Authors Stephen Trimble and Gary Nabhan collaborated on this revolutionary book that examines today’s children and their relationship with nature and wild places. They begin with the premise that children’s experience with wild places has become a luxury, and that our children are no longer playing outside like previous generations.

They argue that a connection with nature is a “basic human need” and we are short-changing our children if we are not providing them with the opportunities to be in the outdoors, exploring, learning and coming to love places that are a part of their personal geography.

Trimble recalls his childhood in the American Southwest, reminiscing about family trips, camping and specific places that he continues to hold dear in his heart. He believes that by “forging connections with plants, animals and land, by finding ways to experience some relationship to the Earth, individuals can gain a sense of worth.”

Nabhan, the father of two young children, claims that it is imperative that we find ways for children to go beyond the concrete and “gain access to vegetation and earth that allows them to tunnel, climb or even fall.” After travelling through native communities of the Southwest and Sonora, Mexico, he mourns the loss of the peoples’ connection to land and nature, which carries with it a direct correlation to the loss of their cultural language and traditions.

Both men believe strongly in the necessity of a connection to the natural world; that this connection brings with it many other necessary abilities such as observational skills, curiosity, critical thinking and compassion.

Here at Deer Hill Expeditions, we too believe that an affinity with the natural world is imperative – in fact, this is at the heart of our mission.  Our permits and experience allow us to take our students to the real “wild places”, away from busy National Parks and tourist trails. Here our leaders share with their students the natural history of the area, how to be stewards of the land, and further, how to be quiet and comfortable in nature, open to unfamiliar landscapes. Through immersion in the landscape as a group, and alone, our participants observe quietly, and interact respectfully with all that goes on around them.

We also nurture relationships with Native cultures, celebrating their cultural inheritance and their knowledge of their lands, working with families who maintain traditional lifestyles and a connection to Mother Earth.

This mission is urgent, and what is at stake is not just health, but identity – the deeper understanding of “self” and “world” that we believe most teenagers are avidly seeking. To encounter nature is an opportunity to see your life, and your sense of self, against the relief of its demands. In the wilderness, our participants learn about their strengths and weaknesses, their true passions, and how they communicate and share with others in the context of scarcity and challenge. As Robert Coles states in the Introduction to The Geography of Childhood, young people…

“ …want to take stock of things, try to make sense of them, and so doing, hunger to find a place where such moral introspection can occur with grace and dignity.  The “geography” boys and girls ultimately want to explore and comprehend is that of life itself…”

A Tradition of Closure and Sharing

In our meadow there sits a simple domed structure of willow branches that we cover with fabric to shut out the light and hold in the heat. We sit in a Circle in the lodge, steam rising off rocks that were heated outside in a wood fire. The heat and moisture are relaxing and cleansing. It feels like a sauna without the light on. In 27 years, we have conducted hundreds of sweat lodges for thousands of teenage participants. For each group, it is an important closing ceremony full of song, stories, laughter, and heartfelt sentiments.

At Deer Hill, a sweat lodge is an intimate, powerful experience for a group, and it’s fun! We gather in the sweat to honor the camaraderie of the group, to celebrate friendships and adventures shared. This is a Deer Hill ceremony, not a Native American one, though it draws on the traditions of Navajo, Ute and Apache people. It is important that the sweat lodge is run by someone experienced in the practice. In our case, it is usually one of several “elders” who are part of the Deer Hill community, or a senior member of our field staff. The safety rules and the nature of the ceremony is made clear before we enter the lodge, and participants can leave the lodge at any time. Everyone eats just a light meal earlier in the day, and we make sure that everyone drinks plenty of water before, during and after the ceremony. It feels amazing to jump in the nearby pond after the heat of the lodge. As with all aspects of our program, our sweat lodge procedures have been examined and evaluated by the Association for Experiential Education as part of our ongoing accreditation.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions about this unique element of our teen summer programs, and custom school trips.

“Down in the canyon I grew a little, understood a little more, perceived even more, and in doing split the carapace of time and place I commonly wear. Split it, wriggled out of it, left it there, a stiff and empty shell to be blown away by a canyon wind. The new skin was extra sensitive, and so I perceived the canyon about me with new eyes, more sensitive touch, emotions closer to the surface, and I walked protective of this as yet unhardened integument.

