Photo By Alex Hong ’24/
In June of 2022, Olivia Du ’24 and Virginia Nelson ’25 participated in Choate’s inaugural camping trip in collaboration with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) to Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains.
OLIVIA: On my first camping trip, an 11-day backpacking expedition through the Wind River range, we trekked 52 miles, hauled 50 pound backpacks, and waded through icy currents. We navigated our way through snow-covered trails, relieved bodily waste in Nature’s bathroom, and regularly waited for the water to boil over the campfire, shivering and hungry. It’s something I’ll never do again, but it was a great once-in-a-lifetime experience — the kind of thing I think everyone should try at least once.
Our Initial Impressions
VIRGINIA: Two weeks. 10 people. The Wyoming Mountains. This is what I signed up for. There were nine classmates on the trip that I didn’t know. What if we all hated each other? I didn’t know Dr. Miriam Cohen and Mr. Jeremy Oliver, our chaperones, well at all. I had no idea how to pitch a tent, and I knew I wasn’t going to have my phone. I thought I was screwed. As I hopped on a bus at 4 a.m. to go to the airport, I felt extremely underprepared for what was to come.
OLIVIA: At first, my biggest concern was not having any kind of electronic device. What would we do in an emergency? However, the device-related worries quickly dissipated when we were presented with more pressing issues. Think “poop shovels” and “pee rags.” Also, it takes me a while to warm up to people, so, because I knew no one on the trip, I expected the first couple of days to be horrible.
Becoming One with Nature
OLIVIA: We followed a gruesome routine that started at 6 or 7 a.m. each morning. Multiple miles were covered everyday, trying to reach the “X’s” on our map that were the campgrounds for each night. Student leaders of the day would lead their small groups of three or four, checking maps (or the GPS) and stopping for snack breaks. When we arrived at our campsite each night, some went to set up tents (a pain to do in the snow) and others cooked.
Enjoying the Little Things
VIRGINIA: After a long day of hiking, all you want to do is hang out with the people you are with. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. It was the time when we all got together to relax and talk about our day. Through laughter, and sometimes even tears, we formed unique friendships with each other.
OLIVIA: I’m sure many of the students on the trip could agree that “Day O” was the best. We did not move camp, allowing a group of interested students to climb a summit while the rest of us slept in. That morning, I remember waking up at 11 a.m. and deciding to make cinnamon rolls in the wilderness.
The Best Moments
VIRGINIA: One of the times we laughed the most was when we had something called a “vegetable off ” to choose the ultimate winner for a game. The goal of the game is to see who can do the best impression of a vegetable. Dr. Cohen and Case Sakamoto ’23 were tasked with acting like radishes; Case just squatted to the ground, screaming as he went down, but Dr. Cohen made a more radish-like formation, squatting with her hand in the air. Dr. Cohen won.
Besides the people, the NOLS trip was so special because of the spectacular views. The peaks were unlike any other. We would climb up a little, look to the side, and be greeted with some of the most beautiful sights in the country. One of the prettiest was during a river crossing. The sun glistened over this great lake covered in rocks. On one side there was a mountain peak filled with snow, stuck in the clouds, and on the other side, you could see the entire mountain range. Mountains upon mountains, each bigger than the next.
Our Takeaways
OLIVIA: I am really proud of how open I became towards the end of the trip. I never would have imagined spending eleven days with strangers, much less an entire day without my phone. Actually, when I first got it back, the screen felt so foreign and strange to the touch of my dried and sunburnt fingers. As it turns out, trying to survive in the wild is the best way to bond with random classmates.
VIRGINIA: There were an exorbitant amount of struggles (such as frostbite), but I found it to be one of my most rewarding experiences. Our NOLS group chat is still constantly popping with people asking for a reunion, and the bonds I have with the people I went with are unlike any I’ve had before. Everyone needs an experience like this in their life.
