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Outward Bound

Up in the North Cascades

by Jim

In an effort to help my children go to school, I bid on an auction item at their school’s spring fundraising and came home with a certificate for two weeks in the wilderness. Susan made me do it to support the class and who am I to go against the advice of my wife. I had purchased a donated Pacific Crest Outward Bound course good for two weeks in the North Cascades area of Washington.

In August, I headed north with the impression that I was going to learn some outdoor skills. Starting at the Seattle airport, I met up with a group of nine students and two instructors as we headed for the peaks. Massive summer fires just south of our planned trek blew smoke in on our camps several of the days and the countryside was extremely dry. The pace was steady, sometimes slow, but that pace allowed for observing, writing and drawing.

I learned that one cannot extrapolate solo or partner hiking to group hiking in terms of speed or ability to get along. At times taking an hour to go a hundred yards along a gulley, I am awsomely impressed that any military commander can move troops through mountains at anything more than a snails pace.

Certainly, as each year passes, I see my life changing from a consumer of knowledge to one who passes it along; to children, to students of medicine, to patients with voice problems, to readers on the internet. These teaching/leadership skills presented in Outward Bound certainly might come in handy elsewhere.

Our instructors were skilled and competent in more than just outdoor adventure which became evident when travel became uncomfortable. That was where my learning actually came from. Their ability to teach, motivate and at times just plain handle a diverse group and keep it functioning was precious information. Dan, a sailor by trade, was just a wee bit superstitious and I, a scientist by training, skeptical. Now when I said, “Let’s have a star naming competition tomorrow night.” Dan rolled his eyes at yet another of my verbal faux pas’. And like others I had made, the result was impressive. The following night it rained and snowed, even though it has not rained in several months with forest fires burning everywhere. Darned, if there aren’t an awful lot of coincidence’s in this life - or maybe there is something to that superstition thing. Fortunately, it was toward the end when we got that day of cool rain; some of us woke up in puddles created by ill rigged tarps sending water in under the sleeping bags. We even had snow at our 7000 foot camp the following morning. So when travelling with the superstitious, use caution when you open your mouth.

One new experience was a 36 hour fast and solo meditation alone by a stream. I can not say that I saw any great visions, but it was fascinating how easy it was to go without eating. And no matter, how long you are in one place, there continue to be new sights, sounds and observations to be made that you just miss on a casual glance.

For more details about the trip and photos.