Wilderness Skills Schools, Part V:

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What's more, we neglected to cancel the messages we left behind. If anyone else read those notes, they might think someone was still in trouble. We had to send runners to cancel the messages.

We discussed other aspects of our lost patrol before enjoying our first civilized lunch in weeks (the oatmeal cookies were the best I ever had) and boarding the bus. Once inside, you could hear the systematic open ing of windows as we were reminded that the last two weeks had been soapless ones.

We're now traveling along Route 28 back to Lander. Looking beyond the telephone poles and lines that fence us of from the wild country, I recall an overnight camping trip I attempted with my younger brother more than 10 years ago. We hauled (then dragged) a four-person tent up a hill, couldn't find our campsite, ran out of food and water and headed for home at the first sign of light. My trip with NOLS has been my first since then. But given the opportunity now, I'm sure I could plan a weekender that everyone would enjoy. My map reading (among other things) still needs work, but I think I could avoid repeating past mistakes.

After we pass a solar-powered rest stop, I continue to think about where I've been and where I'm heading. The night before our walkout, we all sat and talked about our days in the wilderness. What did being out here mean to us? What efforts should be made to preserve the wilderness? The questions continued for a while before Deb pulled out a speech made in 1854 by a Native American named Chief Seattle. Though the speech concerned the sale of Indian land in the Seattle, Washington, area to the U.S. government, it could have been the NOLS creed.

"There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in the spring or the rustle of insects' wings . . . . And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? . . . If we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers .... If we sell you our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, and with all your heart, preserve it for your children."

Editor's Note: For a free course catalogue, write The National Outdoor Leadership School, Dept. S, P.O. Box AA, Lander, WY 82520; 307/332-6973.

DISCOVERING NOLS

NOLS was officially founded in Lander, Wyoming, in 1965, but the path leading to it was uncovered in the Himalayas in 1938 by Paul Petzoldt.

As colorful as any mountain man, NOLS's founder first climbed Wyoming's Grand Teton in 1924. At 16, and in true Wild West fashion, he made the climb in blue jeans and cowboy boots.

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