1974

Our seventh grade class planned our spring outdoor education trip most of the year.  Planning included what food each group would take, sleeping bags and survival gear.  The teachers spent an equal amount of time letting the students know what was not allowed.  About a month before the trip the class was broken into four groups and each assigned a teacher and a parent chaperon.  I was assigned to Mike Flynn’s group along with ten or twelve other students.  Mr. Flynn was a real outdoorsman and had a sense of adventure in everything he did.  I considered myself lucky to be selected by him.  Also in my group were a number of my close friends like Paul Hoffman, Paul Wirth, Marlis Marolt, Dean Stapleton and Mark Menscher.

Two groups were also assigned the routes they would take to get to the Colorado Outward Bound School just above the town of Crystal where our week of outdoor education was to take place.  Our group went over West Maroon Pass and the other group went over Trail Rider Pass from Snowmass Lake.  The two other groups would be going from the camp back over the passes at the end of the week while we rode busses home. 

The two groups met in Lead King Basin and hiked the rest of the way to the school along the shelf road above Crystal.  When we got to the camp we met up with the remaining two groups.

Every day was filled with assignments for the student to do and each group or team attempted to score the most points in the various challenges.  The activities included technical climbing and repelling back down an 80 foot cliff, day hikes into the back country, running the obstacle course that included rope walls, hurdles, crawls under obstacles and many other challenges.

Each morning included a brisk run and a jump into the Crystal River which could not have been much warmer than 35 degrees, all before breakfast.

In the middle of the week we were faced with one of the more interesting challenges.  Each student was given a plastic Tube Tent, some rope and only allowed to bring a pocket knife and their sleeping bag.  Then one by one we were led up the road and assigned a spot to camp “solo” for the night.  We were not allowed to go more than 20 or 30 feet from our assigned area, no group camping was allowed even though some did sneak off to a nearby friend’s camp. 

With nothing to do but whittle some wood, going to bed early was one of the only other options, clearly we missed the point of the challenge.  I remember it being quite peaceful with the sounds of birds and other critters nearby.  The peaceful calm was broken by an occasional sound of a passing aircraft, most vividly the sound of Edgar Stern’s Gulfstream I climbing out of the Aspen Airport headed somewhere west.  I remember thinking of the contrast of the two, me in a plastic tent out in the middle of nowhere and Edgar and company riding in the lap of luxury.

The week ended with the departure of the two groups that headed back over the passes while we hiked down to Marble to meet the busses were waiting to take us home.  Much of what were learned we were able to use in future school adventure outings as well as great life lessons.