By Shelley Mickelson
Last summer I took a 24 day survival course at the Northwest Outward Bound School in Oregon. It ran from June 17—July 1, in the Three Sisters Wilderness area, a two hour bus ride east of Eugene, Oregon.
The Three Sisters Wilderness area is untouched by man except for backpackers. No powered devices are allowed in the area. Even to bring in a helicopter for injuries, permission had to be obtained. To clear trees from the trail, we had to use hand axes and if I might add, I learned to handle an axe pretty well. So in a true sense, it is a wilderness area.
I applied to the school myself, I flew out there by myself, and I assembled with 50 strangers from every corner of the United States alone. But none of us were alone for long. Before we knew it, we were depending on each other and sharing more than we had ever anticipated. We went through pain, anger, frustration, accomplishment, happiness and failure together.
We broke into groups of ten at the base camp, and then headed into the high country. At 5:30 A.M., our morning started with a mile long jog and a dunk in the cold, cold river. From there, our days consisted of anything from rope courses, to rock climbing, repelling, investigating a beaver dam, crevice rescue, mountaineering and a million other things. At the same time we were learning all of this, we were on the move. During the whole course, carrying a 50 pound pack each, my patrol hiked approximately 200 miles, with a good one third of that being quite uphill.
In the middle of the course we had our solo. It was three days and three nights alone with six matches and a tarp for shelter. It was a rare time alone to look back on what was accomplished and to anticipate what was to come.
In our society, it is rare for a person to be truly alone, especially for such a large amount of time. There was an empty feeling of loneliness, but at the same time, a feeling of security at being so alone. I screamed, whooped, climbed trees and cried. I stretched out in the grass and studied a spider basting in the sun. The solo was a chance for me to be me without feeling foolish or having to live up to expectations of the group or society in general.
The most mentally strenuous part of the solo was the nights. Since I had no sleeping bag, I depended on my fire greatly. Considering that I was issued six matches for the three days and nights, I could not afford to let my fire go out. So with the wood supply accumulated during the day, I sat up all night and fed the fire. I laid by the fire, absorbing its warmth and security, wondering what time it was and not caring, hoping that it wouldn’t be much longer until the sun would come peaking through the trees. To experience laying by yourself in such a setting, looking and listening into the piercing darkness of the forest, would have to be experienced to be totally understood.
On the last day of the course, we jogged a ten-mile marathon. Five miles uphill, five miles downhill. I didn’t think I could do it, but I tried and I did it!
Outward Bound was an experience that I am still benefitting from. If given the opportunity, I’d do it again and encourage anyone interested to check it out. They have schools all over the country and scholarships are available.