The pumpkins are carved and out on the doorstep and the bags of candy are sitting on the table ready to be handed out as well as consumed. It's been really fun to be around for Halloween this year instead of teaching about it halfway around the world. This weekend I went to a Halloween party given by my college roommate and Sean played in a Halloween ultimate frisbee tournament. Sean has also been receiving cute 'Happy Halloween' emails from students back in China (they are all particularly excited about the Breaking Dawn vampire movie coming out - the vampire craze hit big in China). Happy Halloween everyone!

As I have mentioned before in a previous post, the diversity of students on the course regarding life experience and personalities was pretty staggering. I believe it’s safe to say that for most people the most challenging part of the course was not the physical part but the relational aspect. From day one we were separated into cook/tent groups. This means that for one week you cooked, ate and slept with two other people. You also had to share the weight of your group gear and be responsible for the timeliness and behavior for your other group members. It was pretty stressful to keep everyone involved and satisfied and also doing equal amounts of work. To give you an idea of the type of people on the course let me give you a quick description of each person.

Ron (57) – Overall course leader and head instructor. Had worked for NOLS for 25 years and runs his own business in Colorado called Aspen Alpine Guides. Fit the cliche of wizened old mountain man and sage to a T. Quirky, sarcastic and very hard to figure out.

Ted (36) – Super intelligent outdoor pro. Sailor for the Coast Guard and also teaches the NOLS Baja Sailing course. Was a whiz at navigation and compass use. Clear and straight-to-the-point instructor. Extremely witty. An interesting side note of Ted is that he worked so hard in the course that he lost 13 lbs and he wasn’t that big to begin with.

Adam (27) – Relatively new NOLS instructor. Your quintessential late twenty-something hippie who knew how to do everything at an expert level: skiing, kayaking, mountaineering, orienteering and backpacking. Was in ridiculously good physical condition and would often go for jogs after a full day of hiking with a heavy pack, just to give him that extra edge. Was growing a handlebar moustache and mullet for a specific Halloween costume.

Ryan (39) – Super laid back accountant turned manager of a rock climbing gym from Kentucky. The only other married person on the entire course. For the middle section of the course Sean, Ryan and I formed a tent group and called ourselves “Team Married”. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the course without those boys; they let me sleep in the middle so I could keep warm and carried a lot of the extra group weight so I didn’t have to.

Tienlon (33) – Born in Ohio to Chinese immigrants and had hands-down the most impressive resume out of all of us. A lawyer educated at Stanford she is also a writer and food critic in New York City. She recently wrote a decent chunk of the Lonely Planet guidebook for China (no wonder she knew right where our little Chinese city was!)

Will (26) – Just finished the Peace Corps in Senegal and has completed two Iron man triathlons since he has been back (yeah, I know, insane, right!? - no wonder I couldn’t keep up). Found out during the course that he was accepted into medical school. He could rock climb like you wouldn’t believe.

Scott (25) – Math teacher from Jersey who had recently completed NOLS’ wilderness first responder course. He’s also signed up to take a NOLS winter course and the sailing course. He’s basically already a NOLS instructor. I was really happy to have him in my first tent group because he taught me a lot and was super patient.

Julie (25) – Your classic Boulder denizen who loves the outdoor but can’t eat gluten or dairy. Worked at a recycling operation for a few years after college and is all about saving the environment. Studied biology in college and studied abroad for a year in Chile and Ecuador.

Allycee (24) – Born and raised in Malibu with a similar love for biology and Spanish. Studied abroad in Argentina and has done biological research and volunteer work all over the world including rare fish counting in Figi. Worked for a medical marijuana grower in California. Had the fastest hiking speed of everyone in the group (expect maybe Adam). Even the boys couldn’t keep up with her.

Kat (23) – Currently a barista in Portland who loves yoga. Going to gradate school for conflict resolution and has hiked some of the Appalachian Trail. Spent time abroad in France learning the language and learning to cook. I was so grateful to have her as my first female tent mate as she is super grounded and supportive.

Joe (23) – The comedian from Arkansas. Heard about NOLS while at a bar and signed up for the course while intoxicated. Hilarious and didn't take crap from anyone. His southern accent and jokes kept us all in stitches the whole trip. Also was fond of singing country songs while hiking and blowing his duck call incessantly.

Eric (20) - Our youngest hails from UNC Chapel Hill and was super easygoing and fun to be around. Not eager to return to school anytime soon he plans to spend second semester off as a ski bum out West and hitch-hiked and sofa-bummed his way down to Denver after the course. I was always awed by the sheer quantity of food this young man could put down - after meals he would scavenge for leftovers and bargain hard for extra food.

On the fourth day of the course we climbed to the top of Wind River Peak - the highest mountain in the southern Wind River Range of Wyoming. I was feeling more than a little apprehensive about this since it was supposed to be the most challenging day of the course yet and I was already feeling plenty challenged enough. To summit Wind River Peak we had to get in position and hike up to its base the day before. The base of the peak was very exposed, steep and windy - a camping position that was not very comfortable at all. We found some shelter for cooking and meetings nestled in the shrubby and wind-blown pines with a great view of the peak in the background. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and there was quite a storm that night; the wind howled and the tent flapped so much that we thought it would blow away.


We woke up to freezing rain in the pitch black at 4:30 am - an early start was required because the instructors were afraid of being on the top in the daily afternoon showers and storms. After packing everything up and eating some breakfast we were on our way of what was to be a very long day.


