Seasick

I have been kayaking, first a sit-on-top and then a traditional sea kayak, for over eleven years.  I have been sailing a 24 foot sailboat for two years.  I have been on a week long ocean cruise.  I have been on a numerous ferry crossings along the North Carolina coast as well as between Ireland and Scotland.  I have never once been seasick, that is, until recently.

About an hour into a recent group paddle with nearly two dozen other paddlers( from the Sebago Canoe Club and National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Alums from New York City) on a choppy Jamaica Bay in 12-20 mph increasing minds, I missed a brace and went over.  After wet exiting, I reentered my kayak, as I had done many other times during practice, with the help fellow paddler Tony P.

Once back in my kayak, I started paddling, but I did not feel balanced.  I tipped again and once again wet exited.  I thought I was close enough to shore that it would be easier and quicker to tow my kayak, with me in the water behind, to shore (photo below).  A strong head wind and the drag of me and my boat prevented fellow paddler John H. from making much headway while towing, so with his help, I once again reentered my kayak.  I almost tipped several more times before making it to shore, even while being towed and with fellow paddler Ilene L. close by my side, but I managed to stay upright until I slid up onto the sandy beach.

View from behind my Necky Chatham 17 while John H. was towing.

Once on shore and out of my boat, my legs/knees felt week and I felt sick to my stomach.  John H. suggested I might be seasick, but I could not understand how I could be seasick when I had never before suffered from seasickness.  After forcing down some lunch and resting for about 15 to 20 minutes, I felt a little better, climbed back into my kayak, and started paddling back to the clubhouse.  As soon as I was back on the water, however, only a few yards from shore, I felt like I could not maintain my balance, as if I had no balance.  The smallest wave seemed to knock me off balance and I did not feel like I had the strength to brace, recover, or paddle  Rather than impeding the rest of the group, I decided  to paddle back to the beach and remain behind, to be picked up by car later.

After waiting a couple hours, my boat and I were driven back to the clubhouse by John W. and Andy N., where we had started our trip and my car was parked.   Even though there was a feast going on when I arrived back at the clubhouse, I did not have the least bit desire to eat anything.  I cleaned up my gear and headed home.

Back home, after a hot shower, I felt like I had been run over by a truck and still had no appetite. Following up on John H's diagnosis, I researched seasickness and kayaking.  I searched several combinations of words until I discovered an informative post about Common Sea Kayaking Ailments and Sea-Sickness on Kayak Dave’s Kayaking Blog.  I also found a short but helpful reference in Sea Kayaker’s Deep Trouble: True Stories and Their Lessons from Sea Kayaker Magazine, p. 139.  Later, I found a very informative post, The Seasick Paddler, on paddling.net.

Finally, about eight hours after I stopped kayaking, I still felt weak, achy, and had a slight headache  At least I had an appetite, however, and I finally ate some food.  After another hour or two, I took a couple Ibuprofen and went to bed.

Knowing that when you are knocked off a horse that the best thing to do is to get right back in the saddle, I awoke the next morning and went kayaking.  In 18-13 mph decreasing winds, I headed back onto the water with a group of another twenty paddlers from the Sebago Canoe Club. Some of them had paddled with me the previous or had heard about my misadventure and were therefore concerned about how I felt.  Those who had seen me the day before told me that the day before I had  looked pale and not my usual self.

As we paddled out onto the bay, I felt like I was doing fine until after we crossed the channel in a little chop.  After the channel crossing in rough water I again started to feel unbalanced – like I was going to tip.  Then I realized that I had been focusing on the bow of my kayak and the oncoming waves.  I immediately started focusing, instead, on the horizon.  In what seemed like seconds, my sense of balance returned and I no longer felt unbalanced.  As the morning and the paddle progressed, I kept my focus on the horizon and I felt stronger, more balanced, and more confident.  By the end of the paddle, I felt like my normal kayaking self.

