The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: September twenty-fifth, going native in Virginia.

High-tech camping gear has certainly made wilderness journeys more comfortable, but it can also alter the experience and foster a sense of dependency. Equipment failures can send usually confident campers running for the nearest trailhead. But according to Del Hall, who runs the Nature Awareness School on 300 wilderness acres in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, there's no need for panic. Everything necessary to survive can be found right there, in the woods.

For the last decade, Hall has been teaching people how to live really close to the earth. Hall's quirky camp offers only stone-age amenities. During weekend and weeklong workshops held throughout the year, campers learn the physical and sensory skills native people used to live in harmony with nature, to re-ignite the flame of basic instinct.

They start with basic survival, relying only on what is there in nature: how to find water and make it safe; how build shelter; how to kindle a fire with a bow drill; how to identify, prepare, and store wild edibles. Campers learn to sharpen all five senses, to observe nature through native eyes. For example, the stalking of animals goes beyond identifying tracks to understanding the story revealed by other clues.

Knowing how to meet physical needs from the environment creates a confidence on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level. It's communion with Mother Nature in the purest sense.

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