Alive and Thriving: GC's Unique Wilderness Heritage

Published: April 13, 2021

The end of 2014 may have marked the end of our nations yearlong celebration of the Wilderness Act and its chief architect, Howard Zahniser 28, but it did not mark the end of Zahnisers enduring influence on students at his alma mater.

Just as student leaders kicked off this school year on Walkabout, GCs customary 10-day wilderness excursion in the Smoky Mountains, student leaders next year will do the same. In fact, for 17 continuous years, Zahnisers legacy has lived on through students who followed in his footsteps to receive the ministrations and spiritual benefits the wilderness offers.

To gauge WalkAbouts impact, organizers recently tapped alumni of the 30-mile trek for their reflections. The accounts revealed crises that preceded aha moments like the novice hiker who discovered that teamwork had more pull than the heavy gear that slowed his stride on the trail. Encouraged by others, he met each days distance goal.

The story is no surprise to Dustin Fenton, GCs director of leadership development. Fenton knows that conventional classrooms dont duplicate the learning environment an unpredictable wilderness forces. What first appears as the chaos of an unfamiliar environment can be transformed into a learning laboratory for bringing order to fragmented self-images and superficial relationships, he says.

The newly gathered stories also reveal the importance of fellowship and community on the WalkAbout trail. Heres a sampling:

During my second WalkAbout, I had to walk a few additional miles with Dr. Hall. During those miles we talked about life and God, and learned the Collect. I cherish the memories of that day and continue to ask, What would happen if, when our minds wandered, they wandered to things of God?

Memories of people sharing shame, fears, hurts, joys and hopes around a campfire are the conversations that stick out the most. The love feast when we all got off the trail and served communion to each other was profoundly moving.

It was physically and emotionally draining, but since you go through that hard experience with other people, you all come out closer at the end. Its hard not to form friendships during that time.

The conversations I remembered the most made no sense and made everyone laugh like crazy when we were all down and tired from the long, hard, uphill journey. Ill always remember the laughter.

It brought the term community out of the recesses of my memory. I understood that to foster a bond between two people or a group of people, you dont need years of experience with them; you only need a moment one moment of genuine commitment, understanding, love and sharing.

I am no stranger to wilderness travels, but I was a stranger to a few of the folks in my group, at least in the beginning; by the end, we were thick as thieves . . . When I look back, I see the expressions of care, laughter, regret, sorrow, pain, surprise and exuberant friendship.

It is amazing how meaningful and moving community can be when we dont have the rest of the world interfering.

I see myself more as a shielded box when it comes to social interaction. When my friends described the reasons for the names they gave me [on the trail], I not only felt, but knew they had seen me for who I was, bared on the mountainside, irretrievably revealed to them. That profoundly impacted me.

I did learn how to sit silently in the presence of God and how to be comfortable in his stillness.

Howard Zahniser believed that the human spirit finds rejuvenation in a pristine wilderness quite apart from the mechanisms that make us masters over our environment. Todays students at GC are heirs to the treasures his humbling realization brings.

Click here to join alumni and friends of the College by funding WalkAbout today. Just write WalkAbout in the Optional Gift Designation box.

Click here to learn more about WalkAbout.

Photos by Charlie Herrick ('16)