Photos and Thoughts from Outward Bound

(Don't forget to see my last post on my India trip...)

In September I went on a 10-day "canyoneering" expedition in Utah through Outward Bound (see this blog post for background).  Click here to see all photos from the trip.  Here's the way things went...

The group met up in the hotel lobby on our first day.  Everyone was quiet, and I was surprised how young people were.  There was no age requirement on this course, but I expected there to be more people in their 30's and 40's.  Regardless, it was a phenomenal group of people, and we all got along very well.  I feel damn lucky that we were all grouped together.The crew was:

• Elliot (19 year old guy from Seattle going to UW)
• Jimena (18 year old girl from Chicago - about to start at Northwestern)
• Andrew (~22-year old guy from Florida - studying alternative medicine)
• Kate (~30 year old girl from Milwaukee - works at Starbucks and on her third OB course)
• Edouard (20 year old guy from Belgium who goes to school in the States)
• Khevin (40 year old police officer from Indianapolis)
• Me
• Instructor: Card (32 years old)
• Instructor: Lisa (~28 years old)
• Instructor: Kate (~22 years old)

Anyway, we drove 2 hours to Moab to have lunch at the OB headquarters, then another 3 hours to our drop off site: Gravel Canyon.  For the next 9 days we hiked in and around Gravel Canyon, which is on public land in southwest Utah.  It's the most remote place I have ever been.  We didn't see any other humans for 9 days; the only sign of human life were ruins and planes flying far overhead at night.  

A few days were hiking days where we’d walk about 5-6 miles with 60-pound packs on our back.  60 pounds is very heavy, by the way.  Even though I trained for this trip, I wasn't ready to carry the big packs... it was truly painful at some points.  At night we’d set up tarps on the canyon bench and sleep under the stars.  To fall asleep looking up at the Milky Way with no light pollution is an unreal experience.  But the real fun came when we did day-hikes through the canyon.  For example, over the course we did 7 rappels (a couple of which were 80 feet high).  Perhaps the coolest thing was making our way through “the narrows,” which is the part of a canyon in which you have very tight walls on both sides of you, and oftentimes a pool of water at the bottom.  So, you have to use your body weight and balance to push against the two walls on either side of you to prop yourself up so you don’t fall in the water.

Along the way we came across 1000-year old ruins, saw two tarantulas (including one right outside our camp at night), two rattlesnakes, and a peregrine falcon.  I could go on and on.

We would normally eat dinner around 6pm (two of us would cook), then give "appreciations" for the day, eat, clean up, then after sundown we'd circle up for some themed activity - usually we'd share our thoughts on a topic like "why did you come on this trip" or we'd react to a story or quote.  It was all so that we would reflect on what we're learning out in the wilderness - mainly what we were learning about ourselves.

On every Outward Bound course, they do something called “solo,” where the instructors take each student to a place where they’re isolated from the rest, and ask them to just be there for a period of our time.  For our solo, our instructors had us be alone for about 18 hours.  They took our watches and books, and all we were left with was our clothes, some food, and a journal.  An hour into our solo, a truly spectacular thing happened… the rain started to pour down – and hard.  Luckily we were all sheltered to some degree – I was under a small overhang about midway up the canyon wall, and had about a 5x10 space where I wouldn’t get wet from the rain.  So the rain started pouring down – so hard that I saw four waterfalls form on the other side of the canyon, and one formed right beside me on my side of the canyon.  When it rains around a canyon, there will be flash floods, so I could hear the water rushing through the bottom of the canyon.  It was truly awe inspiring to see the power of nature.

On my solo, it's fair to say that I did a LOT of journaling (I spent the other half just staring out at the rain).  I won't go into all the insights I had, but there were plenty.  The one main one is that, in my life, I am going to work harder at proactively seeking moments of joy.  What does this mean?  It means actively seeking out things that energize me, rather than being passive.  Perhaps this is self-evident to others, but I needed to remind myself of this fine little piece of advice.

In general, solo, and the trip as a whole, allowed me to reconnect.  Yes, there were specific lessons that learned, but being in the wilderness somehow - magically - helped center me in a way that nothing else has.  Since Outward Bound, I have found myself craving that type of experience once again.  I have a renewed appreciation for introspection, silence, physical challenge, and listening to my soul.  I can read all the books in the world, but "the answer" - to any big life issue - is probably going to come from within.  To reconnect with one's inner sense is critical, and that's the most important thing Outward Bound taught me.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a quote that our Outward Bound instructors read to us on our last day. The quote is inspiring because it reminds me to have vitality in what we do... and to take moments for ourselves.  It's by Edward Abbey, a cantankerous writer and environmentalist for the southwest United States. 

"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."

And another quote from a famous Outward Bound instructor, Willi Unsoeld:

"Why dont you stay in the wilderness?  Because that isnt where it is at; its back in the city, back in downtown St. Louis, back in Los Angeles.  The final test is whether your experience of the sacred in nature enables you to cope more effectively with the problems of people.  If it does not enable you to cope more effectively with the problems - and sometimes it doesnt, it sometimes sucks you right out into the wilderness and you stay there the rest of your Life - then when that happens, by my scale of value; its failed.  You go to nature for an experience of the sacred...to re-establish your contact with the core of things, where its really at, in order to enable you to come back to the world of people and operate more effectively.  Seek ye first the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom of people might be realized."

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.  See here for all photos.