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What has happened to the compass? Where has the most simple, yet needed, survival tool gone? This last week a friend of mine said they didn’t know how to use a compass. At first I was surprised, but soon realized I was a part of a dying breed. The compass has fallen down the nostalgic dark hole that the Red Ryder B.B. Gun and Cracker Jack went into a decade back. People my age just do not know how to use a compass, and I would go as far to say that youth in the generations after mine would not even be able to recognize one.

I can’t even count the amount of times I have asked for simple directions and been told turn at the big sign, or ‘it’s a bit down from the McDonald’s.’ People have honestly lost all knowledge of north to south and east to west.

We have completely lost our sense of direction. It’s not that we have become stupid. I believe the compass has just been pushed to the wayside by new technologies like mapquest, fancy GPS-enabled phones, hand-held mapping systems, and navigation systems. With all of theses electronics, why would people need to know how to use a compass or even a map?

My first adventure memories are with my dad on the open road in the big brown Suburban, riding copilot. I would sit perched in my booster seat with the map unfolded in my lap, navigating my dad the directions.

Now, it should be known that I have a genetic predisposition to having the latest and greatest gadget or new technology. I do own and use a variety of direction-guiding tools. Whether it be my Garmin handheld mapping system, my internet-ready and GPS enabled blackberry that I can’t leave home without, or my wristwatch the size of the landing pad at Cape Canaveral that tells me air temperature, altitude, and coordinates with directions, and even predicts the weather. I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to phasing out the simple manual compass.

But I ask you this, what will you do when your watch goes on the fritz, your cell phone can’t get service, and your fancy GPS loses the tower to link its location? You are going to be lost!

We need to rally around the trusty compass. It could be the newest comeback kid. We need to take a few steps back and start taking gear advice from the old greats like Lewis and Clark and rock-climbing pioneer Royal Robbins. I guarantee these adventurers definitely didn’t rely on the latest GPS tracker. We can’t always count on technology, but we can count on ourselves! Get a compass, use it, like it, love it!!!

Girl vs. Wild, Jacquelyn Farris

I walk through life with the understanding that it is far better to give than receive. I also feel this same thing applies to the great outdoors. The excitement I get when sharing climbing, hiking, etc with a person that has never experienced it as I have is amazing. To see a young person light up with joy when they have conquered their fear of climbing a route they swore they were not strong enough to achieve is just one of the many things that gives me new energy to keep enjoying my own outdoor adventure and renews my love for climbing.

A few months back I started guiding on the weekends with Compass Wilderness, a faith based 501 c3 guide service that has set it’s path to share a message of Christ to Christians and non-Christians alike. The centered purpose to parallel adventure activities such as rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, camping etc in an way that connects with people on their daily walk with Christ.

Compass Wilderness reaches youth groups, mens groups, at risks youth, and the list goes on. It really boils down to meeting people where they are in life - connecting on a deeper and individual level. Sharing the simple yet overwhelming and amazing joys of the outdoors with those who maybe have never even been on a hike or slept under the stars.

Compass wilderness is a guide service that offers hiking, climbing, and camping primarily, but Compass staff share far more than wilderness knowledge. They work to give individuals the tools to stretch out of their comfort zone and try new things.

Over the past few months I have seen angry hearts softened, self esteems soar, and closed minds open to brighter possibilities all because Compass Wilderness gives people something that sounds so simple, yet what everyone is searching for. Strength and acceptance.

On one of my first trips with Compass I was assisting in belaying a girl who had never climbed outside. She was trembling with fear and talking herself out of trying from the start. She was just sure she couldn’t do it and that it was going to be to hard. It’s in those instances Compass’s staff is able to to reach inside a person and pull out their stregthens. Showing them that it’s ok to take risks and pull for what they want in life. She and I talked on the rocks that day until she reached the top. The look of joy on her face as she was coming down is exactly what Compass Wilderness strives to share.

For more on Compass Wilderness head to NewsOk.tv for a video interview with Compass Wilderness’s Oklahoma DIrector of Operations, Steven Charles.

Happy trials Girl vs. Wild style,

Jacquelyn Farris

Sometimes life gets in the way of my adventures. Lately that seems to be a trend that I can’t avoid. The wild use to whisper my name, now it’s just screaming at me to come back and hike in it’s woods, and sleep in it’s dirt under it’s stars.

I find myself flipping through magazines in passing at coffee shops and stores. Thumbing the pages dreaming of the places I need to go and see. My gear is starting to give me bad looks as I pass by like the neglectful outdoors girl I have become.

It’s been two weeks since I have been in the wild, or anywhere near an open field and it’s starting to get to me. I need my fresh air, my adrenaline, my adventure!!!

I need the me that is Girl vs. Wild! Until then, I will just keep planning my next big adventure.

Girl vs. Wild,

Jacquelyn

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