Belay Off
Where we come from By LJ Dawson, Wyoming Backpacking Adventure for 14- and 15-year-olds
When I tell people that I went on a month-long backpacking trip, I get confused and strange facial expressions in response. “What do you mean?” they ask. “No shower, like at all?” “What about TV?” Not even a bath, I respond. The questions keep pouring, ending with a statement like, “ That must have been horrible.” Looking back on my NOLS course, there were hard days, filthiness, and no Saturday Night Live. Despite the lack of all those superfluous things, my NOLS course gave me something I cannot explain to others who have never experienced it. My instructors warned me about this: no matter how funny, touching, or life changing a moment was on my trip, it might fall on deaf ears when recounting it. But here I go again, attempting to explain how momentous those 30 days were for me (written on my course): Back where we came from, you can see The Big Horn Mountains, craggy pillars of rock garlanded in snow. We came over those mountains, encountering problems in as much abundance as rocks, but we conquered everything
in our path. No matter how tired we felt, how homesick, how hungry, or how heavy our packs weighed, we pushed on. If those mountains have taught me anything, they taught me determination. When my determination failed, and I wanted to quit, one of my friends always reminded me that I could keep going, beThose memories of hardship and cause they were, too. merriment are imprinted upon my We have summitmind and will outlive the scars ted mountains toand calluses from this trip. gether, forded creeks, straddled trees, cried, swum in freezing waters, eaten, slept, hiked, and most importantly laughed together. Those memories of hardship and merriment are imprinted upon my mind and will outlive the scars and calluses from this trip. We have our differences, but the most important thing is that we have found our similarities. We spent 30 days of what many people would call hell together, but there was beauty amongst the hellishness. The red sunset at Emerald Lake, seeing elk and moose, the view from Cloud Peak, backpack wars (it’s a long story), catching fish, stories told around campfires, fresh
This and next page: LJ and her course have numerous photos to reflect on “where they came from.” LJ Lawson
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