Origin Story
A Resident orca gliding past us as we attempt a paddle to peak adventure in Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve. Photograph by Jon Strahl.
2.7 million acres of Alaskan wilderness changed us.
In 2018, I became the Environmental Protection Specialist for Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. My role was to help preserve those 2.7 million acres. That same year, Jon and I set out to discover what made this landscape so wild; we found ourselves completely startled by the scale. For us to explore this wilderness, it required us to push beyond the “normal” threshold of one who sought going outdoors. Our wilderness exploration grew our emotional strength as we learned to thrash through never-ending alder, developed our trust in ourselves and each other as we took turns navigating through stormy seas, and built a new sense of respect and gratitude for the natural world as we witnessed orcas breach in front of the bow of our boat, or glaciers calve less than a quarter mile from where we slept.
What we found was something beyond a wild place. We gained a deeper sense of ourselves and how much larger our world is outside of our developed community. We fell in love – not only with each other, but with the wild.
Nearly a year later, the government shutdown forced me to unplug from my federal job. I turned from my laptop back toward these remote places. As Jon and I skied through fresh powder in the Pacific Northwest – the thrum of the wild began to beckon again. But this time, we found ourselves wanting to do more – we wanted to create a life centered around it. The next few weeks of the government shutdown stitched the early threads of our plans – to create a place that could connect people to the wild. Thus, Base Camp Cascadia was born.
Base Camp Cascadia is a community space to educate and build strength (physical and emotional) to enable wilderness connection. We chose the word Base Camp, because our physical space in Leavenworth, Washington allows one to connect, train, and learn in a structured environment before launching into one of three surrounding wilderness areas. Cascadia reflects the geographic scope (Southern Oregon - all the way to Southeast Alaska) of wilderness areas that have left an imprint on our hearts. At Base Camp Cascadia our mission is to connect people to the wilderness through in-house wilderness stewardship education and skills building courses and events, as well as partner with existing organizations sharing a similar mission.
It’s only the beginning, but we are already so excited to see where this vision will take us!