Sitting quietly in the early light of an August morning on the bank of an inland lake deep in the wilds of southeast Alaska, I was listening intently to the musical chatter of Otter at play.
I love to observe Otter, and their vocal resonance was echoing off the lake much to my delight. As I sat quietly, deeply enthralled, out of the corner of my eyes I happened to catch a quick movement along the shoreline. It was an Ermine – a very small member of the weasel family. I froze! Scarcely breathing, I watched in wonder as the little animal, intently foraging, slowly made its way closer to where I was sitting.
As it came near, I had the distinct feeling that it was going to forage right over me.
And that’s exactly what it did. Right up my arm, over my shoulder, behind my neck and down my opposite arm, completely un-afraid, as if I wasn’t even there. I was thrilled beyond words! These are the interactions with wildlife I live for.
On another trip later that same year, we were portaging our canoe over the tracks of a timber Wolf. Wolves! To hear this primeval sound in a wilderness setting is something I’ll never forget.
On the lost coast of California one early spring, I surprised a Bobcat hunting. I was able to watch this beautiful animal for quite a while before it spotted me. The look on its face said, ”Now how did this clumsy human get this close to me without making a whole lot of racket?” With as much dignity as possible, the cat slipped quietly away into the grass.
We weave our life around these adventures. The wilderness skills that we teach you are a pathway to a more intimate relationship with the natural world.
Its empowering to know that I can make do in any environment that I find myself in. It may require what some call “hardship,” but for me it’s an extension of living in the real world. Nature has always called me to explore and play in her mountains and forests, but first I had to learn her language.
I had to learn to be still, moving with the wind, develop patience, and remove myself of the inner turmoil that haunts our modern psyche.
Each skill given at our Lifesong camps is a window to the past and a connection with forever. These skills of wilderness survival and nature awareness are the same skills our distant ancestors used to maintain their lives, and to find purpose and connection.
Our philosophy that we share with you has its foundation in the native American Indian perspective of the natural world…consideration for each other and respect for all things.
All things of this earth travel in the circle of life.
These wonderful beings that we share life with, are nations unto themselves: creatures great and small, forests, water, air, all things that make up the circle of life. With this understanding, we enter the circle of life…our Lifesong.