And now I walk out, having experienced this shucking-off of everyday ways, to return to the everyday world.”

Ann Zwinger, from the essay “Lower Grand Gulch”, in the book Wind in the Rock. Photo by Deer Hill leader Julia Stifler, from Santa Fe Waldorf school’s 8th grade trip in May 2011.

The leaders call time for a break, and everyone grabs a water bottle or a snack, and lounges for a while. Stanford tells jokes, teases the group, and chats with them about his horses, and growing up nearby. A plume of smoke rises from the chimney on the family home, as Grandma Charley prepares a simple Navajo meal for the group.

This is a typical moment from a Deer Hill service project, but what kind of relationship am I describing? Are we “helping” the family? Clearly. Are we working to “fix” something? Of course, and yet somehow these verbs, so often used when discussing community service, don’t paint a full picture of the interaction that is taking place.

I recently came across an article entitled “Helping, Fixing, Serving”, by Rachel Remen, and although she is writing from the point of view of a medical doctor, her ideas might help me to define to the goals and philosophy of our work with families in the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni Nations.

Service is not the same as helping. Helping is based on inequality, it’s not a relationship between equals. When you help, you use your own strength to help someone with less strength. It’s a one up, one down relationship, and people feel this inequality. When we help, we may inadvertently take away more than we give, diminishing the person’s sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

In this insightful piece of writing, Remen argues that neither “helping” nor “fixing” are ideal paradigms for those serving others. When we help, we assert our own strength, and imply weakness on the part of the person we are working with.  If we set out to “fix” an individual, or a community, we inevitably assume that there is something broken – whether physical, financial, emotional, or social. Both approaches, Remen writes, reinforce a “one-way” relationship between a “giver” and a “recipient”, creating a sense of debt. They tend to reward the ego, without nourishing deeper connections between the players.

Remen believes that focusing on “serving” can support a more balanced power dynamic. If we can approach our hosts as equals, with the idea of “serving” uppermost in our mind, then we work freely, openly, for the simple pleasure of it. Approached in this spirit, service springs not from the ego, but can be instead, in Remen’s phrase, “the work of the soul”.

This is not a tourist experience in which we purchase a specific cultural product that we expect to be delivered on schedule, and in the expected way. We come to work, and to learn, and we hope that in perhaps unforeseen and surprising ways we will receive understanding that enriches our lives. For example, hearing stories, wisdom and history first-hand can show students a different, and more reverent, relationship to our Earth.

I do not mean to imply that all is well, and that life is simple and harmonious on the Native American reservations of the Southwest U.S. Our groups see the difficulties that these communities face; they see the living struggle between traditional ways and the conveniences, ironies and, yes, humiliations, of modern American life. Always, there is real work to do for our hosts that makes hard lives a little easier. But, our primary goal is to facilitate cultural exchange. At its best, this is a profoundly interactive, “two-way” relationship. We work together as a team towards a common goal, discover humor and common ground with people with very different lives, and in the process to learn something about our selves. Spending time with those who cherish their culture and history so much, can cast our own culture in relief, encouraging us to think about our roots, to speak proudly of where we come from, and to share the traditions and unique ways of our family.

Deer Hill host Milton Bluehouse of Ganado, Arizona, is the grandfather of an extended family with whom we have worked for many years. This is how he describes Deer Hill’s service projects:

“We all have common concerns – we want to learn, we want to help. Working together as people of different societies can build bridges and, ultimately, respect and understanding. That’s what I believe Deer Hill does. What’s even more important than the projects we complete is how we solidify our friendships and look together for peace in the world”.

What Mr Bluehouse describes is something beyond helping, or fixing. As Remen summarizes in her article, “Fixing and helping create a distance between people, but we cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected.” Just being there, working together, creating a genuine connection, can be an end in itself.

Deer Hill Founder Beverly Capelin (right) and Basecamp Intern Britney Rohrs gather salad greens in the Deer Hill garden earlier this year.

