Take a Hike
“The last time that I was this nervous was my wedding day” I said, on my way back to the office to finish preparing to head into the backcountry to lead the Guide Team on Wilderness Leadership Intensive (WLI). The trip starts in northern PA on the Old Loggers Path with some winter backpacking before heading down to GA for some warmer weather backpacking on the Bartram Trail. The trip is designed to be hard. It’s a 12-day intensive course all about how to be a backpacking instructor. The best way that I have found to do this is through a trip that exposes students to as many scenarios as possible. We consistently get snow, freezing nights, sunny days, river crossings, tricky camp sites, and opportunities to hike for drinking water. We carry heavy packs full of food, all of our cloths, tents, a large shovel, emergency equipment, and books. That’s right, books! WLI is more than just a backpacking trip, it’s an introduction to Christian leadership course.
Each day on WLI we have Leaders of the Day (LODs). The LODs choose a chaplain who is responsible for teaching a chapter of the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. The chaplain facilitates the spiritual practice for the day and helps the group engage with it. The goal is to learn to be more like Jesus as we lead. The LODs are responsible for every other part of the day. Each evening the group gathers to offer the LODs feedback on their leadership. This process of practice and feedback is much of what we rely on to develop strong backpacking instructors.
This year’s WLI was extra hard as we had some of the lowest temperatures in the history of the trip. Even Georgia got down to 19 one night. The first half of the trip was a continual suffer fest. I remember thinking to myself, “If this is my last time doing this that’s ok with me.” But that’s part of the beauty of backpacking: every trip has moments where I think this. Guide team member Ella Hedges said it best: “I have never done anything where I have been more miserable while also having so much fun.” While this might have been the coldest WLI this was also one of the sweetest too. We had beautiful views, enjoyed communion bread baked on camp stoves, freshly popped popcorn, songs from every musical we could remember, a joke every other minute, victory yells throwing bear bag ropes, and a baptism in a Georgia waterfall.
As we return to life in the front country, I am reminded why I do this stuff. I have had time to listen to students process their experience on WLI and have seen the growth that has come from this adventure. Pair that with all of the fun moments and every second of stress, nervousness, pain, and cold are worth it. Few trips are more formative than group backpacking trips. I can’t say that I would recommend one of these experiences to people who want life to stay as it is, but for those who want to be changed forever, I would invite them to take a hike.
