Before we left for our Kinsolving trips, I knew the intent was to push us outside of our comfort zones, past our limits, and to create a brotherhood with classmates in our groups. It wasn’t until I was in the middle of the wooded Shenandoah Mountains that I understood the trips’ purpose and what it meant.
Over the course of the trip, we hiked around 25 miles over some of the most challenging terrain I’ve ever encountered. The trails seemed to constantly go uphill, and there were times when the next climb seemed impossible, especially after hiking for hours. At one point, the trail turned into more of a rock climb than a hike, and we had to use our hands and feet to reach the summit.
The climb ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was challenging, but it was a moment in which I knew why I was there. Everyone was exhausted, but nobody was walking alone. We waited for each other, helped each other find places to step, and encouraged anyone who was struggling. Reaching the summit was the most rewarding thing we did on the trip; hours of effort were put in to get there together.
Not every part of this trip was about pushing through something difficult. At one point, we reached a natural waterslide formed by smooth rock and flowing water. After miles of hiking in the heat, a chance to slide down rocks into extremely cold water was a different kind of experience. It allowed everyone to take a break and connect. This moment was filled with laughter, and it gave everyone a chance to enjoy where they were. Moments like this were just as important as the hard ones on the trip. They allowed us to have fun together and made the group even closer.
This trip showed me how close people can become when put in uncomfortable situations. During an average school day, it is easy to stay with the same people and have the same conversations. On the trail, our group was together for hours. I often found myself engaging in long conversations with Yoshito, a foreign exchange student. Talking while hiking seemed to pass the time, and I was extremely curious about the similarities and differences between America and Japan. While on the trip, our group experienced everything together. We hiked together, ate together, struggled through the difficult times together, and shared experiences that would not have been possible to recreate in a classroom.
There were definitely times when I wished the trail would flatten out or wondered how much farther I had to go. But it was moments like these that made the trip memorable. The point of the Kinsolving trips was to show us how far we could push ourselves, and I think that happened both physically and mentally. More importantly, you learn that difficult things become easier when you have other people to share the same experience with.
By the end of the trip, the 25 miles mattered less than everything that happened. The rock scramble to the summit, steep climbs, the exhaustion, the waiting, the conversations, and the moments where we helped each other all contributed to the same thing: turning a group of classmates into something more similar to brotherhood. That was what Kinsolving was really about, not miles hiked or the height of the summit we reached.