A guest post by Deer Hill Founder and Owner Doug Capelin

Living, as we do, between the contrasting but equally delicate worlds of the high desert and the high alpine, the footprint that our programs leave on the Earth is often on my mind. Part of our mission is to instill love and respect for the Earth in our participants, and to model responsible community – whether that’s by cleaning up dozens of informal campsites across the Weminuche Wilderness, by  practicing low-impact farming on a Navajo ranch in Canyon de Chelly, or by turning off our lights!

The main “Green” news for this year:

1. As a centerpiece of this strategy, Deer Hill is planning an ambitious project to provide 100% of our electricity needs with solar energy. We are blessed with 300 days of sunshine every year, and it seems crazy not to take advantage of the ultimate renewable resource. We will be supported  by the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, and are currently applying for a USDA Rural Development Grant to bring the cost of the installation within reach. Shaw Solar of Durango has designed a 17.2 kW solar electric system based around two large arrays of photovoltaic panels that will offset all of our electricity usage and feed back into the grid. This is a major financial investment in the future. We want to “walk our talk”, and show the hundreds of young people who travel to Deer Hill each year the importance of making environmentally sustainable business decisions.

2. We have already minimized the energy consumption of our online efforts, by hosting with a company that purchases carbon credits equivalent to 3x the energy that their servers consume. Now, we are revising our approach to print materials. Over the next 2 years, we are committed to reducing the footprint of our 2011 catalog by cutting the number of catalogs printed and using recycled paper and/or paper from sustainably managed forests, and environmentally friendly inks. For 2012, we will think creatively to significantly reduce the size of our print materials, as we focus on using the internet, email and social media to deliver our message.

3. One of my favorite aspects of our “green” strategy, it goes without saying, is the beautiful organic garden that we maintain here at Basecamp. This year, my wife (and Deer Hill Mission Director) Beverly, and eldest daughter Emily, with the help of green-fingered Basecamp staff, made a huge effort to expand the garden and grow more produce. We grew enough produce for hundreds of salads, and significantly reduced our purchase of vegetables from wholesalers. Besides these tangible benefits, a garden in bloom is just a beautiful and inspiring sight (see photo above).

4. We convened our first “Sustainability Committee” of admin staff, to examine everyday ways we can reduce energy and water usage at Basecamp. Frankly, we already run our facility pretty efficiently, from recycling everything possible, to printing both sides of every sheet of paper – but there are always things we can do better and more creatively. Each staff member is charged with putting into practice certain of the recommendations of this committee, and there were many ideas, from putting more staff and admissions paperwork online, to reducing vehicle use outside of the programming season, to adopting a local stretch of highway. One idea that is already being put into action as we refresh our gear for the coming season, is to purchase clothing and tents from companies that produce their goods in Colorado, or at least the U.S. – a move that is good for the environment and the economy.

That’s it for now. If you have more ideas or suggestions for our sustainability efforts, or examples or what has worked for your school or organization, why not let us know? We’ll keep you updated with pictures etc as we move forward with the solar project!

Deer Hill sure is quiet these days. As we spend our time debriefing from a successful year, planning class trips for the spring, and working on program design for our adventure summer camps in 2011, it’s good to remind ourselves of our deeper values and purpose, and to find a concise way of expressing them. What motivates us to work hard for our organization? What do we, collectively, feel passionate about? What changes are we trying to create in the world?

Quoted from Deer Hill Expeditions’ draft Strategic Plan 2010-2012:

Our Core Values and Beliefs

Wilderness reveals balance and harmony; a bond with Nature is vital to humanity

Service connects us to ourselves, other people, and the Earth

Beauty inspires and enhances our lives

Diversity enriches community which sustains the human spirit

Safety keeps our feet on the ground while we play and pursue our passions

Challenge moves us out of our comfort zone and into our learning zone

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to inspire the individual through experiences which affirm the essential balance between Humanity and the Natural World.

