Escape to the Wilderness
In preparation for our 2020 summer expeditions, we embarked on a 5-day staff training trip with three new instructors. We began our backpacking trip with a sensory exploration of the diverse plants and wildlife at the trailhead of the Allegheny Trail near Glady, WV, settling in to our home for the next few days and letting go of the hustle and bustle, the worries and concerns of the in-town world. We were all excited and grateful to get to spend a week in the wilderness.
We left for the woods on Tuesday, May 26th, unaware that George Floyd had been murdered the night before, and we returned to news of protests in the streets all across the nation. As we watch the challenges and hardships that many are facing in our world right now, it has become increasingly clear what a privilege experiences like backpacking trips can be. In quiet, rural places like Davis, WV, the Black Lives Matter movement is not at the forefront of our daily lives. The protests that are happening here are small, quiet, and yet as brave and meaningful– we are grateful for those standing on the side of the road in Thomas, WV with Black Lives Matter signs and the small groups protesting on Williams Avenue in Davis. We believe in the social justice movement and want to do our part to acknowledge and defend the rights of the BIPOC community.
APEX Training trip reveals diversity
On our training trip, we witnessed amazing biodiversity, we practiced active listening, and we honored the diverse perspectives of new APEX instructors. Diversity is one of our core values– and we strive to create experiences that are inclusive of all. Whether talking about diversity of life in a biotic community or diversity of people’s culture, views, or skin colors, our future requires that we seek to understand and celebrate each other’s differences. .
Over 30 miles of the Allegheny Trail and Otter Creek trail system, we recorded a species list that was three pages long! Spicebush butterflies, baby beavers, ringneck snakes, leopard slugs, mountain sorel, and downy woodpeckers were some of the notable sightings. WV’s warm climate and abundance of moisture allows for an incredibly biodiverse ecosystem. This diversity creates a thriving natural system that our human species can aspire to emulate. In an exercise on ecology, we pondered interconnectedness and the web of life, considering how a species relies on the next for support and how the web fails when one species is negatively impacted (by pollution, habitat loss, etc.). We must come to a place where we value the importance of all living and nonliving beings as much as our own.
At the end of the trip, we welcomed three new instructors to the APEX community, each with their own diverse backgrounds and experiences. They wowed us with their natural history wisdom, their openness to learning, feedback, and new skills, their ability to self-reflect, to practice non-judging, loving kindness, and care for each other and the wilderness we traveled through. These folks brought new ideas and ways of thinking to our program and we are honored to have them join the team this summer.
Learning from the outdoors
At times, outdoor education can feel inessential when the world is struggling with pandemics, racism, and violence. Many people have heavy hearts as we try to cope with a world gone wild. At APEX, we are trying to observe nature to help us solve some of the problems that the world may throw at us. Looking, listening, and educating ourselves are key parts to that observation, and these skills are as important as ever in our current times. We can’t wait to get outside with you this summer.
Check out the pictures of our training trip in the post!
-Alex and Libbey
