NOLS Alaska

After my first year at Brown, I spent 40 days in the Brooks Range — the Noatak Wilderness and Gates of the Arctic National Park, in the northern reaches of Alaska. A float plane dropped us off, and from there it was just eight students, two instructors, and 500 miles of wilderness with no trails, no roads, and no civilization for a thousand miles in any direction. No cell phone, no hot water, no wallet, no amenities. I'd never camped before — I'd barely spent a single night in a tent.

The first ten days were spent backpacking through trailless terrain, navigating by topographical maps with no real sense of what the ground would look like until we were standing on it. After that, we transitioned to 30 days of canoeing down river systems. In total, we covered 500 miles and completed the full expedition objective.

NOLS expeditions typically include a solo experience where the instructors step back and let individuals operate independently. Because we were on the river at that point in the trip, a true solo wasn't feasible. Instead, the instructors decided to let the group continue together — without them — and they selected me to lead. I wasn't the oldest, but I was chosen to be in charge: responsible for keeping everyone safe, managing the group dynamic, navigating to our destination, and making sure we functioned as a team.

I led the group for three days with no instructors. It was one of my first real designated leadership opportunities, and it went well. Keeping morale high mattered as much as keeping us on course — tired, hungry people in a remote wilderness need a leader who can hold both. Earning the respect of my expedition mates and getting us through that stretch without incident was a defining moment in my growth as a leader.

Being completely disconnected from technology for 40 days rewired how I think about it. We spend so much of our lives organizing our days around our devices, but technology is supposed to be a tool — something that helps us achieve things, not something we serve. In the backcountry, what you need is clear: shelter, food, water, safety. Everything else is a want. I realized that in modern life, we constantly confuse the two. We fill our time with things we think we need to do without ever asking the more important question: what do I actually want? Once you decide what you want, what you need to do reveals itself. That reframing — want first, then need — is something I've carried with me ever since. It shapes how I prioritize, how I build, and how I decide what's worth my time.

Visual documentation of the 500-mile expedition through the Brooks Range, Noatak Wilderness, and Gates of the Arctic — from float plane drop-off through backpacking and canoeing to extraction. Photos and route map to be added.