From August 13th through the 22nd, 2024 I took my son, Samuel, on a wilderness adventure. We traveled to the Sierra National Forest to work on trails for the United States Forest Service.
This wasn’t your typical backpacking adventure. This was my 4th trip, Samuel’s 1st, with Wilderness Outreach. Wilderness Outreach is a Catholic Men’s Ministry that focuses on Work, Worship, Brotherhood, Leadership, and Asceticism. We do this by expeditions into the wilderness (usually in the Western United States) where we work, pray, discuss, and live a difficult life for about 9 days.
Our days after arriving at our base camp usually follow this pattern (except for Sunday, a day of rest and exploration)
- 5:30 – Rise from our Tents
- 6:00 – Begin preparing breakfast, build a fire, prepare lunches
- 7:00 – Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours
- 7:30 – Hike to work site
- 8:00 to 12 – Trail Work
- 12:00 to 12:30 – Lunch
- 12:20 to 3:00 – Trail Work
- 3:00 – Return to Camp
- 4:00 – Quiet/Holy Hour
- 5:00 – Mass
- 6:00 – Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours
- 6:30 – 8:00 – Dinner and Clean up
- 8:00 – 9:00 – Campfire Discussion
- 9:00 – Night prayer from the Litugy of the Hours and retire
As you can see, it’s a pretty full schedule. The other things I failed to mention would include gathering and filtering water, sleeping on the ground or mat, waking up to temperatures between 30-40 degrees, being watchful for wildlife like bears and mountain lions, “bathing” in cold, snow-fed lakes and streams, and more.
My goal with this adventure was two-fold: to expose Samuel to men from various vocations and to suffer, as much as I could endure, and offer that suffering up as a sacrifice for my wife and our marriage.
Samuel was able to spend time getting to know and learning from a priest, deacon, active and retired military men, a fireman, and tradesmen. It is my hope that this time with these men will help him in his vocational discernment process.
I suffered a lot, voluntarily and involuntarily. I hardly slept each night, I was exhausted from the work and the altitude (approx 7,500′), I gave up coffee, I was dirty, stinky, thirsty, and endured many minor injuries, constant forest dust, and more. Yet, that is what I asked the Lord for on this trip. I wanted to “celebrate” 24 years of marriage by suffering for all of the times I had hurt Nicole in any way or fell short of her love. I should probably still be on that mountain for the next 40 days at the very least.
I spent my free time reading, praying the rosary, and writing. As I told John Bradford, founder of Wilderness Outreach, each trip provides me with the opportunity for a lot of self-reflection and contemplation. Away from technology and distractions, I am able to fully examine myself, my goals, and where I want my life to change for the better. Although the hardships are many, it is certainly a time of living in the GAIN.
Men, if you are up for a challenge, I highly recommend checking out Wilderness Outreach. Photos from the trip and captions to explain the photo are below…
James M. Hahn, Author 