Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      November 10, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Inside the Never-Ending Road Trip with Dan Grec

      November 20, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      April 14, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Navigate from the Dashboard with Improved Android Auto

      February 4, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • New Maps
    • Featured

      Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

      May 2, 2022

      Adventures

      Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in…

      March 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover Snowmobile Trails Across the Globe

      February 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Get Worldwide Ski Resort Reports in Gaia GPS

      January 25, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Home
Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      November 10, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Inside the Never-Ending Road Trip with Dan Grec

      November 20, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      April 14, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Navigate from the Dashboard with Improved Android Auto

      February 4, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • New Maps
    • Featured

      Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

      May 2, 2022

      Adventures

      Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in…

      March 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover Snowmobile Trails Across the Globe

      February 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Get Worldwide Ski Resort Reports in Gaia GPS

      January 25, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Home

Wilderness Therapy Programs for Veterans Remain on Hold

by Dain Pascocello May 14, 2020
by Dain Pascocello May 14, 2020

For many veterans, leaving the battlefield has led to blazing a new trail into wilderness therapy. Nonprofit organizations like Warrior Expeditions, Huts for Vets, and Veterans Expeditions offer wilderness adventures in thru-hiking, camping, and kayaking to service members who are hoping to heal and challenge themselves in the outdoors. Now, however, these veteran participants find themselves on uncertain terrain, facing canceled trips and summer schedules left in limbo by Covid-19.

“Next week we would have been kicking off the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in North Carolina. We are hopeful that by July we can resume operations and will then kick off our three-month [hikes],“ said Sean Gobin, executive director of Warrior Expeditions.

Gobin is a Marine Corps vet who hiked the Appalachian Trail end to end after being discharged in 2012, following two tours of duty in Iraq. The four-and-a-half-month journey inspired him to start the non-profit Warrior Expeditions, which offers thru-hikes and long-distance expeditions for veterans.

Walk off the War with Warrior Expeditions

A man holding a cattle dog and smiling.
Admiring an Appalachian view with trail dog “Olive.” Photo credit: Warrior Expeditions Facebook

Based near the Shenandoah National Forest and its 101-mile portion of the Appalachian Trail, Warrior Expeditions trains and outfits veterans for long trips on the trail. The program caters to men and women participants, from older hikers with service in the Vietnam War to more recent combat veterans like Gobin. Participants sign up for long-distance journeys through the rugged beauty of the Pacific Crest Trail’s Cascade Mountains, the Continental Divide Trail crossed by Captain Meriwether Lewis in 1805, and more.

Veteran hikers have reported benefits to their physical and mental health along the way in what Gobin sees as “walking off the war,” a phrase borrowed from World War II veteran Earl Shaffer, who backpacked the Appalachian Trail in 1948, becoming the first person to hike its 2,193-mile length from Georgia to Maine in a single season.

This year was off to a good start, with Warrior Expeditions leading a hike in January around the cypress-lined lakes of the Florida Trail. The organization then sent a group out on an Appalachian Trail thru-hike. A week into the trip, however, Warrior Expeditions had no choice but to send its trailblazers home. Warrior Expeditions’ trips have been on pause ever since.

Gobin said he remains hopeful that wilderness therapy trips will resume in July to October, and beyond.

“The future for Warrior Expeditions is to maintain steady-state operations with the 10 long-distance trails we currently support,” Gobin said.

Warrior Expeditions is just one of the more than 45,000 nonprofits dedicated to helping veterans, an estimated 83 percent of whom live with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other combat-related injuries. A small percentage of these nonprofits offer peer-to-peer outdoor therapies such as fishing, hunting, hiking, backpacking, and kayaking, which promote healthier outcomes through a sense of achievement, according to a study with Outward Bound veterans. In 2018, a three-month-long pilot program examined group hiking trips for combat veterans and found equally encouraging results. In recent years, wilderness therapy organizations for veterans have blossomed.

