Each trimester IOP (Integrated Outdoor Pursuits), taught by Peter Hoffmeister and Jeff Hess, goes out one weekend on a trip for that season. I took IOP last year during the fall, and the trip was in mid-October. After organizing into 4 different groups we set out to the Oregon desert. The ride was quite long and I played go-fish and poker with some classmates. Since we didn’t have poker chips we gathered some rocks at a rest stop to gamble with. Once we got there I set up camp with my tent-mate Mikhail. Then we had a long awaited meal with the rest of the class. There was some free time after lunch so I played some more poker with my bus buddies. Some of the SLs (Student Leaders) notified us that soon our group was going to go out into the woods and find our way back with map and compass. We had been practicing for the past couple of weeks in class. Upon getting packed up for the hike we got into the small activity bus and Jeff drove us into the woods at about 2:30 in the afternoon.
We were blind-folded in the bus to prevent us from looking out the window at the landscape in an attempt to just memorize where we’re going and get back to camp easily. The drive felt like about half an hour, though I don’t really know how long it took. When we arrived and Jeff told us we can take off the blindfolds, I removed it and saw loosely packed trees and a dirt path. I grabbed my pack and got off the bus. The SLs that came with us laid out compasses, maps and pens for all of us. Jeff left and we had to decide which way to start.
The area we were in didn’t seem to have any significant landmarks, and the trees were blocking the view of any mountains we might use to find out where we were. We generally agreed to go up the incline and try to find a high point nearby so we could look over the trees. Walking uphill some in the group became discouraged when we couldn’t find a hill immediately nearby. After some arguing I suggested we head a certain bearing from a path nearby that went uphill, and if we didn’t find a hill on that bearing to head back and go a different way. The group accepted the proposition and soon we were walking up a steep hill towards a high point. When we got to the top of the hill, the group decided to take a snack break and chill out for a bit. Once we finished our snacks we spent about half an hour trying to figure out exactly where we were on the map. Once we found out our location, we discovered that Jeff had dropped us off so far away that if we were to attempt to walk straight towards camp we would arrive in the early morning about 10 hours later. Not wanting to spend 10 hours walking just to get a few hours of sleep, we decided to head towards a road on the map and get picked up by Jeff there. The walk to the road was shorter than the walk to camp, but it still took more than 5 hours. We were slowed down significantly by the various trees and bushes in our path to the road. The worst of them was the manzanitas, scratching at us through our pants.
Walking through the scratchy bushes and moving in between clumps of small pine trees, we were tired and frustrated, but were kept in good spirits. The SLs made a good effort of boosting morale, making jokes and encouraging people to keep going. After we made it to another path that we walked down for about half an hour, we learned the road we were looking for was just across a small field of bushes. We ran across it and finally relaxed, many of us lying down on the road to wait for Jeff. When the lights of the bus appeared we packed up and started talking about how well we were going to sleep that night, and how good the food at camp was going to taste. We hopped on and rode back. Upon arrival it was about 11 PM, and we were all exhausted. The groups that stayed at camp had prepared a dinner which we passionately consumed. After dinner and some chatting it became extremely cold so we said goodnight to our classmates and went to bed. Lying in my sleeping bag, I thought about tomorrow’s activities and was grateful that they didn’t involve any more hiking.
