29 July 2010 Back from the Beartooths

For a large part of June and July, I was fortunate enough to beat the heat and humidity of Southern Louisiana and head to the Northern Rockies as part of a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) expedition. My particular course was an Outdoor Educator seminar, including a Wilderness First Responder training. With over four weeks of instruction in all, classes began in Lander, Wyoming, where expedition preparation and some initial medical training made up the bulk of our days. On June 20th, we were driven 5 hours north into the heart of the Beartooth Mountains, part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. 

High mountain lakes and snow-fed rivers became our home over the next 26 days. Our three instructors - Josh, Dave, and Tiana - trained the 11 person crew of aspiring educators in skills ranging from self arresting on ice fields to reducing dislocations. The latter skill became reinforced alongside countless other medical tasks in realistic scenarios held daily in the backcountry. While amenities as we know them were nonexistent (we encountered other people only on trails near re-ration areas), we ate like kings (from-scratch pizza, enchiladas, and cinnamon rolls - all on a backpacking stove!), and were spoiled by great fly-fishing (we ate 15 brook trout our second-to-last night out). 

At the culmination of the trip, each student became certified through the Wilderness Medical Institute (WMI) as a Wilderness First Responder, and came home with an endearing appreciation for the majesty of Southwest Montana. I look forward to sharing the knowledge and experience gathered on my NOLS expedition with my students on our own wilderness adventures in Southern Louisiana.