Orientation Trek: Exploring the wide, dangerous, beautiful, extravagant & bright world!
“The world is wider in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright.”
-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Shortly after arriving at the Outdoor Academy the students head into the wilderness on a backpacking trip. We do this for many reasons. For one, it allows them to get to know a smaller group of people (and remember fewer names). The students get a great opportunity to know each other in a way they may never get to know their friends back home, truly relying on each others skills for their food, shelter, water and emotional well-being. Going out immediately helps to frame the students’ experience at OA on the front end, with their solos framing the back end.
It sure isn’t easy for all of the students. Many have never backpacked before and struggle with the “danger” and “bitterness” of the wilderness, from dealing with the cold to climbing what seems like the never-ending uphill of Chestnut Mountain. Others are pros in the wilderness and can help their peers discover the “extravagance” and “brightness” of nature.
Maddy, Ben P & Lauren use their map & compass skills to figure out where they are.
We do our best as faculty to get students ready for their first experience in the woods with us. We start with an on-campus “skills rodeo” in which students learn necessary skills and OA protocols that they will need in the field. They learn to use our camp stoves and our specific kitchen safety procedures. They learn how to hang their food in bear-bags high in the trees so raccoons, mice and (in rare cases) bears can’t get to it. They learn tarp and tent-craft to set up shelters that will keep them warm and dry in the elements. We teach them to pack their backpacks properly and how to treat their water with filters and iodine to safely stay hydrated in the backcountry. Students put these and many other skills to the test on orientation trek, with instructors on hand to guide and assist them, understanding that as the semester goes on with each successive outdoor program, the students will be expected to do more and more of the work on their own. This mastery culminates during the students solo overnight, in which staff is only on hand for safety and students must do all of the work required to sleep overnight in the woods alone. All of our wilderness staff are certified in Wildernes First Aid and First Responder certification.
All of that aside, our first time in the wilderness went great! Our students had a great time exploring the beauty of Pisgah National Forest, located just a few miles from our campus. With the winter weather, students enjoyed great views of the forest, able to see the beautiful mountains all around them. They climbed John Rock, Cedar Rock and Chestnut Mountain, and got great views of Looking Glass, Pilot Mountain and the Fish Hatchery.
Nole enjoys the view of Looking Glass from atop John Rock. Looking Glass is one of the sites where we often go rock-climbing.
We leave you with a question, dear readers, if you care to leave a comment:
Where was your first backpacking trip or significant wilderness experience and what did you gain from it?
Give Thanks,
-Josh Rosenstein
My first wilderness experience was in the Florida Everglades on an Outward Bound trek. I was a freshman in high school, the year before I ventured out to the Outdoor Academy. I was soon overwhelmed by the “bitterness” of the bugs and the scorching sun in the day, and the extreme cold of the night. I learned a lot though! I saw through the bitterness, into the light and noticed the beauty of depending on a small group for food, shelter, songs, and laughs. The wilderness was freeing in a way I had never experienced before, which made me hungry for more. I learned to set goals (distance, time, etc.) and I learned many skills (like how to pee off a canoe). Although it was only 5 days long, I gained a perspective on life that still shapes who I am today, I am forever an adventurer!
My first true backpacking experience was not too far from OA in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The “bitterness” came as we watched a black bear eat our dinner while we ourselves were “caged” in the enclosures the park provides for such an encounter. But, the beauty we saw was astounding and we felt strong and capable to be able to make such a trip. I am so glad for my daughter to have the opportunities at OA to experience similar things, although, hopefully without the bears!
My first back packing trip was in England. I went to an Outward Bound boarding school in Devonshire in the Southwest of England for high school. In my four years there, I probably went on at least 60 camping expeditions, many of them on Dartmoor, moorland that covers nearly 400 sq. miles of land and is protected by national park status. While we students complained about having to go on long camping treks so frequently, I realize now how valuable those trips were. They taught me how to rough it and never take such conveniences (luxuries for many) as toilets and hot water for granted. They also served as wonderful team building opportunities and helped create lifelong bonds with fellow students. (When you’re camping on Dartmoor there’s not much to do but talk and tell stories). I am so thrilled my daughter is getting a little taste of what I was fortunate enough to experience throughout high school!
My early memories are of my family taking us up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and hiking with other families as part of an outing club. We would spend the night in adirondack shelters, I can re-live the sounds and smells of the wilderness to this day. I must of been about 8 yrs. old. I would enjoy showing Blair the highlites of that region. But for now I wish her to be in the moment of OA, and make her own path. Happy Trails
I grew up in California, and though backpacking came later, I remember my high school’s opportunity to spend a weekend in Yosemite with the Yosemite Youth Institute. Boulder-hopping in the Merced River in Yosemite Valley (no gear or training or even adult supervision) brought such a sense of pure and simple joy that I still count Yosemite as one of my favorite places on earth. Also, my parents would take us car-camping in the summers to various National Parks, and, in the days before PowerPoint, I fell in love with the evening slideshows presented by the park rangers and decided I wanted to be a park ranger when I grew up (I haven’t done that yet). I know that whatever transpires, Zoe is right now having life-shaping experiences, and I am very grateful for the loving and experienced hands to which I am trusting her!