Future Plan

For a few years I worked as a guide for a youth program up in Maine in the summers. It was a great program for boys between 10 and 16 years old. Most of the older kids have been there since they were 10 and were looking to graduate the program. It taught the necessary skills and knowlege to travel in the backcountry by foot or canoe. To graduate you had to accomplish and show many backcountry survival techniques taught by myself and the other guides along the way. This included emergency shelter construction, lighting a fire on a very rainry day using one match and your knife and the wood from the soaked forest, paddling rescue and navigation, and so on..
Some of the children that started there were pretty screwed up being that they came from the inner city and had no self confidence or self esteem. And when I say inner city I am not talking about Fayetteville or Tulsa type city, I mean NYC, Boston and Chicago type. Now there lack of self confidence didn't come from being raised in poverty or abusive situations, at least not physical. The fee for the program was not small and the families generally well off, but it came from kids who were left behind. Many of these kids were raised by nannies in wealthy areas of the city while there parents were too busy to spend any time with them so they could continue to grow there wealth. When the summer came they got rid of them altogether and sent them to us. Many of them were depressed and at first sight you just wanted to hold them and tell them it was alright, as the summer rolled on though there confidence and happiness grew as all there inner troubles got put aside and they were having the time of there life. Most hated the program at first because it was very much roughing it, no electricity, no music, gameboys, t.v. Everything that filled the hours of there spare time before was taken away. Some of them actually had little tempertantrums screaming for these things in the middle of the trail. But it always seemed at the end of the summer the ones that had the hardest time at first were the ones that couldn't wait to come back. It was a great feeling to have that influance on peoples lives and after a few years of the coming back to the program every year see them transform into young adults full of self confidence to take on anything. I feel very privileged to have been apart of a program that changed the live of so many kids, and in the process being able to do what I love best, travel our great wilderness areas.
I am telling this story just to let you all know that this is my goal in life to recreate that style program down here in Arkansas. It seems like the perfect spot, one because it has many beautiful wilderness areas, two because I haven't heard or seen anything like that down here. Programs like this are popping up in many other states and have been around for some time and have proven that they are very positive in childrens lives. I will be looking to purchase land around the Buffalo area down to the Ouchita area, wherever I can find that is cheap and somewhat near the Buffalo, OHT or OT. If any of you are interested in my plan feel free to give me advice or help. Thanks your fellow adventurist, Snow.

Snow,

This sounds like an excellent plan to me. I would love to help in any capacity that you could use, because the needs of this type of program are great and the benefits are far-reaching.

I am loving the responses already. I have waited til now to bring this up to try to get to know you people more. I was hoping to have done some hiking with you by now but that is alright there is still plenty of hiking to be done. I like the group we have here on this site. There is a lot of wisdom and maturity on here unlike some other sites. This has made me comfortable enough to share my dream and plan.

A note to all of you, I take this idea very seriously and have spent many years and thousands of miles in the backcountry learning everything I need to know about running a program like this. This will be my career and my passion for the rest of my life. What is life if you just work a "normal"job that does next to nothing for humanity or society, it is a waste of time and effort. I can't imagine not spending the rest of my life not influencing and helping people in this screwed up world we are living in. Todays sosiety needs programs like this more than ever. So if you feel the same way and love the wilderness as much as I do and have always wished there was a job where you could spend your time in it, there will be none more rewarding than this.

Colt, I have gotten more interest in this than I hoped for being only posted for such a short time. For those who are serious in this thing happening I am going to plan a weekend to get together somewhere centrally located to all of us and discuss the subject while we have some fun in the woods. Probably in the beginning of June. Maybe second weekend, let me know if that works and if you would like to participate. It will be a good way to get to know each other, you help in this can be as much as obviously you choose.

Snow,

I can remember back in 79 or 80 there was a group of kids, of troubled backgrounds I believe, that did quite a good bit of the trail work in the Ouachitas. I think that they did the trail rerouting in the Caney Creek wilderness and also helped create the Eagle Rock Loop. I feel like your idea is a good one. These kids could do trail maintance in the Ouachitas or even build trails. There isn't any trail maintance at all any more. That is one reason that Janet (outlawpacker) and I started working on the Buckeye Trail.

That should and will definately be a part of this program. Anything to get them to feel good about themselves and have a taste ofselfaccomplishment.

If you get it started any were in my area which is basicly in the southern Ouachitas Janet and I would be willing to do what ever we could do to help.

I am currently looking at a property in the where the Black Fork creek runs right through it that is 66 acres. It is $165,000, now I just have to get a federal grant to purchase it. It is an ideal spot full of 60 year old timber, 3 miles from a lake, with Black Fork rolling right through it. I only need about 5-10 acres of it and the rest could be preserved or invested. I can only dream, and pray.