Sunday, July 29, 2012

survival school photos, part 2


Ajax in the stream, on the last day of hiking.


Canyons above juniper field. This photo is beautiful, but slightly stress inducing because the photo-taker is clearly not standing in shade.


Cooking on our penultimate night.


Stream during solo. We were each assigned a section of the stream. The instructors asked us to reflect on the fact that as we used the water, we were upriver and downriver of each other. If one of us polluted the water, it would affect everyone downstream.


Packing my versa-cloth with items I need to use throughout the day. My pack is already done, behind me.


In the rain, reunited after solo. We were giddy from being around humans again.


On the last day, we crossed a stream about 30 times. Parts of the path near the stream were sandy like a beach.


On a break.


Just after daybreak. We looked like vultures.

Walking through trees. Since I was often slower than others, this view of their backs is a familiar one for me.

I loved survival school so much. I can't wait to go back next summer. It is peaceful and pure.

I feel like everyone should want to go to survival school. Logically I understand that many people don't want to fast and get bitten by mosquitoes and have the skin on their hands crack from dryness. But emotionally it seems unfathomable that the majority of people will choose to live their entire lives without experiencing the wonder and pure joy of survival school.

1 comment:

AdamTest said...

Okay, I know this is pretty belated, but... your last paragraph resonated with me, because I feel similarly about a different experience (http://www.herrang.com/), and I'm betting many others feel the same about an experience of their own as well (Burning Man, Renaissance Weekend, etc.).

These experiences are at once so often life changing and deeply meaningful for the individual, but also crazy-frustrating, because for others: "You just don't understand!" Photos, videos, even stories... just not the same as being there.

It's taken me years, but I've finally made peace with this inability to truly share with even close friends what a particular experience has meant. Until Google releases the MindMeld (Beta) product, alluded to in the recent doodle. Oh, wait, I've said too much... :o