Had I been, unawares, focusing on the bow of my kayak and the oncoming waves the day before?  I do not know for sure, but my hunch is, I was.  I will never again.

I owe special thanks to Tony P., John H, Ilene L,, John W. and Andy T. from Saturday's Paddle, and to Dottie L. from Sunday's paddle.

Preparing for Irene

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my preparations for being in the path of Hurricane Irene began about thirty-five years ago with amy initial First Aid Course. Advanced First Aid, CPR, Water Safety Instructor, and Emergency Medical Technician courses followed that course. I would eventually serve as a volunteer EMT for a couple years in West Virginia and New Jersey, and work as a professional EMT Ambulance Attendant for nine months in Richmond, VA. This training and experience has helped me feel prepared for almost any type of emergency.

A few years after my initial First Aid Course, I took the Outdoor Educators Course of the National Outdoor Leadership School. While I do not think of NOLS as a survival school, the skills and philosophy I learned through NOLS has served me well not only while backpacking in the backcountry but also car camping along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and vacationing in the Bahamas. NOLS has taught me to be prepared, to make do with what you have, to improvise, and to assess risk to insure maximum safety.

Almost four years ago, my wife and I were vacationing on Eleuthera, one of the outer, and less developed, islands of the Bahamas. Near the end of our planned weeklong stay in a rented home, Tropical Storm Noel passed over the island, lashing us with tropical force winds and horrendous rain for at least two days and a night. Our newlywed neighbors and we were the only people within a mile. For three days and two nights, we survived without power, without running water, and without communications, except minimal cell phone service. Fortunately, we had some non-perishable food and were able to cook with propane.

When the wind and rain finally stopped, the four of us, already on the island two days longer than expected, drove as far as we could along the dirt road leading back toward the main road until we encountered water across the road, water too deep to drive through. With luggage held above our heads, we walked through water up to our calves on several occasions until we reached a small village. Parts of the village were flooded, including the road.

Inhabitants of the village invited us to climb into the large bucket of a front-end loader and ferried us, and our luggage, through floodwater that would have been too deep for us to walk though. Once on the other side of the flooding, a native who sometimes worked at the home rented by our newlywed neighbors drove us to the airport. We caught the first plane out since the storm passed, and upon arriving in Grand Bahamas, caught the last flight out that night heading for Florida. Once in Florida, we caught the last flight out that night heading for New York City.

When people ask us if we were ever scared while on Eleuthera, with Tropical Storm Noel passing nearby, we say no. We think we got more for our money than expected. We stayed on the Island an extra couple of days and ended up having an unexpected adventure vacation. It is one of the more memorable vacations we have had and we would not have traded it for two weeks anywhere else in the world.

Last night my wife and I joined nine other members of the Sebago Canoe Club to kayak on Jamaica Bay. The bay was nearly empty of boats, and birds. Along the eastern coast flyway, water birds generally fill the trees along the shore as well as the skies. Last night, however, it was eerily quiet and we saw only a few birds. The only other boat that came anywhere near us was a NYPC Patrol Boat. We had the bay to ourselves, less than 24-36 hours before the arrival of Irene.

Although a few clouds had already starting moving in, the Bay was nearly flat during our paddle. Just past the midpoint of our two-hour trip, we caught a stunning red sunset as we paddled out from behind one of the Bay’s larger islands, Canarsie Pol. The sunset rivaled any I have ever seen.

Back at the clubhouse, we rinsed off our boats and stowed our gear. Sitting on club’s dock in order to escape the mosquitoes, we enjoyed pizza, beer and wine as we shared stories and news related to the storm, talking of paddles past and present, and speculating what the scene might look like in 24-36 hours. I thought it was amazing that in 24-36 hours an 8-12 foot storm surge could very well inundate that dock and flood our clubhouse.

