Outward Bound Wilderness

This past summer, my parents suggested take part in a fifty day wilderness course in Minnesota. I laughed it off, knowing that I'd never agree to leave the comfortable confines of Los Angeles and "waste" my summer in Minnesota of all places. A week or two passed and my mother continued to mention the idea, so finally I decided to do my own research just keep her satisfied. Outward Bound Wilderness is a program that serves to help motivate young adults and thats the one thing I was lacking: motivation. That word really jumped off my computer screen. I thought maybe this program could actually work, maybe it would finally help me find direction in life. I decided to take a leap of faith and signed up. Outward Bound Wilderness taught me something by failing to deliver what I thought I wanted and instead opened my eyes to the man I already was.

It did not truly affect me until I landed in Minnesota. I left my friends and family and would not be in contact with anyone back home for the next fifty days! It seemed like an eternity then, those fifty days feel more like fifty years even to this day. My group was waiting for me at the airport. We were all kids from different corners of the country led by a man named Byron who's beard rivaled that of Santa Claus, he defined the term "wilderness man." None of us really knew what we had gotten ourselves into and got a brief overview of what the next fifty days would look like. It sounded impossible. Day 1-22 would take place on the mosquito infested boundary waters of Minnesota, where we would constantly be on the move canoeing and portaging (the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water.) In the middle of our canoeing trip, we would have a seventy-two hour solo, comprised of three days living alone in the woods on a single bag of food and minimal shelter. After traveling over three hundred miles, we headed back to base camp for two weeks of community service while preparing for the next excursion. The next two weeks were a thrill. Kayaking through massive waves and thunderstorms of Lake Superior made the boundary waters seem like a bore. We eventually traveled over three hundred kilometers in Black Bay of Canada and concluded our fifty-day course with more community service and life skills workshops. The overview of the course does not do it justice. It was the hardest and most tiring 50 days of my life both physically and mentally. What we experienced and the bonds I built with my comrades can never be justifiably explained back here in the real world.

It was not until the fifteenth day that I fully grasped what was at stake on the trip and in my life in general. Our three day solo excursion allowed me to be alone with my thoughts. I realized that the person I wanted to become was already who I was deep down. I realized how much of my life I had thrown away, the education I had repeatedly taken