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Outside Magazine January 2002

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Righteous Journeys
Twelve trips to change your life—and make a difference

By Meg Lukens Noonan

ALASKA
The U.S. Forest Service Passport in Time Program
800-281-9176
www.passportintime.com
Dates: May 20-24
Cost: Free
If you relish the thought of trespassing in grizzly territory, know cold-water survival techniques, and love solitude, this five-day mission to Misty Fiords National Monument and Wilderness in Alaska's southeastern panhandle is your gig. By day, search with archaeologists for evidence of historic campsites, smokehouses, and rock art of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people. In the evenings, retire to the steel-hulled Tongass Ranger, a 45-foot research vessel, and watch grizzlies lumber along the shoreline while orcas follow schools of herring through icy water.

In It for the Long Haul

A Resource Guide

WEST VIRGINIA
Global Volunteers
800-487-1074
www.globalvolunteers.org
Dates: June 8-16, August 10-18, September 21-29
Cost: $500
Not far from the fast water of the New River is Beards Fork, population 200, average annual household income $8,000. Volunteers work with students from the local Southern Appalachian Labor School to transform coal-camp shacks into affordable housing. The focus, says trip leader Carolyn Shapiro, isn't just on hammering nails: "You can't just go in and say, OK, this is how it's going to be done. Things move at a different pace here. You have to have patience." Volunteers share dorm rooms at a local community center and have time to hike in the nearby Monongahela National Forest.

MIDWAY ATOLL
Oceanic Society
800-326-7491
www.oceanic-society.org
Dates: Weekly departures, February-August
Cost: $1,870 (includes airfare from Honolulu)
"The minute you walk outside you are surrounded by albatross. It's breathtaking," says Marcy Englund, expedition manager for the Oceanic Society, an organization responsible for monitoring five of the seabird species that nest on the white sands of this six-mile-long atoll—including the world's largest colony of Laysan albatross. You'll count the birds, monitor nests, and observe chick hatchings. And when your ornithological tasks are done, you'll snorkel amid monk seals on the half-mile-long public beach. Participants stay seven nights in former U.S. Army barracks.

Seeds of Memory: Sousson Foundation, California
On September 11, 2001, the National Park Service had a problem: a refrigeration system failed, forcing 15,000 sequoia tree seedlings out of dormancy. By the end of the day the Sousson Foundation, a Templeton, California, nonprofit devoted to national-park preservation, and the NPS hammered out a solution—plant a memorial forest at various locations throughout Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks in remembrance of the thousands of World Trade Center, Pentagon, and hijacking victims. On this six-day camping trip (catered by two chefs), plant seedlings for two days, and then join a guide for multiday forays into the backcountry. 805-434-0298; www.sousson.org Dates: April-June, September-November Cost: $595.

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