Huts for Vets Program Focuses on Easing Transition to Civilian Life

a man mountain biking on a trail.
A Veterans Expeditions mountain biker on a weekend trip with the group in Salida, Colorado. Photo credit: Veterans Expeditions Instagram

Since 2013, Huts for Vets has provided a selected group of active-duty and veteran service members with about seven expenses-paid hiking and camping trips a year, from June to September. Designed for those experiencing PTSD symptoms, Huts for Vets’ multi-day trips lead 10 to 12 participants on hikes. Each day ends at a 10th Mountain Division hut deep in Colorado’s high country. After spending all day in the wilderness, participants share a communal meal and bed down in bunks among the mountain’s Engelmann spruce and bristlecone. This communal, unconventional approach in a tranquil setting encourages psychological healing among participants and eases the transition back into civilian life.

Huts for Vets’ summer programming remains on hold while stay-at-home orders and quarantines persist. Erik Villasenor, an Army infantry veteran and Huts for Vets guide, has turned to mountain biking and hiking on trails close to his Rifle, Colorado home as a way to maintain his connection to the outdoors. Those daily trips keep him satisfied for now but fall short of the benefits he’s received in Huts for Vets.

“I’m really missing that view from Margy’s [Hut] right now,” said Villasenor, recalling his visit to the mountaintop cabin named for former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s wife. “I’m looking forward to seeing those faces and helping my fellow veterans, male and female. That has been something that has been therapeutic in itself.”

Veterans Expeditions Focuses on Building Community

a three-picture collage of ice climbers
VetEx has run ice-climbing trips in New Hampshire, Montana, Colorado, and Michigan for veterans looking to reach new heights. Photo credit: Veterans Expeditions Facebook.

Camaraderie and community are key components of veteran wilderness therapy treatments.

Veteran Scott Partan sits on the board of Veterans Expeditions, a nationwide organization that offers outdoor therapy trips to more than 700 yearly participants from its hub in Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley. After Veterans Expeditions put its trips on hold this spring, Partan took to snowboarding in the mountains near his Colorado home. These outings keep him connected to the outdoors during quarantine but leave Partan missing a crucial aspect of the outdoor therapy curriculum — community.

“This is therapy for me. It helps to keep me centered and dealing with stuff,” Partan said. “Yes, I can still get out and snowboard, but it’s missing the community … that comes with VetEx.”

With no whitewater rafting and biking trips to lead for Veterans Expeditions, Partan said he’s re-learning how to “hurry up and wait” — just like his days in uniform.

Wilderness Therapy Programs Remain Ready

All three organizations, Warrior Expeditions, Huts for Vets, and Veterans Expeditions, continue to plan trips and remain at the ready for when parks and travel open up again.

In the meantime, these organizations are encouraging veterans to find fresh air to hold them steady through the isolation of quarantine.

“We want veterans to get out. The outdoors can be … a coping mechanism,” Warrior Expeditions’ Gobin said. “Being in the outdoors is free and accessible — the only side effect is wanting to go out more.”

For a list of VA-approved veteran programs and services, search the National Resource Directory. Veterans hoping to visit federal parks and recreational sites around the country will have to wait to obtain their America the Beautiful Pass entitling them to free access to over 2,000 locations nationwide. To search the status of a national park in your state, visit the National Park Service’s website. Visitors to all other recreation areas should plan ahead by reviewing updated reopening announcements for their state here.

Gaia GPSoutdoor therapyveteranswilderness therapy
2
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Dain Pascocello

Dain Pascocello is a former Capitol Hill staffer and campaign manager. An avid fly angler, he lives in Washington, D.C.

previous post
Android 2020.5: Faster Deletion and Smoother Planning
next post
Discover the Best Trails and Find Public Lands with Gaia Topo Updates

You may also like

Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to...

May 9, 2022

Fastpacking 101: What You Need for This Running-Backpacking...

May 5, 2022

Natural Navigation Clues: How to Find Your Way...

May 4, 2022

Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

May 2, 2022

Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

April 14, 2022

Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the...

April 7, 2022

How to Air Down Off-Road Tires for Overlanding

March 23, 2022

How to Check for Snow on the Trail

March 10, 2022

TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

March 9, 2022

Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in...

March 9, 2022

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Popular Posts

  • 1

    How to Read Topographic Maps

    July 1, 2021
  • 2

    How to Save Phone Battery Life in the Backcountry

    March 25, 2021
  • 3

    How to Download an Entire State Map with Gaia Topo

    August 19, 2021
  • 4

    Unlock Adventure with Gaia GPS on Outside+

    September 30, 2021
  • 5

    Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in National Forests

    March 9, 2022

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • Gaia GPS Offroad Podcast
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2022 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top