I just finished an intense 9-day/80 hour wilderness first responder course through NOLS WMI. It was hosted by UT RecSports in Gregory gym, so Manuel, Hannah, Ellie, Sebastian, Brad, and I assisted some with the day-to-day running of the course in addition to taking the course.
The course prepared us to handle medical situations in the back-country for extended periods of time (while an evacuation is being prepared), as well as how to decide when an evacuation is necessary, when it should be rapid, and how to communicate our findings and needs regarding the injured patient to front-country 911 operators.
We learned about the patient assessment system, which provides a guide for us to follow which assessing the patient. And then we practiced applying it in many scenarios as we learned about various medical issues and illnesses that might occur while leading a trip in the back-country. Prevention was a recurrent theme during the class - it's always easier to prevent an injury or illness. Along these lines, we learned about how to encourage good camp hygiene (wash hands and pots adequately, isolate illness) and personal care (dry socks, foot checks).
I'm going to completely rebuild my personal first aid kit - especially for international trips. In both Turkey and Peru I suffered non-trivial injuries to a foot and hand, respectively. In both cases, caring for the wounds required multiple trips to pharmacies where it was difficult to convey the types of supplies we wanted (and these supplies were sub-standard, in both cases). Hence, I plan to stock my first aid kit with at least sterile gauze, conforming gauze bandages, occlusive semi-permeable dressings, 1" athletic tape, an irrigation syringe, wound closure strips, Tincture of Benzoin, moleskin, gloves, and two triangular bandages (and certainly more items for some trips).
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Spring 2015 Adventure Trip Staff Assignments
It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in guide school canoeing in Big Bend's backcountry and now I'm mid-way through a NOLS wilderness first responder course and assigned to lead guide some UT RecSports trips this spring!
For Spring 2015, I've been assigned to:
For Spring 2015, I've been assigned to:
- 2/14-2/16: Camping/Caving Colorado River at Colorado Bend State Park with Andrea and Joseph. I've been meaning to go camping and hiking at Colorado Bend State Park, so this trip should be fun. I'm also excited about it being my first trip as lead guide!
- 2/20-2/22: Hill Country Backpacking at Lost Maples State Natural Area with Ellie and Morgan. I guided this exact trip in the Fall, but I'm excited to go back and get more experience lead guiding.
- 3/14-3/21: Alternative Spring Break to Mission:Wolf with Emily and Tommy. I'm the third guide on this trip, and I instinctively have some reservations about an animal sanctuary that allows humans to have contact with wolves, but I'm excited about being part of another alternative spring break trip and I'm trying to go into Mission:Wolf with an open mind. I'm specifically excited about getting to do some hiking on national forest lands, improving my leadership and guiding skills, and just getting away from everything for a week.
- 5/20-5/24: Backpacking South Rim at Big Bend National Park with Brad and Andrea. I did this hike as a very gruelling day hike, so I'm really excited to do it as a backpacking trip where we can have really low mileage every day and have much more time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It will also be my first extended trip as lead guide!
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2014 Recap
Wow! 2014 was a great year of growing through adventure.
Guide school was the reason this blog began, and it really was a transformative experience. From the skills I learned, to the people I met, to just the experience of it all. It's hard to put into words the power or affect that guide school had on me. There's something about being away from civilization. Of looking all around you from a high point and seeing no building and no one that was not part of your group. Of facing fears head on, and overcoming them. Of learning to be more upfront and honest about your fears and abilities. Of realizing you can do things you previously did not believe you could do. Of learning when to consider the needs of others over your own (and when not to). Of learning how to mitigate and diffuse group conflict. Of seriously considering our impact on the places we visit, and learning how to minimize it.
But guide school was just the beginning. You really take skills from the classroom into real life as you start to actually guide trips. I was lucky enough to have Emily as lead guide on my first trip guiding, and amazingly it was to Lee's Ferry and the Grand Canyon as part of an alternative Spring Break. What a first trip! But I feel like you learn a lot on your first trip, and I certainly did. My other overnight trip in Spring 2014 was to South Llano State Park with Jakub as lead guide. Jakub is seriously the most 'giving' of our guides, and it was a pleasure to work with him and learn from him.
I was originally only assigned two trips for the Fall 2014 semester. This really saddened me, but I was luck enough to pick up two additional trips that I really wanted when other guides backed out of guiding them. I ended up guiding all of the backpacking trips ran in the Fall, and really honed my backpacking skills and grew tremendously as a guide.
In recap, 2014 saw:
Guide school was the reason this blog began, and it really was a transformative experience. From the skills I learned, to the people I met, to just the experience of it all. It's hard to put into words the power or affect that guide school had on me. There's something about being away from civilization. Of looking all around you from a high point and seeing no building and no one that was not part of your group. Of facing fears head on, and overcoming them. Of learning to be more upfront and honest about your fears and abilities. Of realizing you can do things you previously did not believe you could do. Of learning when to consider the needs of others over your own (and when not to). Of learning how to mitigate and diffuse group conflict. Of seriously considering our impact on the places we visit, and learning how to minimize it.
But guide school was just the beginning. You really take skills from the classroom into real life as you start to actually guide trips. I was lucky enough to have Emily as lead guide on my first trip guiding, and amazingly it was to Lee's Ferry and the Grand Canyon as part of an alternative Spring Break. What a first trip! But I feel like you learn a lot on your first trip, and I certainly did. My other overnight trip in Spring 2014 was to South Llano State Park with Jakub as lead guide. Jakub is seriously the most 'giving' of our guides, and it was a pleasure to work with him and learn from him.
I was originally only assigned two trips for the Fall 2014 semester. This really saddened me, but I was luck enough to pick up two additional trips that I really wanted when other guides backed out of guiding them. I ended up guiding all of the backpacking trips ran in the Fall, and really honed my backpacking skills and grew tremendously as a guide.
In recap, 2014 saw:
- 9 posts about the second half of guide school (January)
- 9 posts about the alternative Spring Break trip to the Grand Canyon (March)
- 14 posts about my Europe trip (September/October)
- 4 posts about Fall 2014 backpacking trips (October/November/December)
- 12 other posts
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