Oct 21, 2021
Clemencia Caporale belongs to East Coast but currently lives in her Kimbo Camper and instructs for NOLS Wilderness Medicine and Prescott College. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire's Outdoor Education Program, attended the Audubon Expedition Institute's travelling master's program, and earned a Master in Environmental Education from Leslie University.
Clemencia completed a NOLS semester in Baja, Mexico, where she learned backpacking, kayaking, and sailing skills. She has worked in many universities in outdoor education programs over the past 20 years. Long-distance hiking is one of her passion and has hiked more than 10,000 miles. She can ruin her shoes in three weeks!In this episode:
- [3:51] Clemencia talks about her meeting with Paul Petzoldt, also known as the founder of NOLS and one of the first Outward Bound Instructors in the USA. She was a freshman in collage when a woman told her about having a job where she had to sleep out in the open, so after the class, she talk to the woman where she gave her some number and told her to call Paul. After going back to her dorm, she called him, and he later told her to come to his house to talk about the job further. After drinking a couple of hot beverages and sharing some stories and advice, they went to get lunch together. After a few more hours had gone by, he autographed two of his book and gave them to her without answering any sort of job-related questions. A few days later, in her outdoor class, Dan Garvey asked a question about everyone's weekend, and she told him that she met Paul Petzoldt when he immediately asked her that had she read his books and recommended her to read them.
- [17:34] Caporale tells about the thru-hiking course where she took eight students on Appalachian Trail, about 100 miles. They had Privy not far away from where they were camping, but it was a rainy day and was very foggy. They were going to camp for eight days, and on the 6th day, one of the students named Kate went missing. The story gets more interesting when she finally finds the missing girl.
- [30:32] Clemencia shares the story when they were heading to Wyoming and got stuck in Jack's Canyon. So they were on their way to Wyoming, and they spotted a great spot to camp, but to get to the location, they had to go through and muddy road. They thought the road was frozen and could drive over it, but it was not frozen. Both of the van's front wheels got stuck in the mud. Later on, there was no choice but to get everyone out and head over to the camping spot on foot. After spending the night, she, alongside two more people head over to the van where the mud got frozen overnight, and they pulled out the van easily and parked at a better spot.
- [34:31] Clemencia Caporale narrates a tale but still to this day warms her heart. She was in Edinburgh, and some of her friends knew that she was a hiker and convinced her to do a very short hike known as Arthur's Seat. After spending a couple of hours there, she saw a man lying across the trail. She recently completed her medical training, so she rushed to him and checked to see if he had a pulse. To know how Caporale saves the day, head over to the podcast now.