My first exposure to WI was in the summer of 2007, when my family went on the Yellowstone Family adventure. It was a charmed 7 days, and all of us bonded really well and made some amazing and hilarious memories.
Working for WI was really my first full-time job. The work weeks were long and busy and very physical, but it is where I truly learned to be independent and to be proactive in making decisions about how I wanted my life to go. It was an extremely rewarding experience to be able to help provide outdoor experiences for people of all abilities and backgrounds, and to work alongside so many passionate coworkers. It was one of the best summers of my life.
I look back on my internship with Wilderness Inquiry now through a new lense. In September of 2011 I broke my back in a hay-ride accident and sustained a spinal cord injury that resulted in paraplegia. I remember one of the first hopeful thoughts after my injury, “I can still go on trips with WI!” Then, last year, Lee from WI called and asked if I wanted to go on the Grand Canyon.
I cannot express the magnitude of the physical and emotional impact this trip had upon me. The Grand Canyon is an amazing, dynamic, powerful place, and to be in the churning belly of the beast every day was mind-blowing; the rhythms of the water, the sound of deep rapids echoing off the canyon walls, how you see the twisters of silt swirling still when you close your eyes at night. They (and by they, I mean pretty much everyone) helped me up cliffs and washes to see views that I expected I’d have to sit out for. It all was incredibly terrifying, miraculous and overpowering.
Through this experience I learned that adventure, and a full life, is still an option and an evolving passion for me. There is an idea that the outdoors is reserved for the able bodied, the experienced, the physically fit, the rugged. This was something I bought in to back in 2008. I was young and self-interested, trying to understand but really having no frame of reference for what the world would be like for a person with any sort of disability.
Now that I use a wheelchair to get around, I’ve come to realize how incredibly important the mission of Wilderness Inquiry truly is–and how many people support it! My Grand Canyon trip was made possible through the generosity of the Grand Canyon Fund, a very cool group that represents the commitment of Grand Canyon outfitters who want to share that wonderful place.
The outdoors is for the explorers, the curious, the adventurers. With WI, the outdoors is for anyone, anywhere, any time.
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