We develop a Strategic Plan and review it every year. That doesn’t sound so exciting, but it’s a rare opportunity to look down on what we do from 10,000 feet, and make sure that what we do on a daily basis expresses what we are aiming to achieve. For example, because for us “Wilderness” is a core value, we make sure that our programs all offer a true experience of the wilderness – that’s why you won’t find any “adventure tours” in our catalog! We also work to conserve the wilderness, whether by supporting appropriate designation of public lands, teaching Leave No Trace techniques on all our programs, or doing service work out in the mountains and deserts of the Colorado Plateau. We want to instill in our participants respect and love for wild places, and make sure that areas of great beauty like the Weminuche Wilderness (photo above) remain as a legacy for the teens of the future to enjoy. (Our Heart of the Rockies and Wilderness Leadership adventure summer camps do extended backpacking trips and service projects in the Weminuche).

What do you think of our Values? If you work for an organization, or for yourself, do have a guiding set of principles, beliefs, or principles? Do you feel the need to set them down on paper, or is it enough to have them in your head? How do these principles affect what you do and what happens when you stray from them?

Mountain Goat Ski Guides

“There are moments in life that are unforgettable. On Heart of the Rockies 2009 there were many of them. Experience gained while leading students through the fabled Weminuche Wilderness on Deer Hill courses has shaped my life. I see the students grow stronger and stand taller, and glow with a sense of accomplishment. This lets me know for sure that this is worthwhile work. As a leader of the Heart of the Rockies, I have partaken in such moments as cooking sizzling pizza bagels on a quartzite slab of stone. I have been held on my own two feet in the palm of a glacial valley and breathed the cleanest air in the world. We go to the wilderness because the elk still browse, the Indian paintbrush paints the sunset in the tundra, and the water was snow a day ago. A program like Heart of the Rockies, where we spend three weeks together on an outdoor adventure, is a voyage into camaraderie, challenge and beauty. Climbing mountains, doing the hard things with great reward, provides a lesson to all of us that we can do anything we put our mind to!

Check out the gallery! I have included comments on each shot. Why not leave your own impression?”

Stanford chats with Matt Aranow and Mia Burkhalter, of the Ancient Pathways program 2009, while they take a break from Hogan building.

Caroline Goodman, a Program Leader with Deer Hill, wrote this piece about her community service project in the Navajo Nation in 2009 with the Ancient Pathways adventure summer camp group. You can learn more about Caroline and our other field leaders on our staff page. Find out more about our Ancient Pathways teen summer camp here.

Travelling to Navajo

I have been with Deer Hill for quite a few years now, as both a camper and leader, and have taken part in 12 or so service projects on the reservations of the Southwest. This past summer, I took my Ancient Pathways group to Low Mountain, Arizona – a hard to reach spot in the Navajo Nation (google map it!). Located in the western part of the rez, Low Mountain borders the Hopi Mesas and the independent radio station there plays the news in both Hopi and Navajo. It really is like a different country. Once we left Chinle, our directions to Grandma Bessie Charley’s house described a maze of dirt roads and alerted us to turn at landmarks like the rusted out bed of an old truck or the third trailer on the right, the one with the red pick-up in the front. We were to going to stay with Grandma for a week, and, as Grandma speaks no English, her son-in-law Stanford, was to be our official host. We arrived late in the afternoon, relieved to have found the place and uncertain we would be able to retrace our steps. We set up camp, building a makeshift kitchen area off an old Hogan that belonged to one of Stanford’s sisters-in-law. (A Hogan is a structure of logs and mud, traditionally used for both ceremonial and dwelling purposes). Even in the evening, the air was hot and dry and we made sure to rig up a shade shelter. The group made a quick meal and Stanford and his brother-in-law Junior ate with us in the dark.

Getting to work

Our initial schedule for the week was vague, although we had a long list of projects: we were to prepare for Grandma’s 80th birthday celebration by painting the house, digging a new outhouse, etc. At the top of the list was a new lamb Hogan for Grandma. Low Mountain is a traditional place and many people there still herd sheep as a way of life. At 80 years old, Grandma has a full herd of sheep and goats that she cares for year-round. Winter is a difficult time for the livestock. The cold claims many sheep lives, and the babies are especially susceptible. At night, when the temperature drops in the desert, the new lambs must be taken inside and kept warm. For this purpose, Navajo sheep ranches have small lamb Hogans: shelters built under the ground and equipped with a stove, where the babies are stowed away during the cold night. The summer before, another Deer Hill group had stayed with Grandma and built her a new sheep shelter – a three-sided structure in the sheep corral that the animals could huddle under for warmth and protection from the weather.  This structure, according to Stanford, had raised the winter survival rate of Grandma’s sheep herd by 75%. The problem now was the lambing Hogan. The existing Hogan was located next to the old corral, a long way across the property and a near-impossible trek for an old woman in the dark in the middle of January hauling newborn lambs to warmth. Grandma was worried about what was going to happen to the babies this coming winter if a lamb Hogan wasn’t built next to the new corral.

