Farmer had been in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas in India as one of 15 students that chose to spend her fall semester (2007) in India with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). She was the only student from Colorado.
Coming off of a 12-hour flight to New Delhi, the students had a 14-hour bus ride to Raniknet, which became their home away from home.
"We met in Conway, Wash., where we got all of our gear and rationed out our food," Farmer said in an interview in February of 2008.
The group had all dry ingredients and a stove that they would use to cook their meals. NOLS practices Leave No Trace principles.
Following a preliminary 12-day climb to a glacier and five days of training for Wilderness Advanced First Aid certification, the group was ready for its 35-day trek in the Milam Valley.
"NOLS is all about experiential learning," Farmer said.
35-Day Trek in the Wilderness
The group traveled through the valley on stones fitted together as roads and on trails, not like what most Americans would imagine. The roads, Farmer said, were ancient.
"There were times when we wouldn't see anyone for eight to 10 days at a time," Farmer said. "ANd then there were other times when we would hit sheep traffic jams and would have to wait for up to 10 minutes for them to cross the road."
Around day eight of the 35-day trek, the group was stuck on the tail end of a monsoon.
"It was kind of depressing," Farmer said. "Bid ol' fat rain was coming down and it soaked everything and we didn't go out of our tents unless, of course, nature called."
They were all on the verge of hypothermia during this time and the instructors went from tent to tent to teach classes. When there was nothing to do, the students would read books that they had brought along with them.
"At times it was boring, but if we had had too much to do, it would ahve taken away from the point of beign there," Farmer said.
The students even found a way to listen to music.
"We sang and made our on music," she said. "We were totally disconnected from the world and so that's all we could do."
Trouble Stirs on Long Trek
Day 31 was a "layover" day. Farmer described these days as times of complete aloneness. On this day however, it wasn't quiet or alone. Screams of a classmate could be heard echoing from down in a canyon near camp. A male classmate had fallen and had suffered a compound fracture, a puncture wound, and his foot was turned sideways.
"He was at the bottom of this slope near some sharp rocks," Farmer said. "It was the grossest thing I've ever seen in my life."
Everyone pitched in to carry the 230-pound male back up to camp. Almost four feet of snow fell that night, making it difficult for anyone to sleep.
When the sky cleared the next morning, a helicopter was able to fly in to pick up the injured classmate.
"In times of struggle, it totally brings people together," Farmer said.
Yoga, Rafting, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson
Following the 35-day trek, Farmer said they had 12 days of yoga. This, as one might imagine, was much more relaxing for the students and luxurious in comparison to the long trek they had just come off of.
"It was yoga in its original form," Farmer said. "It's all about breathing."
But their travels didn't stop there. Next was two weeks of rafting down the Ganga (Ganges) River, cosidered to be one of the holiest spots in the Hindu tradition (NOLS 2008 catalog).
"Some people in the region put their dead in teh river while others chose to bathe in it," Farmer said. "Seeing a dead person was a new experience for me."
Toward the end of the semester, the students went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. On the way, they ran into a familiar face -- the face of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
"We asked him if he was who we thought he was, and it was him," Farmer said. "He said to me, 'I like your hair girl.'"
Farmer has reddish hair that she formed into dread locks a few years ago.
Looking Back
Farmer says that they had three kinds of fun on the trip: the kind where you can look back and think how much fun you had, the kind where you look back and think of how stupid somthing was, and the fun where you see how much you hated something but realized how much you learned from it.
For more information on NOLS programs, visit www.nols.org.