This morning my wife and I drove back down to Jamaica Bay. Our first stop was our sailboat, the Mischief, docked in Mill Basin. I added some shock cord to the lines, double checked the lines, added an extra line, and removed some valuables from the boat. As we left, I knew the rest was up to nature. We then returned to the Sebago Canoe Club on Paerdegat Basin to help with storm preparations but most precautions had already been taken, so we soon headed home.

With various camping gear, including freeze-dried food, backpacking stoves, and flashlights stored in the basement, I think we are prepared. We normally have various radios, flashlights, and batteries around the house, as well as candles, an oil lamp, and a kerosene lantern. We did buy a few gallons of fresh water, made some extra ice, and filled poly bottles with fresh tap water. We also moved some outdoor plants off steps to a lower level against the house and moved some backyard furniture and tools into the basement. We are keeping cell phones plugged in so their batteries will be fully charged when the power goes out.

All we can do is hunker down and wait. The preparations begun almost thirty-five years ago will have to be enough.

NOLS New York Area Reunion & Presentation (& Raffle)

Rich collecting name tags

With NOLS, you are always a winner. 

Last week I attended the NOLS  New York Area Reunion & Presentation. New York has the largest concentration of NOLS alums anywhere, so for NOLS, the New York Area Reunion is a big thing.

As we entered the Patagonia store in SoHo, which graciously hosted the event, we made nametags for ourselves. I saw a few familiar faces and a lot of new faces I did not recognize. After mingling with other New York Area Alums as well as the folk from Lander, including Rich, Pip and David, and enjoying hors d’oeuvres, we settled down into folding chairs for Dave Anderson’s presentation about the first ascent of a new route in Argentina’s Piritas Valley.

We Won! We won!

Dave’s presentation was not an overly technical documentation of the climb but much more of a travelogue of the adventure from start to finish. In classic NOLS style, Dave included as much information and personal reflection about trip planning, gear carried, the approach, and the return trip as he did about the actual climb.

Following Dave’s presentation, everyone took off their name tags, folded them in half, and Rich Brame collected them in a NOLS hat. Names we then pulled for various prizes. My wife won a hardback copy of WindRiver Wilderness, a picture book edited by Ronald H. Chilcote. I won a Climber Swiss Army knife modified by NOLS Aum Joel Bukiewicz of Cut Brooklyn.  This was my third or fourth New York Area Reunion but the first time I have won any of the raffle prizes.

The knife I won is especially meaningful to me because, while I had not met Joel until the evening of the reunion, I knew about him and his work through his sister, with whom I have paddled.

Photos from the Reunion cane be viewed on my Picassa page.

NOLS NYC Alumni Gathering, and Reunion & Presentation

It is always good to get together with other Alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School,  especially when it has been awhile since the last time we gathered. A week ago, NOLS Alumni met at the 79th Street Boat Basin Café  on Manhattan’s upper west side for some drinks and food.

Although I do not go there often, the Boat Basin Café is one of my favorite places to eat when the weather is nice. It offers open air dining overlooking the Hudson with numerous boats; especially sail boats, docked and moored not far away. It was at the dock not far away that last year my wife and I were able to board and tour Pete Seeger’s sloop, the Clearwater.

There were about a dozen to a dozen and a half NOLS Alumni at last week’s gathering. I knew about half of them and it was good to see people I knew and have hiked and kayaked with. I also met a few new folk, some who were newer to the Big Apple than I was. We drank, ate, and talked about plans for the fall, including an overnight, and a couple day hikes. We also talked up the NOLS New York Area Reunion & Presentation on Thursday, October 10, at the Patagonia Store in SoHo, 101 Wooster St.

Gint, Tobey and Lori (local alumni), organize our occasional Alumni gatherings at places like the Boat Basin Café, gatherings that attract anywhere from half a dozen to two dozen people. NOLS Staff in Lander organize The NOLS New York Area Reunion & Presentation and travel to New York City to be with us. It is a big event.