Making a difference

With our goal set, the participants were enthusiastic. They started in the next morning, working early to avoid the mid-day heat. We started by simply digging a hole – rotating shovels and pick axes through the group, moving shovelfuls of the dry, desert soil. By the end of the next day, our hole was big enough to fit most of us into it packed shoulder to shoulder. Standing up in the hole, the ground now came to our waists and chests.  We were ready for the next step. While some of us were digging and setting a few rows of rocks around the edge of the hole, Stanford had taken the rest of the group and set them to the task of hauling large logs from a scrap pile on the property over to the Hogan site.  We used our van and trailer to haul the heavy wood. Now, under Stanford’s instruction, we began to lay the logs across the hole, stacking them on top of one another.  We chose long, fat logs at first and placed them on the rock and dirt shelf we had built bordering the top edge of the hole, creating a wide foundation for the roof.  As the roof got higher, the logs became shorter, until a kind of beehive structure had emerged over our subterranean room. This, Stanford told us, was the way Hogans used to be constructed, built under the ground for added protection against the weather.

The satisfaction of an equal exchange

The excitement of the students at completing the project is difficult to describe. Much of it came from accomplishing a task through hard work, a feeling of simple usefulness. The Hogan that they had built was going to make a real and practical impact in someone’s life, and the family’s livelihood. The students also felt the satisfaction of an equal exchange. Our time at Grandma Charley’s was not solely spent working; we also took time out to visit other member’s of Stanford’s extended family and observe and take part in their traditions. One afternoon, we helped prepare dough for a traditional cake. Baked in a hole beneath the earth overnight, the cake is made of corn meal, ground by hand for the occasion. Women and girls of different generations sat in a circle in the living room of one of Stanford’s sisters in law. They mixed the cornmeal, water and molasses mixture with traditional stirring stick bundles until it was smooth and free of lumps. The female members of our group were invited to participate and we soon realized how strenuous a task it was to stir the thick mixture.

Another morning, we woke early to help Grandma Charley shear her sheep. The first task was to lasso and secure each animal that needed shearing from the corral. Stanford threw the lasso and the participants ran as fast as they could to herd the sheep toward Stanford and then pounce on them once the animal’s foot was caught in the rope. Two of us held down the sheep, while another tied three of its feet together with twine. Finally, all of us hauled the animal over to a waiting wheelbarrow, where it was transported to the site of the shearing. As with each task we undertook, sheering sheep required patience, focus, and cooperation. We were all surprised by how much skill and strength was required to “live traditionally” The empathy, respect and understanding that comes with this realization is, to me, the most valuable end product of service. By doing service we learn, through experience, fun, and hard work, about another culture and a different way of living.

What is different about your teen summer camp or teen travel program, and how do you ensure quality?

DHE says: Our combination of in-depth wilderness experiences and real community service projects with native peoples is unique and powerful. The opportunities for excitement, challenge, fun and personal growth are endless. We believe that if you take the time to visit our website, read our catalog, watch our video, talk to our staff, or an alumni family, you will see that Deer Hill is distinctive. Here there is integrity, history, a sense of place and belonging, and a community of people passionate about providing inspiring journeys for young people.

