And he shall lead them through the wilderness
September 17, 2008
By Christopher Huber
Sammamish man learns to lead groups through rugged environments
Greg Bearson takes a break from hiking through rugged terrain. Photo contributed
He is back in school now, but Sammamish resident Greg Bearson has some fond memories to take back to the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, Calif.
Those fond memories are of scaling steep rock faces, camping without a tent, experiencing the deep, ancient caves and canoeing down raging rivers in the U.S. Southwest.
In April, Bearson, 21, successfully completed a three-month wilderness course with the National Outdoor Leadership School. Not only was the experience something he said he needed to do, but it changed his outlook on life.
“The door is opened,” he said. “I found new perspective on how I do things. It’s cool to get into this kind of community.”
Bearson spent 88 days traversing the wild landscapes of Arizona, Texas and New Mexico with 10 other students and six teachers. He learned a variety of survival and outdoor living skills, ranging from how to stay warm at night with only a sleeping bag to how to set broken bones without medical help, he said.
Bearson said his favorite part was rock climbing.
He wasn’t an experienced mountaineer or survivalist before enrolling in the course. He found out about the opportunity after leaving the University of Oregon prematurely to work and attend community college.
He had never been backpacking or slept without a tent. He had never been rock climbing on real rock. He had never gone caving. But, he considered himself a lover of the outdoors.
“It was just immediate that I knew that I wanted to go on one of the courses,” he said.
The goal of the course was to build skills for students to be able to lead their own wilderness expeditions, said Jamie Holloway, the organization’s public relations intern.
The courses, which range from 10 days to a full academic year, are accredited through the University of Utah, and focus on teaching technical, leadership and environmental ethic skills, she said.
“The point of going on this extravaganza was just living,” Bearson said. “It was really exciting to go out and see these awesome climbing areas. It was a very cool experience.”
The class began with a two-day crash course in wilderness first aid, Holloway said. The group was swept off to the rugged Galiuros mountain range in Arizona to spend 18 days lugging around 65-pound packs.
had no outside contact and worked on backcountry living skills, such as finding water and starting a fire, Bearson said. Over 16 of the days he spent there, he hiked 91 miles.
An important part of the training was to figure out who had the right leadership qualities for certain situations, Bearson said.
“You really have to focus on delegating tasks,” Bearson said of working in stressful medical situations. “A lot of people want to be the guy who does CPR … but there has to be that person that pulls themself out of the situation and says ‘you need to do this, you need to do this.’”
Along that vein, Bearson said the social dynamic was one of the tougher parts of the journey, due to the extended amounts of time the group spent together.
“You can get away, but you can’t really,” he said.
They spent another two weeks in the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico, where they learned subterranean geology and cave safety, Holloway said.
From the there, Bearson and classmates took on the whitewater of the Rio Grande in canoes to learn water rescue skills near Big Bend National Park, Texas.
They explored the Chihuahuan Desert, rappelled and conquered giant boulders at the Cochise Stronghold and culminated the course with student-led backpack excursions to New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, which was the first designated wilderness area in the United States, Holloway said.
Ultimately, Bearson gained a greater appreciation for the environment and the forces of nature, he said.
Although he experienced plenty of exposed and potentially dangerous situations, the course was well designed for safety.
“Everything we did was very safe and thought-out,” he said. “At no point during the trip was I afraid of getting hurt or injured.”
Leave no trace
Bearson’s “Leave no trace” principles for fall outdoor activities. The intrepid college student developed a set of fundamental rules and practices to use while experiencing the great outdoors here in Washington. These apply to any place you go.
- Plan ahead and prepare (check weather conditions).
- Travel and camp on durable/designated surfaces.
- Minimize campfire impact.
- Leave what you find (artifacts, rocks, etc.).
- Respect wildlife.
- Respect other visitors.
- Dispose of waste properly
For more information on the National Outdoor Leadership School, visit www.nols.edu.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, Ext. 242, or at chuber@isspress.com.
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Thanks a lot forwriting the article Chris it turned out great.
Cheers,
greg