During my sophomore year in college, I took a weeklong class on wilderness survival, awareness, and spirituality from the Tracker School, founded by the famous Tom Brown, Jr. Afterwards, hungry for more, I signed up for the Kamana program, a correspondence/self-teaching course organized by the Wilderness Awareness School, founded by Tom Brown’s first student, Jon Young.
Still I wanted more. So, the summer before my senior year, I visited the Teaching Drum Outdoor School, and stayed for three months, living part-time at a primitive camp and part-time at their office center, helping with various tasks.
After graduating from college the next spring, I returned to join the Wilderness Guide Program—otherwise known as the yearlong—spending one full year, from the Melting of the Snows to the next Melting of the Snows (i.e. April 2001 to April 2002), living semi-primitively, making fire by friction, tanning hides, building primitive shelters, and dealing with mosquitoes, lack of toilet paper, and emotional issues.
This is a chronicle of my time in the woods, and reflections on my experiences. I wrote many of these entries on paper, and typed them up on occasional visits to the library.
- You can begin at the Prologue, my posts surrounding my first summer at the Drum.
- To begin at the beginning of the Wilderness Guide Program, start in The Year.
- Catch up on my Reflections on my experiences.
- My post A Year in the Woods best reflects my post-Teaching Drum feelings about the yearlong experience.
- I’ve written series of posts describing my journey from primitive to civilized living, in terms of philosophy and paradigm.
- I’ve written an extensive critical analysis of the yearlong experience: “Town Doesn’t Exist”: A Critique of the Wilderness Guide Program.
- Finally, I begin to move Beyond the Teaching Drum, and offer A Final Word on Teaching Drum.
Also, a photo gallery is available, and you can view a television interview with me and the other yearlong participants conducted by a local public station. There’s video available of others in later years as well.
Happy reading.
[...] not to mention my life, and if you’re not up to speed you can read an overview on my page A Year in the Woods. It was the most intense year of my [...]