While the NOLS New York Area Reunion & Presentation is designed primarily for NOLS Alumni in the greater New York City area, anyone may attend. If you love the outdoors and want to learn more about the philosophy and course offerings of the National Outdoor Leadership School, send an email to ALUMNI@NOLS.EDU to RSVP and donate $10 or more at the door to help pay for drinks and appetizers.

About the August 2010 Header Photo

Because I have recently been spending more time around water and the beach than in the heights of the mountains, I have had to reached back into my archives for this month’s header photo, all the way back to August 15, 1979. I electronically cropped this month’s header photo from a scanned black and white print. A colleague took the original with my Minolta SRT 101 SLR shooting Tri-X-Pan black and white film, which I developed myself. I also printed the original.

The shot, now a little grainy after scanning, is of me climbing (sans ice ax and crampons) a snowfield on the western slope of Mt. Geike in the Wyoming’s Wind River Range. At the time, I was a student on a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Outdoor Educators Course. We were backpacking up and out of Desolation Canyon, heading for Pain in the Ass Pass (11,632 ft) between Mt. Bonneville to the northeast and Raid Peak to the south.

Thirty-one years later, many of the lessons I learned on that NOLS course still inform my outdoor ethic and the way I approach outdoor adventure type activities. Now, however, many more of those activities take place on water rather than on mountains.

NOLS NYC Alumni Service Project

Six alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) observed NOLS Leadership Week by volunteering to help clean and paint Concrete Safaris’ new environs. Concrete Safaris, founded by New York City native and NOLS grad Mac Levine (photo to the right), “empowers youth to become healthy leaders through green exercise programs that enrich the mind, body, community, & environment.” It recently acquired new indoor office and storage space for its gardening and camping gear and is gearing up for spring activities and needed our help.

Gathering on a cold and rainy Tuesday evening, February 23rd at the home of Concrete Safaris in the Washington Community Center near the intersection of 3rd Avenue and 98th Street in New York City, we quickly mixed and poured paint, rolling and brushing it on bathroom and storage space walls. We cleaned light fixtures, countertops, and swept floors. The muscle job of the evening that required at least four to complete was removing an old air conditioner from high between two walls. All work was donated as we gave our time to this local service project.

In addition to Concrete Safaris founder Mac Levine, other NOLS Alumni helping out and in the photo to the left, appearing left to right, were Scott, Amanda, Gint, Toby and (kneeling) me.

After a couple hours of painting and cleaning we called it a night by relocating to El Paso Restaurante Mexicano for a late evening dinner and socializing. When it came time to ante up for the bill, five of us raised enough money to treat Mac, our evening’s host and supervisor.

More photos from the evening’s service project can be seen at my picassa album.

Another NOLS Night Out

Over a dozen alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School, spouses, friends and at least one canine companion gathered at the Brooklyn Brewery last night for a bimonthly social. In addition to enjoying conversation with my NOLS friends I enjoyed the Brown Ale while my wife Vicki enjoyed the Pilsner. I think Michael enjoyed several of BB’s offerings. Gint stuck to his Lenten discipline, having given up alcohol. Karen provided a bag of munchies. Gint and Toby can be seen enjoying conversation in the photo to the right.

The Brewery was pretty crowded and so we never were able to claim our own NOLS table and had to stand. The crowd also raised the volume level, making it hard to hear the conversation unless you were six inches to a foot away from the person you were talking with.

Afterward some of us trekked south to the Relish Restaurant for dinner, dessert, and more conversation in a quieter setting where tables and chairs were available. Low light levels at both locations limited photo-ops, nevertheless, some NOLS Alumni can be seen at table in the photo to the left.

For the record, a trail map was unfolded at the Brewery and a trails guidebook was seen on the table at the Relish. Trips past and present were discussed,as well as an upcoming service project. The NOLS tradition thus continues.

If any NOLS alums in New York City have not yet discovered it, there is a NOLS Alumni – New York City Group page on Facebook. More photos can be seen at my Picassa page.

