WHAT: Wilderness Writing Expedition, a week-long journey down the Salmon River that includes whitewater rafting, camping, hiking and writing with professional writers from The Cabin literary center.
WHEN: Aug. 3-9.
HOW TO APPLY: The trip is open to students about to be juniors or seniors in high school. There is no cost, and no previous river experience is required, but the 12 participants will be chosen based on two-page essays about an adventure, dream or memory. The submission deadline is July 11, and interested parties can deliver their essays via e-mail to Carole Whiteleather at carole@thecabinidaho.org or in hard copy to The Cabin, 801 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise, 83702. Documents are preferred double-spaced in Times New Roman, 12-point font, though hand-written submissions will be accepted if applicants don't have access to a computer.
CONTACT: For more information, call The Cabin at 331-8000.
"In wilderness is the preservation of the world," Henry David Thoreau said.
Caught in the swells of the Lower Salmon and the tactile August heat, 12 high school students will be armed with paddles and old-fashioned pencils.
This brave dozen will pioneer Wilderness Writing Expedition, the latest youth program to come from Boise's award-winning literary center, The Cabin.
Set for Aug. 3-9, the groundbreaking (and surprisingly free) trip will stretch from Hammer Creek just outside of White Bird to Heller Bar on the Lower Snake River. Deep basalt canyons, sprawling white beaches, wildlife and Class III-IV rapids will provide plenty of imaginative fodder along the 73-mile route. Professional river guides from Idaho Guide Service will manage the nuts and bolts, leaving The Cabin's professional writers and young charges free to revel in the experience.
"Because of the physicality of being on a river for a week, it will force us as writers to be more in the moment, to get out of our heads and into the power and magic of the present. Inspiration is found there," said Paul Shaffer, The Cabin's artistic and executive director.
Shaffer will accompany the group on what he hopes will be the start of something enduring and truly special. Participants must be juniors or seniors in high school and will be chosen based on two-page essays about an adventure, dream or memory. The submission deadline is July 11, and the 12 young people selected will be notified by July 18.
When Shaffer was laying the foundation of The Cabin's hugely successful Idaho Writing Camps (honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of 10 model arts education programs in the United States), a wilderness writing trip was part of his vision.
"It's an idea that has been kicking around forever. Everything has its time, and it needed to be the right time internally for this to be the next outgrowth. We've been working with The Whittenberger Foundation on and off for years to make this happen."
Whittenberger is a charitable organization based in Idaho that supports "innovative and enriching projects which significantly improve the quality of life for children and young people." Shaffer and his team, including managing director Ann Dehner and program director Carole Whiteleather, hope Wilderness Writing Expedition will do just that, but in ways that are individually meaningful.
"We're not designing an experience. It's something that will grow out of each student's journey as it unfolds," Shaffer said.
"And it could be unfolding for a long time," Dehner added. "Thinking precedes writing. I don't know how immediately we'll expect pencil to go to paper."
While the week will not be structured when it comes to writing, each traveler will be given a waterproof notebook to keep in his or her life jacket, just in case inspiration strikes coming off a rapid. But Shaffer said the quiet moments can be just as ripe, whether you're dipping your toes in an eddy or sitting around the campfire with new friends.
"The experience of being outdoors, seeing the distance in an environment that isn't our daily environment night and day for seven days - it changes you," he said.
"It's transformative. It gets young people out of the microcosm of their lives," Whiteleather said. "The only way they know how to look at themselves is through this microscope of self and society. This will give them a new vocabulary."
The biology and history of Idaho are an innate part of that vocabulary. When they're not on the water, the group will explore old settlements, abandoned placer mines, pictographs on stone.
"It all becomes tangible because you're seeing it, not reading about it in a history book. You can actually run your hand over the rough stones, begin to understand the power of rivers and their importance to our land, our landscape," Shaffer said. "You can't get that from a lecture."
"The sounds of nature become words, and it's a privilege not only for students but also for the writers who get to go along," Whiteleather said. "We want this to be about personal exploration, finding that inner voice."
Helping people find their voices is the core of The Cabin's mission. Its educators stress the fact that everyone is a writer; it's just a matter of realizing your words. In that vein, Wilderness Writing Expedition is not just for students who excel in English class and journal for fun. It is for any young person with a story who is courageous enough to tell it.
"To find your true voice, there's a lot of trust involved," Shaffer said, adding that the natural bonding that happens on river trips is meant to facilitate and enrich the process. "The support of those around them will help these kids take that risk, that extra step they wouldn't have taken if they weren't in that setting, that closed world, that community that develops."
"It will definitely open some windows and doors," Dehner said. "It will be a magical immersion."
Erin Ryan: 672-6732
