Course Number
DATES
Date
June 10, 2019 - June 19, 2019
This Hurricane Island Outward Bound School Group program is designed specifically for students from Donegal High School currently enrolled in DEEP, Donegal Experiential Education Program. This 10-day, Maine Northwoods Canoeing and Rock Climbing expedition will provide DEEP students an opportunity for a fresh challenge in a unique environment and an intense team setting.
The habits learned and strengthened through this canoeing and rock climbing expedition will serve students as they build deeper relationships with their classmates. On the lakes and rivers, and on the rock face, students learn to camp and travel simply, relying on each other and what they can carry in their boats. In a phased teaching progression, instructors will introduce beginning, intermediate and advanced skills in navigation, paddling technique, woods craftsmanship, weather observation and campsite selection. Regular group discussions allow for reflection on each day’s progress, and ensure that leadership and responsibilities are shared so that every crew member is integral to planning the next day. Through living and working closely together, students learn far more than wilderness travel skills.
Your course will begin at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School’s Newry Mountain base camp located at Newry near Bethel, Maine. Here you will get your first introduction to your gear, essential briefings on emergency procedures, and then you will head out to the rivers and lakes to begin your adventure on the water.
Your program is “expedition-based,” which means that you will leave the base camp on the first day of your course and not return to it until the end of your course. You will paddle/ climb or day hike nearly every day, as weather permits, developing skills as you travel along your planned route. You will carry all you need: stoves, shelters, food and water, etc. Bathing occurs daily in the rivers, streams and lakes.
As you live and work closely together, you’ll learn far more than how to paddle a boat or climb a rock. The habits learned and strengthened on this expedition will serve for life and for whatever challenge is next.
Attending Outward Bound Custom Programs is a reference tool to download for many of the questions you may have about your course, and covers important policy and procedure details.
Rock climbing instruction will take place at one of the many cliffs you encounter along your expedition route. Most of this hiking terrain is protected from development and offers both pristine and established camping, rushing waterfalls, twisting streams, and spectacular views from rocky summits.
Your canoeing course area will be within the upper reaches of the Androscoggin, Penobscot, Kennebec, Allagash, and/or Upper Dead River watersheds, which are fed by Moosehead Lake, Flagstaff Lake, and the Rangeley Lakes. Indigenous Abenaki peoples used these waterways as both a means of transportation between winter habitats inland, summer living on the coast, and as a source of food. The great rivers of Maine were used to move logs to mills downstate during the logging boom of the nineteenth century. These days the lakes and rivers are used primarily by canoeists, fishermen, and other recreationalists. Some of the portage trails here, such as along the Rapid River, have been in use for centuries.
The essential goal of any Outward Bound course is for the students to learn autonomy. Our expedition curriculum supports this happening in a progressive way.
During the first third of a course (a phase called “training expedition”), the instructors are very present in the group. They teach outdoor skills, the technical aspects of the activities and guide the students as they form a team.
In the middle third of the course (what we call the “main expedition”), the instructors take a step back so students may step forward. Students begin to teach what they’ve already learned to each other, and experiment with applying basic skills to bigger challenges. The instructors continue to coach and support as the students practice leadership roles. When the group meets a particular situation, environment or activity they haven’t learned about before, the instructors jump back in and teach. Each time this happens, the group reaches competency more quickly.
By the last third of the course (the “final expedition”), students are the stars of the show. They are applying what they know, leading each other, setting goals, and solving problems collaboratively. The instructors are close by and ready to step back in to prevent a safety issue from occurring but will let students find their own resiliency when they make mistakes, and ensure they feel the full spotlight of success when they meet their goals.