Happy Holidays NOLS NYC

It is always a pleasure to reunite with other National Outdoor Leadership School Alums in New York City. In addition to catching up with the usual regulars like Tobey, Lori, Gint, Mac, Chris, Elizabeth, Kate, Cat, and Michael, I always enjoy meeting some people for the first or second time, like Kelly and Jonathan and others whose names now escape me. Last night we gathered at Destination Bar in the East Village for our second annual holiday party.

Have a Happy Hanukkah, Enlightening Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Kind Kwanza, and Happy New Year.

With appetizers provided by NOLS, we enjoyed two-for-one Happy Hour bar drinks until 8:00 PM and a Yankee Swap gift exchange. I came home with a really nice pair of green Campmor rain pants in my size and A 5x7 picture frame. I think I will use the frame for one of the 255 photos I shot at the party. After a little editing and deleing of the really bad photos, I uploaded 200 to Picasa, where you can see them for yourself.

NOLS New York City Reunion & Presentation

Over sixty NOLS Alumni, friends and families braved a cold, chilly nor’easter last night to attend the 2009 NOLS New York City Reunion & Presentation hosted by Patagonia SoHo, 101 Wooster Street. The venue was appropriate considering that the presentation by NOLS instructors Rob Walker and Karen Holm (photo top right) featured the pair’s six-month, 1,850-mile kayak traverse of Chilean Patagonia—the first of this spectacular coastal wilderness.

Prior to the official event some local Alums, NOLS staff from Lander, Karen and Rob gathered at nearby Puck Fair, an occasional NOLS Alumni hangout, for drinks, food, and conversation. As we talked I learned that when not working as NOLS instructors with the Wilderness Medicine Institute Rob is an Emergency Room and Life Flight Nurse and Karen teaches 8th grade in Bend Oregon.

Karen and Rob’s program consisted of a 35 minute digitized slide show set to music. Featured images included Chilean coastal flora and fauna, picturesque coastal scenes, portraits of some local inhabitants, and Rob and Karen, both in and out of their Feathercraft K1 Expedition kayaks. According to Rob, the Feathercraft K1 is not only the kayak used by NOLS on its Patagonia Sea Kayaking courses but also the standard kayak in Chilean coastal waters. After the slide presentation Rob and Karen answered questions.

Knowing adequate planning and preparation is the key to safe and successful expeditions; Rob invested two years of reading accounts from people who had paddled in the area and studying maps prior to their own departure. According to Rob there were some historical records of indigenous paddlers travelling the same route. On some of their portages the couple could easily see evidence of previous and numerous portages whiles other portages suggested that Karen and Rob were the first in recent times to make the portage. The couple took all their gear with them from the US to Chile, including their kayaks. They did arrange resupply drops, however.

While Karen and Rob did not paddle every day, their expedition lasted 170 days. They experienced rain on 105 of those days and still averaged over ten miles a day covering a total of 1,850 miles, the entire distance they had intended to paddle. They often paddled for days without seeing another person or boat as only about 50 paddlers are permitted in the waters during the paddling season. While they passed abundant shellfish they did not enjoy a single one, not only because to do so was illegal but also because it could be fatal. In recent years red tides have decimated the local shell fish populations and made shell fish potentially poisonous.

Avoiding dry suits because they thought the suits would not outlast the expedition, the paddlers opted for neoprene under Gore-Tex tops and bottoms. They carried old technology cameras because they reasoned that six months of salt air and humidity would decimate newer electronic cameras. They also carried solar chargers to recharge the batteries for their various electronic devices.

In spite of their Chilean and previous paddling experience, Rob says that neither he nor Karen considers themselves sea kayakers, but rather as adventures who kayak on open waters. Rob's outlook seems to capture the NOLS philosophy of engaging in safe and ecologically responsible wilderness travel, regardless of the location or season.

