We hunker. The ambient air temperature is 45 degrees and last night’s dusting of snow cloaks Gannet and its cohorts. A cold wind whips down…
Category: On Being a NOLS Instructor
The highs and lows, ins and outs, and ups and downs of life as a full time outdoor educator.
Is it possible to de-assess myself? Stress is weighing on me, heavier than the sixty pounds of gear and food I am shouldering up this…
23 August 2016 “I need to get you to sign some paperwork before I leave” he says. He is sitting on the counter in the…
Damn her. Damn her for putting ideas in my head, ideas that had never crossed my mind. I was content to do what I do. …
Editors Note: This is a blog post I wrote back in the Autumn of 2012 during my first sojourn south to New Zealand. Though slightly…
As usual, I wished for rain. It is always easier on the ego than feigning a case of the Sphinx Sphincter or Gannett Gut, things…
27 November 2013–Ambivalence mattered today. Jim and I have passed the planning torch over to the students. They are working in groups of two to…
“Why do we have to go so early? Will it be a long day?” Hannah asks. “That is a good question” I think to myself.…
“I like the sound of rain on the fly” Jim says, half prone in his red, mummy bag. “It is especially good when you know…
Torrential sheets of rain fall loudly on onto the tin roof of the McCoy Hut. I have set our small cook pot outside under the…
Twenty-four hours ago we waded, almost thoughtlessly, across the calf deep McCoy Stream, climbed the stony embankment and walked to the small hut on the…
October 1st 2013 1100 — “Man, sometimes the group decision making process drives me insane” Sean utters as he crawls into the vestibule. One hand…
We all have things that we value, however, we don’t always act as though we value those things. I value my freedom, my family, honesty,…
“Is everything in order?” I ask the folks in the issue room. “Yeah, everything looks good, your students have all checked out” comes the reply.…