The Beginning of Survival School
Aug 12, 2007, 3:04p - Life
For people who visit this blog in a web browser and want to read my survival school journal from the beginning (instead of in reverse), here's a quick link: Day 0 of Survival School. Enjoy.
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Survival School: Day 28
Aug 11, 2007, 10:41p - Life
Final Day
Woke up early, only ~5 hours of sleep. Steve came, & rushed us into the van. No idea where we were going. No sign yet of 2nd 28-day group [there were 2 separate troops who did variants of the 28-day course @ the same time - I was expecting to see them back at BOSS HQ too]. Drove ... more »
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george
- Jun 11, 2008, 12:14p
you have your priorities in order.
Life will be sweet.
Note - when we came in from final challenge hike, had quick gathering then straight on bus for Provo. They did stop for us in a grocery in the first town we hit, I think it was Boulder. LOL, our group was I think 36 total, turned loose in a grocery straight from the dessert. It was a sight, what those folks must have thought with such a band of stinking dessert refugees in awe, laughing and crying as we took it all in.
I don't think we had near the food rations you did. I am speculating about half from what I could calculate.
I went through in 1980 I think it was, may have been '79. Only pooped once at beginning.
They would issue seven squares of TP each week. I finished with mine.
But you had the full experience physically and mentally I believe, except for near death from thirst, and I don't wish that one on anybody, but boy it still leaves a mark. Wife still doesn't understand why I don't throw out old water in bottles, cups, etc. :-) says I'll drink anything.
well has been wonderful getting to know you. MAy your path be smooth and all down hill.
Will Ranney
- Apr 4, 2010, 3:33p
Thank you for writing this. I'm going on the 28 day course in 68 days. Very excited for what I can learn.
cedric dahl
- Jun 25, 2011, 10:33p
Wow... what an adventure.
Thanks soooooo much for posting this. I'll be following your footsteps in a few weeks... half excited... half terrified and will try to follow your good example and post a travel journel of the experience at LivingMore.com
Pip pip,
ced
nikhil
- Aug 22, 2011, 3:42a
My good friend Niniane just completed the 7-day BOSS course and posted her journal online:
http://niniane.blogspot.com/search/label/survival-school
Luis
- Oct 30, 2013, 3:55p
Great 28 days!..im going for the 14 in May-June 2014...how much weight you loss?
nikhil
- Nov 12, 2013, 11:12p
I lost 20 lbs in 28 days (165 to 145).
Frank
- Aug 22, 2022, 10:10p
Wonderful read! I just finished my 28 day 2 days ago and found your blog. So many similarities it's uncanny. I'd love to chat sometime.
Survival School: Day 27
Aug 10, 2007, 9:27p - Life
6th day of student ex
1 more night left! Jeff caught a scorpion in a bag, I killed it to take back to Jyoti, Aki's sister. She said she wanted one before I left. Should be easy hike today, all along not dense riverbed. ~6 miles.
Scorpion Hill, our second-to-last night out here
Self-portrait on day 27, on Scorpion Hill ... more »
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george
- Jun 11, 2008, 11:46a
Thanks you so much for sharing your journal!
You write well so that I believe many will have an understanding of BOSS that is hard to capture.
Interesting slight changes to the program, almost inpercetable, and slight changes I felt through you're words generationally, but yet so much is the human syndrome that never changes.
You've done a good service by sharing.
Thanks again! Hope to chat sometime, and good luck on your future joys I know you won't take for granted :-)
Survival School: Day 26
Aug 9, 2007, 11:08p - Life
5th day of Student Ex
2 more nights left!!! Can't wait to get out - 2 more hot days of hiking. Can't wait to call Becca & Mom & Pops & Tin. Hope cell works @ BOSS - had bars before we left. Skin is really, dark dark. I can't wait for this to be over - we're so freakin' ... more »
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Survival School: Day 25
Aug 8, 2007, 11:11p - Life
4th day of Student Ex
Only 3 more nights left! Today was a ridiculous, hardcore day, one of the toughest so far. Woke up early, ate a delicious hot oatmeal w/ a tad of milk, lots of sugar, & a smidge of cinnamon - full cup, the best breakfast so far. So much better than dinner. (Been writing over the ... more »
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george
- Jun 11, 2008, 9:34a
the student ex was on week three leading into solo for last one.
I did solo just up from bridge you spoke of.
:-) sucker fish was great until had a bite of trout, couldn't eat it after that once last one was gone.
