Imagine being in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, for 36 hours, all by yourself.

This past summer, senior Elise Nichols did just that. She embarked on a 14-day mountaineering course run by Outward Bound, in an attempt to challenge herself mentally, physically and spiritually through hiking and scaling mountains.

Outward Bound holds programs all around the country for as young as 12-year-olds. They try to teach character development, leadership and service through learning through experience, challenge and adventure and a supportive environment.

“I decided to do the trip because living in Bethesda is too mainstream, and I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as mainstream,” Nichols said. “It was a way to totally let loose and take in the California air.”

On an average day, hikers would wake up at 6:30 to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast, which largely consisted of GORP, a type of trail mix.

“You have to eat everything, but that’s not a problem because you are hungry at all times of the day,” Nichols said. “Just one bite made my day ten times better,” Nichols said.

Hikers had to be on top of their food and water intake, putting iodine in lake water to make it safe to drink.

“We had to fill our water bottles at the lakes that we came across because we never knew when the next water source would come,” Nichols said. “If you got dehydrated, you were in big trouble.”

Nichols said the best part was getting to the top of a peak and looking down at the thousands of feet she had just climbed.

“It was astounding—I got the biggest rush ever,” Nichols said. “I almost cried one time because if I fell while rock climbing, I could have died.”

In addition to the views from the Sierra Nevada mountaintops, Nichols enjoyed the natural landscape.

“We’d pass these clear lakes with waterfalls and huge rocks that we would jump across,” Nichols said.

“Sometimes we’d stop and everyone would take their packs off and dunk their heads in the water—it’s was so refreshing.”

Everyone carried a large-frame backpack, which was burdensome on a typical day’s eight-mile hike.

“You have to stuff this gigantic bag that basically explodes with clothes,” Nichols said. “I could barley lift mine and it left bruises and cuts on my back and shoulders. But I loved every part of it.”

Not only do hikers have to account for everything they need to survive in the wild on their backs, but for 36 hours, they had to account for themselves on a solo hike.

On her solo portion, Nichols enjoyed practicing yoga, writing, and doing sketches in her journal. Participants were given a “solo bag” with three crackers, a bag of GORP and one apple. Nichols created a chart for each meal, determining the time of her meals by the position of the sun.

Senior Will Guerry rafted on the Deschutes River and hiked through the mountains of central Oregon on a similar trip run through Outward Bound two summers ago. Guerry was on his own in the wilderness for three days.

On the start of his solo portion, the trip leaders made everyone close their eyes. They tapped the shoulders of each hiler and led them into different areas of the forest so that they wouldn’t know where anyone else was.

“During the day it was relaxing having absolutely no contact with anyone else,” Guerry said. “But at night it got kind of creepy.”

The Sawatch—part of the Rocky Mountain chain, was the site of junior Adam Simon’s Outward Bound experience during Jun. 2012. While Elise and Will used their solo experiences to relax and focus themselves inward, Simon’s time alone didn’t go quite as smoothly.

Earlier in the course, Simon had left out his “solo bag” given to him at the beginning of the trip. A chipmunk had started to bore holes in the bag composed of crackers, lemonade mix, and nuts.
Almost 10 days later, when Simon was on his solo portion of the trip, he accidentally left his “solo bag” out again when a chipmunk fully got into the bag, pooping inside, ruining everything except the lemonade powder.

“I ate [the lemonade powder] for the whole time, and eventually on the last night I got really sick and threw up,” Simon said. “It was great though, because when we all got together again, our instructors had cooked a huge meal and we all feasted.”

It’s important for Bethesdans to get out into the world and experience what nature has to offer, Nichols said.

“I learned that I’m definitely a straight up hippy,” Nichols said. “I really don’t mind hiking every day and having dreadlockish hair. I learned I am up for a challenge and I’m not afraid to live with basically nothing because I can make the best of what I have and survive on my own.”