Before and after the presentation NOLS grads, friends and families reconnected with other area grads, caught up on what’s happening at NOLS, enjoyed hors d’ouvres, non-alcoholic drinks and a raffle (photo second from top right). Newlywed NOLS Alum Chris Saxman (photo third from top right) won the ice ax donated by Eastern Mountain Sports SoHo. I won a Mountain Hard Wear ball-cap style hat.

In addition to NOLS representatives (photo fourth from top right) from Lander, also present at this year’s reunion were representatives of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Joe Gindoff (photo bottom right) and Jenny Hezel, who passed out literature, spoke briefly about the work and programs of the Conference, and were available to answer questions. Keep your eyes open for future programs and publicity involving both the Trail Conference and the local NOLS Alumni group.

Rumor has it that if a suitable location is secured NOLS will also be offering a weekend Wilderness First Aid Course in the New York metro area, so keep your eyes and ears open for this possibility as well.

Local Alumni should also mark their calendars for a NOLS Alumni hike on October 24 and the NOLS Alumni Holiday party on December 2. Other outings and gatherings are being planned and will be announced through the local list serve which can be joined through a link on the the NOLS Alumni home page.

As always, special acknowledgment and thanks is due Tobey, Lori and Gint, our three local NOLS NYC Alumni volunteer coordinators.

NOLS Alumni Gather at the Boat Basin Café

Nine National Outdoor Leadership School Alumni living in the New York metropolitan area gathered for drinks and dinner at the Boat Basin Café, Riverside Drive and 79th Street, Thursday, September 17th (photo right). After first one, then two, and then three at the bar grew to four or five we moved to a table on the balcony overlooking the Hudson and were treated to a beautiful sunset. Eventually we numbered nine: three Johns, Lori, Gint, Kate, Michael, Mac and Elizabeth. Kate was a newbie and this was the first time I met one of the John’s.

Food was consumed. Beer was drunk. No trail maps were laid out on the table but two copies of NOLS Cookery did make an appearance, and Lori, Michael and Gint finalized plans for an upcoming trip to the Catskills while Elizabeth prepped for upcoming job interviews in Boston. Gint informed us that he now has his own apartment not far from the Boat Basin Café.

The next gathering will be the BIG NOLS NYC Reunion, Thursday, October 15, 2009 7:00-9:30 PM at Patagonia SoHo, 101 Wooster St, when NOLS Instructor Rob Walker will present a program about his six-month, 1,850-mile kayak traverse of Chilean Patagonia. Everyone, even folks that have never taken a NOLS course, are not married to a NOLS Alumni, and may never have heard of NOLS is welcomed. A $10 donation at the door would be appreciated. To RSVP, call 800-332-4280.

NOLS Alumni Gather at the Delancey

About a dozen NOLS Alumni in the New York City area and their friends gathered in the beauty outdoor rooftop garden of The Delancey Monday evening, July 13, 2009. With people coming and going throughout the evening it was a little difficult keeping track of how many of us were there at any one time. Most enjoyed the $5 rooftop hamburger and hot dog barbecue as well as various brews. Chris was congratulated on his engagement and upcoming wedding. Tobey shared some amazing stories from his week volunteering on the Clearwater, including calling on his emergency medical training to provide first aid to a crew member experiencing anaphylactic shock after being exposed to onions, to which she is highly allergic. Elizabeth is still looking for employment in the field of higher education. Lori is anticipating a new roommate moving in. Gint is looking for an apartment of his own. We also heard about he bachelor beaver which has apparently set up housekeeping on the Bronx River.

As always, Tobey, Lori and Gint demonstrated their group leadership skills by arranging for the evening, including reserving tables and making sure we all got the word.

The next gathering may be planned for the Boat Basin Café, an outdoor venue which was rained out last month.

On August 22 we are planning to float the Bronx River on a private trip with the Bronx River Alliance.

