Last month, 14 Walla Walla University students set out to explore the beautiful cities and landscapes of Greece, with the chief purpose of climbing Mount Olympus. This was just the first of five annual summer Sacred Mountains trips currently planned.
WWU has always supported a thriving adventurous culture, encouraging students to grow their faith by getting outside into beautiful places to do hard things with good friends. Trip sponsor and vice president for student life Darren Wilkins believes this is a foundation for wonderful friendships, and said “it builds faith, as beautiful natural places point straight to a loving creator.”
Wilkins and Rodd Strobel, department chair of health and physical education, led students on difficult hikes through Greece that pushed participants’ physical abilities and strengthened their love of nature. These hikes often brought participants just beyond their comfort zone, but for good reason. At the end of each challenge came a sense of camaraderie and a feeling of achievement. Each student was able to reach every destination, despite strenuous paths. From the top of Mount Olympus, recently graduated exercise science major Sarah Coffin said, “This has been the best trip so far. It has challenged me physically, and it was the best post-grad trip I could have ever given myself! I’m so grateful for this experience.”
Strobel and Wilkins also recognized the historical significance within much of Greece, and curated the trip to be about more than just sightseeing. To provide students with necessary academic context, sponsors assigned the reading of “Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance” by Christopher McDougal—a story of the Cretan resistance against the Nazis in WWII. During the four days of hiking in the mountains of Crete, the book’s historical background “lent meaning to every step we took on the ancient paths, mountains, and gorges of that island,” said Wilkins.
Throughout the two weeks spent in Greece, the group visited the Greek municipalities of Athens and Chania, hiked through the Pelion Peninsula and Samaria Gorge, and climbed up Mount Gingilo and Mount Olympus. Remarking on the strenuous climb, newly graduated civil engineering major Jenna Fanselau said, “It is such a beautiful view. It is worth the struggling that I did; I made it and that’s what matters.”
The next four years of Sacred Mountains expeditions will take participants up Mount Ararat in Turkey, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Fuji in Japan, and a set of biblical mountains in the Holy Land.
For further information about student life at WWU, go to wallawalla.edu/campus-life, and to learn about more outdoor opportunities, visit aswwu.com/outdoors.
Posted Aug. 21, 2024