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The
expedition to Glen Aulin leaves many memories in my mind.
Beautiful weather, numerous waterfalls, mist rainbows, and
stellar sunsets will color my days for some time. But the
best memories of all lie in the faces of eleven students,
two chaperones, and one co-instructor, all of whom met face
to face with challenges and overcame them during our trip.
Lena
shows students how to cook in the
backcountry using a camping stove.
These
challenges covered a wide range of areas, from the effort
and stamina required in walking multiple miles with a heavy
backpack, to living in a tent with three other people you
don't know so well, to eating food that doesn't look like
anything you've seen in a grocery store before, to talking
to someone from a place miles away from where you live (figuratively
and literally).
Lena
shows the group how
to open bear canisters.
Overcoming
these difficulties is a large reason behind why I love to
be involved in these expeditions. What better place is there
to celebrate diversity than where everyone is equal - in
the eyes of nature. The rocks and the waterfalls and the
trees don't know where you come from, nor does is matter
to them. After spending three nights in the wilderness,
suddenly barriers drop and the real people underneath emerge.
Perhaps a little spark
was started in some of these minds, a spark that will catch
fire with time, opening the doors to many new and exciting
opportunities.
Thank
you WildLink for making these experiences possible - for
me and for the students!
Lena
listens as a student asks a question.
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