Yesterday we finished up the fall Wilderness Bushcraft Semester. It was our 56th long-term immersion program. We are running one more program, the Autumn Woodsman, in a week, to finish our 23rd year. Time flies.

The picture was taken as the sun peeked over the horizon at Sunrise Cove, a campsite on a remote lake where we have done end of the course solos the past few years.

We had three people complete the Journeyman certification this year, and one complete the XI (Expedition Instructor). Congratulations are in order. They have our respect.

– Patrick Wilson – Journeyman
– Jessie Grindler – Journeyman
– Tessa Storey – Journeyman, XI

The end of the fall semester is always a weird few days for me. After months of pushing, going every day to keep people on track, suddenly they are gone, it is quiet, and I am in charge of only myself. It is always a jarring, challenging transition. It takes a few days to sink in.

A number of years ago we started a tradition when the last student had left the field school, we drank a toast and listened to Corb Lund sing The Rodeo’s Over. (Here’s a link) Another year, a bunch of new alumni and friends, and a flask of the Devil’s Elbow, my personal brand of homemade moonshine, for the toast. The rodeo is over for another year.