A Deer Hill expedition offers a true taste of the most beautiful backcountry in North America and Costa Rica. These are not tours, and unlike many teen adventure summer camp programs, we don’t go where the tourists go. You will be challenged, and you will work closely with a tight-knit team, making the kind of friendships that only happen when trust, honesty and mutual support is necessary. With 25 years of programming experience in “our backyard”, a full-service Basecamp, local support staff, and federal river/land-use permits in some of the most pristine wilderness areas in the world, we create programs that flow beautifully from location to location, activity to activity – from the rivers, to the canyons, to the mountains, to the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni and Ute reservations. These are special places, and it is our privilege to share them with our participants

We chose accreditation with the Association for Experiential Education, because we want our programs to be as fun, safe, and meaningful for our participants as they can possibly be. Accreditation means that we meet or exceed hundreds of standards in risk management, staffing and educating. We certainly recommend asking other organizations how they ensure quality and safety for their participants. Deer Hill has a safety record that is second-to-none. In 25 years of wilderness and service expeditions, not one participant has had an injury requiring an overnight hospital stay.

What is special about your community service projects and how do you ensure a “real” cross-cultural learning experience?

DHE says: For over 20 years, we have been building friendships with families in the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Ute Indian Nations. In some cases, Deer Hill groups have worked with three generations of the family. It is these relationships that ensure the integrity and depth of the community service projects we offer. For us, doing service is not just about “helping people”, although we certainly do that, whether we are helping create a healing Veteran’s Park for Navajo servicemen and women, restoring a vital spring in a Hopi pueblo, or gathering firewood for a Zuni elder. On a Deer Hill service project, you will spend 4-7 days contributing to a project that supports the traditional way of life of the tribe. While working alongside our native friends, sharing meals and swapping stories, you have the opportunity to truly get to know the people, their history, and their land. Think about the difference it makes to a community service experience when hosts have a real connection with the program, when they consider you to be “family”.

Tell me about your staff. What qualifies them to lead young people in the wilderness?

DHE says: Our staff are mature and experienced outdoor educators. Previous experience leading young people in the wilderness is a pre-requisite for employment. Our 10-12 day staff training is field-based and attendance is required for new staff, offering them a chance to learn the Deer Hill way from Deer Hill Directors and veteran leaders. Our field staff’s average age is 28, and most of them have been with us for years. Every staff member is required to hold a Wilderness First Responder certification, and many are even E.M.T. certified. But beyond these qualifications, our leaders are as eclectic and interesting as our participants. The one thing all of them have in common is the desire to share their passion for wilderness and service with like-minded young people. Meet them and find out more at our staff page.

What kind of people will be in the group?

DHE says: We can tell you that most groups have 12 participants and 3 leaders (an industry-leading 1:4 ratio), but there is no such thing as an average group. Our participants come from all over the U.S. and the world, and have different interests and experience levels. To help you see what your group might look like, check out the 2009 Ancient Pathways team here: A Typical Group.

Diversity is an important part of our mission, and we raise funds through our non-profit Foundation to support high-potential, low-income young people from around the U.S. and the world. On any given program, up to 25% of the  participants will be receiving financial aid. We work hard for this, partly because we do not want to exclude those from differing backgrounds, but mainly because we know that the more diverse the group, the more real and profound the experience.

Why did you create your teen summer camp or adventure program? Why do you do what you do?

DHE says: This is a great question! Why do we put in all these hours throughout the year, sweating over the details, developing our programs, facility and staff, and working from sunrise until sunset throughout the summer months to deliver a high quality, meaningful experience

We think that the answer to this is summed up in our slogan: “Find Yourself in the Middle of Nowhere”. What does this mean, anyway? It means that for us at Deer Hill, a teen summer camp program is not just about learning leadership and technical skills, trying your hand at new activities, seeing new places, offering your labor in community service. It is all this, of course, but there is more to it. To us, there is a deeper power in wilderness and in doing service, a power that can truly change people’s lives. Our programs are a chance to escape from the everyday and find out what really moves you, an opportunity to discover your strengths, and your passions, in an environment that is challenging and inspirational. We believe that in the hot, dry sun of a Utah river canyon, a cool sunrise over the Navajo reservation, or a crimson mountain sunset, you may see yourself in a different light. This is why we hold Circle every night, why we come together – to listen with respect and speak from the heart – so that we may share our stories and reflect on this journey we are on together.

Over the past 25 years, we have had so many powerful and inspirational moments. To be right there when a young person discovers what they are truly capable of, a group truly comes together as a team to face an unexpected challenge, or a native family and a group of teenagers laugh and joke and share stories as they work – that is a privilege and an honor. It is because of this that we really can’t imagine doing anything else.