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.
- Finally, I’ve written an extensive critical analysis of the yearlong experience: “Town Doesn’t Exist”: A Critique of the Wilderness Guide Program.
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.
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