Survival School: Day 24
Aug 7, 2007, 10:15p - Life
3rd day of Student Ex
More hot porridge this morning - best meal (outside lamb) of the whole trip. Full, piping hot bowl - very full, and not on water. Just oats & water, w/ lots of sugar & cinnamon added @ the end (so it doesn't dissolve & evaporate).
Tree I slept under last night
Self-portrait on day 24 ... more »
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Survival School: Day 23
Aug 6, 2007, 8:47p - Life
2nd Day of STUDENT EX
Got up wicked early, when the sky started turning blue. Hot food in the morning! HOT oats w/ milk, sugar, & cinnamon - so damn good, so much better than dinner. I'm so loving the hot oatmeal in the morning - it's really a boost bright & early.
The tree Hannes & I slept under ... more »
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Survival School: Day 22
Aug 5, 2007, 11:19p - Life
Self-portrait on day 22, after 4.5 days of being entirely alone
Goodbye, lonely home
6th day of SOLO -> 1st day of Student Ex
Last day of solo! Woke up, mostly overcast. Packed up my stuff, got my last meal going. Bandanas on top & bottom to try to keep it warm, but it didn't do much.
Last breakfast alone, ... more »
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To me
- Feb 7, 2015, 2:23a
Seems you have no problem killing a fish, but when it comes to a bigger mammal it becomes murder,
Survival School: Day 21
Aug 4, 2007, 8:10p - Life
Day 5 of SOLO
Now this is beginning to feel like solitary confinement. I'm out of stuff to chew on (ate all my GORP yesterday), so time is passing really slowly. Also, it's probably knowing that this is the last full day before this solo thing is over. I'm ready for it to be over. Funny how I've had enough ... more »
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Brian
- Jan 24, 2008, 1:18a
So you were a Stanford student! Aha. I was suspecting so (the Google stuff... you mentioned Bob [the row house, I presume]...). I'm a Stanford undergrad now, a junior. It's weird and cool - yours is the only really personal account of a BOSS trip I've found, and it's been really illuminating and interesting to read (just found it by googling some BOSS-related terms, by the way), and hearing that you were a Stanford student too helps me identify with your story. I'm still trying to decide if BOSS is really worth the cost, pain, starvation, etc.
Also, I like what you say about being in the moment. I like to think the human mind is powerful enough for rudimentary time travel - that is, by concentrating your attention on the past or the future, you can make those times seem more real than the present. Our minds let us stretch out through time, so we kind of exist in a cloud of time centered on the present but stretching out into the past and future. This is in contrast to a simple feral animal, whose consciousness is like a hard ball wrapped tightly around the present moment, the here and now. I wonder what it would be like to be so focused on the present - to be unable to think about yesterday or tomorrow. I guess we can do that sometimes, when we're in a certain frame of mind, but to be unable to even imagine tomorrow... must be a fundamentally different existence for them.
george
- Jun 11, 2008, 9:16a
Such a joy watching your conciousness unfold.
Thats what BOSS is about to me.
We ended with SOLO then about a 20 mi. run/walk in. Liked that, let you renter the world freesh in your own mind.
Nicky
- Mar 30, 2009, 12:25p
you should write a book some day, you are a talented writer/ thinker
Survival School: Day 20
Aug 3, 2007, 11:48p - Life
Day 4 of SOLO
Super-clear day today - finally, I can just bake in the sun. Feel like a lizard. Not doing much - just lazying around my home, not really exploring. Didn't even try to make fire today - it'll come when it comes, you know.
Self-portrait on day 20, after 2.5 days of (virtually) no human contact
Clear ... more »
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Survival School: Day 19
Aug 2, 2007, 8:03p - Life
Day 3 of SOLO
Rainy in the morning, overcast, no direct sun. Yesterday I saw a deer near my camp, we just stared @ each other. Also, 2 or 3 ground chipmunks & a flying squirrel live near my home. Also, Abe stumbled into my camp yesterday - I had to shoe him away. Boundaries are difficult to see when ... more »
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vo2beast
- Jan 22, 2010, 12:48p
what is this-i mean where, what organization?
nikhil
- Jan 27, 2010, 5:47a
This survival school was in southern Utah, with a company called Boulder Outdoor Survival School.
You can read my survival school journal from the beginning here: http://nikhil.superfacts.org/archives/2007/07/boulder_outdoor.html
Survival School: Day 18
Aug 1, 2007, 11:56p - Life
Day 2 of SOLO
Woke up this morning & really had to take a dump. Gathered some sticks & sagebrush, but each step made me need to go a little more. Finally, couldn't handle it, no time to dig a trench, so just dropped my pants. 5th time this trip, avg. once every 3.6 days. Shit is yellow & soft ... more »
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