I knew that the summit was going to be hard but I didn't think it was going to be as difficult as it was. Climbing to the top of Wind River Peak was very challenging for most of us for a few specific reasons. 1) We had to hike with full packs as we had to make it up and over the pass and because of the danger of inclement weather. Normally when groups hike to the top of a peak they just use lighter day packs. 2) We were off trail. There was no path to the top and we navigated the best route as we went which was time-consuming and tricky as we had to back track a lot. 3) Almost the whole way up the route was entirely on huge boulders. It was hard to balance with a heavy pack crossing up, down and around really big rocks. 4) About two hours into the hike it started snowing which made traveling conditions cold, wet and slippery.


After five hours of steep uphill climbing with the last hour being on snow and ice, we made it to the top just long enough to sign the log book hidden in a Nalgene bottle in a crag before heading back down again. At that time the blizzard was in full swing, it was freezing, there was little or no visibility and the morale of the group was pretty low. I was wearing every layer I possibly had and just wanted to get down off that mountain. It took us even longer to get down since things were so slippery and because the instructors had to make sure the route ahead of us was safe.



Everyone was happy when we finally made it out of the snow and back down into the warmer rain. We made it into our campsite for the night around 5pm exhausted, soaking wet, cold and sore but we were all happy that we had made it. I am especially thankful to Sean who carried about 10 lbs of my weight for me for the day and for some of the bigger guys who helped us girls over a few of the more impossible boulders. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool and challenging experience, but one that I don't feel the itch to repeat anytime soon.

Here's the official description of our course according to the head instructor, Ron Rash:

"Outdoor Educator Course September 2, 2011 traveled in the Southern Wind River Range of Wyoming for 23 days, four of which were at a backcountry rock camp. The expedition had eleven students and three instructors. The group had two re-rations and traveled about 65 miles. Everyone participated in two peak ascents, one of 13,192 foot Wind River Peak and the other of 12,378 foot Mount Geike. We had good fishing, with over 70 fish being caught and many eaten. During the middle of the expedition, we had a little rain and snow, nothing major. All students received a leadership progression which culminated with each student being a leader of the day on various hiking days. The last four days were at a rock climbing camp where all participants learned the fundamentals of climbing rock; belaying, knots, rappelling, natural anchor set up and risk management at a top rope climbing site. There were no evacuations or health problems of any type. All in all this was a classic NOLS Outdoor Educator Course!"

After our NOLS course, Sean and I took the scenic route home and visited many friends along the way. First we drove to Fort Collins to see my very good childhood friend Linde and her husband, Joe. We did some brewery hopping downtown which was a blast and got caught up on life. The next day we headed to Denver to check out the huge REI store and have lunch with my cousin April and her two kids. At night we hung out with some of Sean's childhood friends who also live in Denver.

The next day we drove back up to Wyoming and spent a day and a night in the Grand Tetons National Park and Jackson Hole. After that we spent some time in Yellowstone National Park before heading up to spend the weekend with my newly married friend, Christy, in Montana. From Montana we visited Mount Rushmore and then caught up with Ken (fellow teacher friend in China) in Iowa before he left for his Peace Corps duties in Costa Rica. Our last part of the trip was spent in Madison, Wisconsin with some buddies of Sean - I had never been to Madison before and we had a great time!


Sean and I are currently back in Holland and our blisters on our feet and callouses on our hands are rapidly disappearing as we acclimate back to city life - it's so nice to be comfortable and warm! The October weather has been unusually sunny, warm and beautiful and we have been enjoying spending time outside washing the car, picking apples and doing some bike riding. We have applied for working holiday visas to New Zealand and are just waiting for the paperwork to go through - here's hoping!

Other than that routine, each day varied quite a bit. Sometimes we would have one or two morning classes before we started hiking. Or we would get on the trail very early and have one or two classes in the evening. Some days the hikes were short and easy (4-5 miles) and other days they were long (8-10 miles). Certain days we gained thousands of feet of elevation which was pretty strenuous and other days we were off trail and bushwacking and navigating on our own for hours. We usually hiked in groups of three or four with an instructor for each group. One of the coolest parts of NOLS is the constant learning. While hiking, if the instructor saw something interesting (animals, plants, geologic formation etc.) we would always stop and have a little mini-class right there on the spot. Similarly, we were always practicing the skills we were learning like topographic map reading and navigation, using a compass to take and shoot a bearing and the principles of Leave No Trace.

The formal group classes during our course ran the gamut from backcountry cooking to leadership principles. Some other topics were: fly fishing, backcountry baking, giving and receiving feedback, wilderness emergency medicine and first aid, identifying trees and plant life zones, yoga, river crossing, positive impact camping, NOLS history, leadership and learning styles, hazards in the wilderness, risk management, a myriad of knot tying classes, Leave No Trace backpacking and all the different skills that go into rock climbing. We were very, very busy during the day and there was hardly ever any down time and no days off.

In addition to listening to many formal classes given by the instructors, each of us had to prepare and teach our own class. Since it was an outdoor educator course they wanted us to have some experience teaching to a group. I volunteered to go first and taught a class on “How to teach a class.” I went through some basic ideas on how to make a lesson pl an and how to get the students involved and active in a class. We played a few games which were a big hit and I was very happy to have my class over and done with.

NOLS is very into giving and getting feedback so each of us were assigned to one of the instructors who became our mentor. Each week I sat down with Adam and talked about how the course was going. He gave me some feedback on how I was doing and how I could improve (be more assertive, get in better shape, be more confident etc.) and I gave some opinions on what I liked about the course and how it could be improved (have more female instructors). At times NOLS felt a bit like boot camp; there were high expectations and it was physically and mentally stressful. But it never had an emotional or therapeutic intent or focus which was interesting. The running joke was that "we would not be doing any group hugs or things of that nature since we were not ‘Outward Bound’ (the main competitor of NOLS)”. I, for one, was actually very appreciative when some students were emotionally vulnerable in front of everyone because of the intensity of the situation, so we shared our hugs in private.