Each year my mom asks us what our “one word” for that year will be. A word that we will try to work on, it could be an attribute to improve on, a value, or some sort of goal. This year I chose courage.
February 5th 2017, I began a semester with the National Outdoor Leadership School in New Zealand. & to be completely honest, I didn’t have ANY idea what I was really getting myself into. Sure, I knew I was going to be in New Zealand for 3 months without any contact from the “outside world,” I would be hiking for a month, kayaking for a month, and then finishing off sailing. I would be with 9 other students, around my same age, whom I knew nothing about. A couple instructors cycling in and out. & yeah, I would live in a tent. But what does that all really entail? 3 months ago, I didn’t have any idea.
For seventy seven days to be exact, I lived in the wilderness. My dad’s advice to me was to “become one with the dirt.” Well dad, I BECAME one with the dirt. I had no access to a bathroom, I didn’t get to shower, I ate the exact. same. things. every. single. day, I slept on a mat that in my opinion, was 5 steps below the comfort of a yoga mat, I rotated between 3 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of pants, and 1 (used-to-be) white shirt, I drank from rivers, lakes, streams, and sometimes muddy bogs, I hiked 147 kilometers through the Southern Alps, sea kayaked 155 miles through the Malbourough sounds, and sailed over 160 miles through the Queen Charlotte Sounds, I COMPLETED A NOLS NEW ZEALAND SEMESTER. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed every second of it, it was by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but THE MOST rewarding. I’ve quickly found it close to impossible to accurately describe what those 3 months were like, so I decided to split it into 3 different posts- one to describe each different section. Although I still feel like that can’t accurately describe my experiences, I will try my best.
HIKING/BACKPACKING.
Obviously pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll let them tell my story.
Notice there’s a trail in this picture…. (that didn’t last very long) we were soon “off trail” meaning with the help of a paper map and compass, we navigated through New Zealand’s Southern Alps OFF trail.
Don’t let my happy smile deceive you, we hiked 8 miles up a mountain to get to this pretty lake, I had a cold AND lost my hiking shoes in a muddy bog (don’t worry I found them)… Oh and did I mention this was the first day?
Sandflies… 3 infections later, I am not a fan.
OUR FIRST SUMMIT! I wrote in my journal “today was the hardest day I have ever endured, and probably will ever endure….” little did I know. Every day after that surpassed the difficulty of the previous day!
pretty views…
The Crew… TK, Jordyn, Laura, Griffin, Carrick, Claire, Lanie, Piper, and Hunch. AKA the MOST diverse group of people EVER.
One of the funniest stories from the trip came from Jordyn (girl in the orange shirt). It was Valentines day, (which we later named Valentears day) and we were stuck at camp waiting out a storm. Normally we would still travel, but the river was too high and dangerous to cross… this made it so we were late to our re-ration, therefore, almost out of food, and not to mention, WET. Incredibly wet. Needless to say, we were all pretty miserable. To top ALL of this off, Jordyn had to go to the bathroom. Going to the bathroom in the wilderness with no toilet paper is already a task on its own, and this is without a huge storm outside. Nature called and she grabbed her water bottle and took off, 15 minutes later she came back, half laughing/half crying. She accidentally used extremely HOT chocolate as her “backcountry bidet” and burned her bum. (note: “backcountry bidet” is the method NOLS teaches you to wipe, basically you just use your water and your hand to wipe… yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds). I can’t remember laughing that hard ever. Seriously I laughed until I cried.. (don’t worry… Jordyn was fine!)
Got a lil spider bite…
Here’s what I mean when I say “off trail”…
Back at “the tops.” UNREAL.
The most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. GOD LOVES ME.
This is the night our tent snapped due to the wind… IT WAS WILD.
Going back down…
The entire focus of NOLS is to get their students at a competent enough level to lead on their OWN. Throughout the 31 days of hiking, you are expected, near the end, to be able to lead small groups on your own for 5 days and meet at the end destination, this is called ISGE, Independent Student Group Expedition, and was by far my favorite part!
My ISGE group: Claire, Laura, Carrick, and myself.
My 57 pound backpack whom I named “Richard…” for reasons I will not disclose.
31 days later, we completed our backpacking section.