I just read a great piece in this month’s edition of Perceptive Travel where travel-writer Bruce Northam narrates his tormenting experience of a 14-day, 200 mile desert survival training session in Utah. He talks about wiping his backside with red sand, starving, drinking water that is also home to tadpoles, seriously blistering his feet and vomiting lemon green bile. Excellently written, it gave me goosebumps and made me wonder, why do people go on trips like this? I’m familiar with boot camps, but this seems beyond the boundaries you are pushed to at boot camp.

Other than for reasons related to their jobs, this sort of training is undertaken by people who are planning a outdoor trip that involves dealing with the challenges of outdoor extremities (weather, water, wilderness). The training programs are largely for teaching you how to be self-sufficient in the most drastic situations alongside being able to function in a team in life-threatening situations. Yes, this is possible without being on the show Survivor.

I think pushing yourself to the extreme through programs like this is like putting yourself through a crash-course in self-discovery. Yes, sounds like philosophical garb, but how you react in situations out of your control tells you a lot about your nature, your instincts, and what you are or aren’t capable of handling; it gives you deep insight into your own mind that will probably leave you a changed person. Although far more endangering, extreme and without any conveniences whatsoever, it does have similarities to what you may experience traveling to unfamiliar places.

The first time I read Northam’s article I was like: that’s insane; but when I read it again I felt like maybe I’d like to take such a trip. Have any of you been on such a severe trip? Why did you go? How did it change you?