NOLS Alumni Gather at the Dublin House

As we usually do every other month, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) alumni in New York City recently gathered to catch up and lift a few pints. And wouldn’t you know, wherever two or three NOLS Alums are gathered, you will find a topo/trail map in the midst of them as they plan their next outing (photo at right). How many times have you seen a top/trail map spread out on a table in a New York City bar?

Last night we gathered at the Dublin House, located at 225 W. 79th St on the Upper West Side. We had originally planned to gather at the 79th Street Boat Basin Café but that outdoor locale was closed due to rain. Apparently the establishments NOLS Alums are prone to frequent are not as hearty and prepared for foul weather as NOLS Alums are, at least not the Boat Basin Café.

Six of us gathered: Gint, Michael, Lori, Mac, Liz and I. At least four of us (me included) have actually been to Dublin and Lori lived in Ireland for a year, which just goes to prove that NOLS Alums tend to be world travelers and adventurers.

Gint and Lori offered first hand reports of the recent NOLS Alum Kayaking trip on the Hudson. We also talked about the economy, music, pets, Chicago cuisine, rowing, roommates, and the new Eastern Mountain Sports store in SoHo, as well as potential future gathering spots, activities and outings, including a backpacking trip in the Catskills (thus the map).

As I have noted before, one of the pleasures of living in New York City is the opportunity to be part of the NOLS Alumni community here in the city and to know that there are others who share my passion for and commitment to outdoor leadership and skills.

Boaters Rescued in Windswept Jamaica Bay

Fellow Sebago Canoe Club member and NOLS alum John Huntington distributed this link to a story about a rescue of boaters in windswept Jamaica Bay. There is also a follow up link to a story in the New York Post. The boaters were in a fishing boat, not a kayak. Nevertheless I think there is a lesson to be learned here.

I have paddled in Jamaica Bay when the there has been hardly any wind and the water was like glass. Likewise I have been out kayaking in the Bay when there was a strong enough wind over enough fetch to create white caps and standing waves over shallow shoals. The danger lies in calm condition luring inexperienced boaters out into the open bay far from shore only for the weather to drastically change for the worse with little if any warning, catching the boaters unprepared. This is why it is wise to know how to assist in one's own rescue as well as to assist others in being rescued and to practice such rescues (pictured top right) before they are necessary.

With six or seven years of paddling under my PFD, Jamaica Bay does not intimidate or scare me, but I still respect it because it demands respect. Becoming familair with rescue techniques is one way of showing that respect.

NOLS Alums in NY Gather

One of the pleasures I have experienced after moving to New York City is the opportunity to occasionally gather with other graduates of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) who live in New York City. NOLS is the premier teacher of outdoor skills and leadership, offering courses of ten days to a full semester in the world’s most spectacular wilderness classrooms. OK, that is pretty much verbatim taken from the NOLS Website, but I think it is true. So do most other NOLS alums.

Thanks to the organizing efforts of Tobey, Gint and Lori (pictured second right), NOLS alums in the NYC area gather about once every other month at one or another random local bar/restaurant for drinks, food and conversation. Our conversation might include politics, the economy, our work, and the local music/bar/restaurant scene, but will almost always incorporate our favorite, latest, or upcoming outdoor adventure.

Last Thursday, April 16, 2009 we gathered at Connolly’s Pub and Restaurant (pictured top right) at 121 West 45th St. between 6th Avenue and Broadway. Most of us drank Guinness. Food was varied. I enjoyed the garden salad followed by the walnut crusted salmon. Yum!

Gint and I talked about climbing in the Gunks. When Chris and I discovered that we had grown up near the same area of western Pennsylvania we talked about our boyhood adventures of climbing, caving (spelunking), white water rafting and backpacking along the Laurel Highlands and Chestnut Ridge of Western Pa. Lori, John and I talked about sea kayaking.

