Every summer Lost Borders offers a vision fast for young men and women ready to confirm their entry into adulthood. If you decide to join us in the high deserts of California for this 11-day quest, you will undergo a wilderness-based rite-of-passage that is both ancient and new. You will walk in the footsteps of many who have gone before, bringing your concerns, your hopes, your challenges, and the dreams only you can dream. 

To recognize and mark the moment when one turns toward adulthood takes great courage, especially in a culture that has all but forgotten the importance of honoring this transition. With the intention of finding and facing your deepest truths, your strengths and weaknesses, you then turn toward the critical questions: “Who am I to be in the world?” and “What are my gifts to bring?” This opportunity is both a great challenge and a simple task, providing the possibility of returning home with a timeless memory in your bones and a profound connection to the Earth, ready to embark on the life-long quest of finding and making your place in the world.

Many modern societies have lost the traditions that provide ceremonial witnessing and honoring of this rite of passage. The result can be a confusing attempt at self-initiation; a testing of the extreme limits of feeling and behavior, from ecstasy to revolt to a dance with death – something many young people today are familiar with.  Another alternative for many is to simply conform and accept the status quo – thus the search for an authentic self-knowing never takes place. An initiation ceremony in nature provides a unique mirror for that deep self-exploration, a true test of oneself on many levels.

A blending of ancient and modern practices, the vision fast requires a willingness to live alone in the high desert of the Inyo Mountains for three days and nights without food and shelter. It is a valid confirmation of maturity for all people, the experience of a lifetime, offering profound bonds with inner and outer nature, with self and community. Each of you will come to and return from the solo time with your own unique story to share and be witnessed in an elders’ council. Some of you may choose to invite your parents or close relatives to take part in the days of storytelling and incorporation at the end, others may not.  It is for each young person who comes to decide for him or herself how best the ceremony will serve. 

We will begin at 10 a.m. on the morning of July 14th at a campground (TBA) outside of Big Pine, CA, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  As a participant, part of your journey is to be self-sufficient while we are at the campground, meaning you will supply your own food and gear. The School will provide a stove, water, and basic kitchen set-up for all to share.  We will conclude by 5:00 p.m. on the evening of the 24th.

Recommended for ages 17–23.

Required reading: Coming of Age in the Wilderness, A Handbook for Youth by Steven Foster & Meredith Little (included in tuition).

“’The School of Lost Borders’ operates under permit on the Inyo National Forest.”