I'm Back

It would be impossible to relate everything that has happened since I left in June. I went "camping" for a month. By that, I mean surviving on the glaciers and in the mountains of the Wind River Range in western Wyoming.

I was on a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Mountaineering course.

I read half of the Book of Mormon. I became spiritually fed. I lost 35 pounds. I carried a 70 pound pack up and down thousand foot mountain passes and across multiple glaciers. I self arrested about a dozen times while sliding down steep sections of snow and ice. I cried. I smiled. I reminisced and planned and prayed. I learned to cook (dang well.) On a single burner stove I might add. I learned to find my way on a map, plan an expedition, splint an arm, treat severe head injury, pack a backpack, use a PLB, prepare a Leave No Trace campsite, cast a fly rod, how to treat my tent buddies trench foot, how to travel quickly, safely and effectively in the mountains, and… how to poop in the woods. Most of all, I learned that to live out there, I had to rely on 11 boys I didn't know and they had to rely on me. Thats true, experiential leadership.

I met Jamie, the guy in the red patagonia jacket at the beginning of the video.

NOLS changed me. Literally. I changed physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I am different and I like it. I am always looking for what to do, always thinking of how this or that will relate to something in the future. I am on my toes. I am more mature. More appreciative of the little things. It takes 3 weeks to develop a habit; I had 4.

I'd like to continue to post some journal entries I made. They are deep, raw and personal. If you don't like that kind of thing… The next few posts aren't for you. Ill finish up this string of the next few posts with a semi detailed list/history of the month for the less emotionally and personally inclined.

In finishing this post, if you have any questions about NOLS or comments, feel free to ask and Ill be pleased to answer them.

- Jacob