page of the Daylight and Cover Report

Trip leader

Daylight and Cover Report

How much light each hiking day has, how the planned day sits inside it, and how much of each route is open ground, with each day's elevation profile and the tree cover along the route. On this trek the ridge weather, not the light, sets the limits.

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Daylight and Cover Report, page 2
Sun times for each day and the planned day against the light: the smallest margin is Wednesday's, 3.2 hours before sunset on the longest day.
Daylight and Cover Report, page 4
Wednesday's elevation profile, the stretch above 4,500 feet, and the tree canopy along the route, mile by mile.
Daylight and Cover Report, page 5
What the canopy figure does not show: the survey counts the low, wind-stunted spruce of the high ridge as cover, so the exposure is named from the ground.

Connecting the trip to learning

The unit Above the Trees: questions carried from the forest to the alpine ridge and back to class.

First page of the Educational Journey

Teachers

Educational Journey

The unit Above the Trees, what each hiking day teaches, a Route Intelligence page for each day, the field study at each hut, the evening reflection, and the field report students write after the trek.

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Educational Journey, page 2
What the trek teaches: questions on the forest zones, the Appalachian Trail, and the huts, each tied to what students record on the trail.
Educational Journey, page 4
The route and the learning by day: the four days on one map, from Lafayette Place to Crawford Depot, each with its learning focus.
Educational Journey, page 12
Thursday's field study at Zealand Falls Hut, comparing the high forest of the Twinway with the valley forest below, logged and burned and since regrown, and the stops on the way.
First page of the Student Journey Guide

Students

Student Journey Guide

The guide students keep at the top of their pack: the four days, the pack and the huts, a page for each day with its map, elevation profile, and stops, a journal to fill in on the day, and a trip card to cut out and carry.

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Student Journey Guide, page 2
Your trek: the four days in a student's words, the parties, and the things that keep the trek simple, from drinking at every stop to three whistle blasts if lost.
Student Journey Guide, page 7
Wednesday in the guide: the numbers for the longest and highest day, and the map from Greenleaf Hut over Mount Lafayette to Galehead Hut.
Student Journey Guide, page 16
The trip card to cut out and carry, and the field report students write two weeks after they return, with their journal records as evidence.

Improving next year's trip

What students, parents, the trip leaders, and the hut crews said, set out for the school's review.

First page of the Post-Trip Feedback Report

After the trip

Post-Trip Feedback Report

Four questions asked of students, parents, the trip leaders, and the hut crews after the trek: what each group said, where students' and parents' answers part, and the moments that did not go to plan, each with the day it belongs to.

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Post-Trip Feedback Report, page 2
The four questions, asked once two weeks after the group returned, in each group's own words, with who was asked and who answered.
Post-Trip Feedback Report, page 4
What the report looks like, with example responses because the trip has not yet run: labeled distributions for each question, students beside parents.
Post-Trip Feedback Report, page 5
The moments raised in the example responses, each with its day and who raised it, and two things that went well: the ridge mornings and the field study at Zealand Falls.

Who decides

The school and any provider it works with retain responsibility for decisions, supervision, live assessments, and final approval.

The Trip Risk Working File is written for the school to review, complete, and approve. Its ratings are a starting point, its review lines are for the school’s own controls, and the trip leader makes the live assessment on the day.

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Tideline School is a fictional school; its location is shown for illustrative purposes.