By Ellie Cahill, March 27, 2020 We knew before it happened that it was going to be a tough day. Each of us had gone to sleep around 8 pm in preparation, after a technically challenging but blessedly shorter day... READ MORE

What does it mean to be resilient in a time like this? What does it look like to face adversity and unknowns with the same confidence and undefeatable spirit of a voyageur setting off into uncharted waters? We turn to... READ MORE

By Elizabeth Wallace, Blue Ridge Backpacking, Rock Climbing and Whitewater Canoeing, 2011 Our band of teenagers sat around a camp stove, weary from a day of hiking further than our dirt-encrusted calves wanted to go. The sun had set on... READ MORE

By Alumna Katie Bernard, Blue Ridge Mountains Backpacking and Whitewater Canoeing, 2018, From her personal blog Girl In the Woods I’ve always loved lying on my window-side bed at night. There, curled up with my fuzzy blankets, I could listen... READ MORE

By Alumna Sierra Farrell, Spring Semester Course, 2017 All I could think about was sitting down, and giving up. Every muscle in my body was screaming, telling me to stop pushing, to sit down, and quit. Every inch of me... READ MORE

By Alumna Kathy Capron, Semester Course, 1989 In the fall of 1989 (26 years ago!), I was a student on a 90-day semester course with NC Outward Bound School. I chose the semester course because I wanted to be an Outward Bound... READ MORE

By Alumna Sophie Lyle, Blue Ridge Backpacking and Rock Climbing, 2015 Hanging off a rock face was the last place I imagined myself being the summer of 2015. I was chosen by my high school, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, to participate in... READ MORE

By Alumni Allan Bassler, 28-day Blue Ridge Mountains Backpacking Course, 1987 It was with a strange mixture of sadness, pride and relief that I hugged my son in the airport. At age 18, he was shipping off to Navy boot camp.... READ MORE

By Instructor Shane Ambro, 2016 Our Spring 72-Day International Leadership Semester course hosted 11 students ranging from ages 18-23, from all over the country. Together they traveled to Patagonia, the Florida Everglades, and the mountains of North Carolina. They did a... READ MORE

By Alumni PA Supreme Court Justice Correale Stevens, Parent-Child Course, 1998 It was 1998, and I received a phone call no one wants, my doctor telling me I had non-hodgkins lymphoma for the second time in my life. Although this... READ MORE