Tobey (far left in the picture center righjt) is perhaps the senior member of those who regularly gather. His first NOLS course was a Wind Rivers Wilderness Course all the way back in 1976. Thirty years later he returned to NOLS for the Instructors Course. He works as a Civil Engineer with the Metropolitan Transit Authority but occasionally returns to NOLS to lead courses.

Lori’s NOLS course was in Kenya in 1999. She (center in the picture center right) works with the Asthma Free School Zone, a non-profit (501C3).

Gint (far right in the picture center right) is a newbie among the alums. His NOLS course was a 2007 Wind River Backpacking Course. He works at a Manhattan Brokerage in Technical Sales.

Having taken three NOLS courses, Elizabeth is perhaps a NOLS course collector. In 1999 she took a Baja Sea Kayaking Course. She was on a Patagonia course in 2004 and a New Zealand Backpacking Course in 2006. It was Elizabeth who introduced Gint to NOLS. She is currently unemployed and looking to serve in Higher Education.

Mac took her NOLS course in 2006, the Pacific North West Trip Leader Course, and is the Founder and Executive Director of Concrete Safaris.

Chris is an entrepreneur developing interactive software for CE Interactive. His NOLS course was a 1982 Backpacking Course in the Wind Rivers.

John's NOLS course was a 1995 Brooks Range River Trip. He is a Professor with his own textbook and an Entertainment Technology Site on the web.

A few others came and went during the evening but I either did not know them as well or did not have the time to talk with them. My wife Vicki, not a NOLS Alum but an avid kayaker with other varied outdoor experience, joined our group near the end of the evening.

I think there exists among NOLS alums a bond forged by a shared base of knowledge and experience. I know that whenever I have climbed, backpacked or kayaked with a NOLS alum I have always felt more comfortable and at ease with that person and their skills and knowledge than perhaps others on the same trip who are not NOLS alums. While others may also be knowledgeable, skilled and trustworthy, they do not share the NOLS experience. OK, perhaps what others say about NOLS alums is true. We are elitist.

As for me? My first NOLS course was an Outdoor Educators Course in the Wind River Range of Wyoming in August 1979. In 2005 I took a Leave No Trace Master Educator Course in Shenandoah National Park co-sponsored by NOLS and the National Park Service. One of our two instructors was long-time and legendary NOLS Instructor Haven Holsapple. Our other instructor was John Buchheit, National Park Service Backcountry Ranger in Shenandoah National Park. One of the other eight participants was NOLS Instructor Chris North, who was taking the course to receive LNT Master Educator Certification.

In spite of NOLS alum's commitment to Leave No Trace backcountry ethics; we may not always practice the same ethics when we are out on the town. Take for example the mess we created on the NOLS Banner (Pictured bottom right. Folks in Lander, don’t look at this!). Even though our table looked a lot cleaner before we left, the astute observor could still tell that we had been there.

How to S**t in the Woods

The other day I was honored to be interviewed by Attila Horvath for a story he is writing for Get Out! magazine. He wanted to interview me because I am supposed to be somewhat of an expert about the topic he was writing about. His topic? How to shit in the woods (in an ecologically sound way, of course).

There is actually a book by that title, but I have loaned out or misplaced my copy so I have attached an original photograph (right) of the next best scatological book in my personal library, Up Shit Creek.

Here is the poop. Deposit solid human waste in catholes dug 6 to 8 inches deep at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails. Cover and disguise the cathole when finished, and pack out your toilet paper. For more in depth information about disposing of human waste when there is no toilet or outhouse in site, consult the web sites of The National Outdoor Leadership School and/or the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics.

Since I also write about religion and spirituality as well as climbing and kayaking I suppose I should cite at least one biblical reference to back up the practice of disposing of human waste in a cathole. Take a look at Deuteronomy 23:12-13, where you will find Leave No Trace (LNT) principals related to human waste in God’s Holy Word: No shit! I’m not kidding.

Deuteronomy 23:12-13 (NRSV) “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement.”