We started as ten strangers at the Outward Bound West base
camp near Seward, Alaska. Two weeks later, eight of us made
it to the end of the course and enjoyed a final relaxing dinner
together in Anchorage. To see us at the restaurant one would
have assumed that we were old friends. We toasted the two
absent members, who had been evacuated midcourse via helicopter
due to illness and injury. For most of us, this had not been
our first Outward Bound expedition, but it turned out to be
the toughest.
All of us bore the bruises, scrapes, chapped lips, and insect
bites that are the badges of having climbed, descended, crossed,
and plowed through steep tundra, loose rocks, talus, crevasses,
glaciers, snow fields, raging creeks, and rain forest vegetation
with sharp thorns and endless deadfall tree obstacles. With
seventy-pound packs we found our way through a vaguely described
route unaided by trails or accurate maps. Every turn brought
some new challenge, completely unforeseeable – usually
uncomfortable. Twelve-hour days under the packs were normal.
We made camp at 10 PM most nights, cooking a late dinner
of beans and rice or pasta. We had a few minutes to relax,
make fun of the mistakes, falls, miscues, and rough spots
of the days’ efforts. We revealed more and more about
ourselves at dinner, but our reactions to the days’
demands revealed more about each other than words ever could.
No one gets through a day without helping another or being
helped by another; indifference to your fellow traveler is
just not possible.
When we put route choices to a vote, despite incredible exhaustion
and uncertainty, the group always voted for the more challenging
option. Once after a five-hour climb and traverse of a glacier
on uncomfortable crampons, we unroped at the base of a 400
foot rock formation. We were facing a five-hour return to
camp with or without summiting the rock. The instructors could
see our exhaustion and suggested that we declare success and
head back. Our vote was to get to the top. As much as I wanted
to stop, I just could not bear the regret of having stopped
short. Surprised by the vote, the instructors led us to the
top in an hour. The trip back to camp was just as exhausting
as we had imagined, but morale was higher because we had won
the day.
Near the course end, we chose an untried route back to the
course extraction point, a route that at least promised a
night by a lake to get cleaned up. After bushwhacking for
ten hours, and realizing that it would take days to get through
the dense forest underbrush, we elected to wade a fast-moving
creek for several miles. We made crossings in pairs, bracing
ourselves against the force of the water and balancing on
slippery rocks. Our boots were waterlogged, clothes soaked,
but we made the lake just as light faded. The bath and dinner
compare to the best I’ve had.
When you return from an Outward Bound experience, you feel
a great joy in being back with loved ones, satisfaction in
having accomplished something difficult, and wonderment in
having experienced life in a simple, uncluttered way - all
in a beautiful, rugged physical world. Now I find myself quietly
overcome with emotion and humility, quite often a lump in
my throat – unable to speak about it, to be honest.
Civilization comes rushing in too quickly. Out there, under
the pack and working hard, being a part of raw, unblemished
nature, I am touched by God in the strongest way. I feel love
for my fellow human beings and peace in a way that often eludes
me in “ordinary” life. I will do this again!
