Seventeen Best Things About The Return Of One Very Special Sleep-Away Training Camp

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

Photos by Steens Mountain Running Camp/Kevin Jantzer

In the southeast corner of Oregon, a fault-block mountain rises to 9,773 feet. Its long flank, indented by glacier-carved gorges and river valleys, is home to a 47-year tradition: Steens Mountain High Altitude Running Camp. 

That is, 47 years counting last year. 

Camp founder Harland Yriarte, who first brought cross country runners there in 1975, definitely counts last year. Afterall, he and staff did a lot of pre-camp work, hustling to make the camp a possibility in an impossible year. But the pandemic, plus public health precautions and policies related to it, canceled it and most other plans. 

Perhaps we’ve grown accustomed to such changes, especially as COVID-19 continues to plague us. It feels scary to hope, lest we suffer more heartbreak and loss. (Or maybe that’s just me.) Even with the development of vaccines (Thanks, science!) and adoption of hygienic practices like wearing masks, nothing is guaranteed. 

It never was, though. Whether we’ve taken routines, experiences, or privileges for granted, the ongoing pandemic (and climate-change fueled wildfires and social injustice and and and) is a reminder not to. What blessings have we missed? What are we grateful for? What’s worth trying for? 

Jostling for position in a race. Running hard uphill and flying down. Laughing while doing core, a double workout. Gathering around a fire ring. Swapping stories on singletrack. Waking up to the applause of quaking aspen. Sharing meals with teammates, coaches, friends and family.

Steens Mountain Running Camp returned this year, offering those gifts and more. 

It took lots of meetings and changes to the way things had been done. But it happened. The Steens crew, after all, has been adapting to an unpredictable landscape for decades. That’s one of Yriarte’s take-home lessons: Obstacles test both your abilities as an athlete and your character as a human. 

I worked as a coach for one of two week-long sessions. Returning for the 11th time to this place I’ve been a camper, camp assistant (aka counselor), and coach was certainly a gift. I know campers were grateful for it, too. 

Here are the 17 best things about returning to camp:

1. Seeing full-face smiles. Grimaces, too.  

2. Wildflowers, including five-plus colors of castilleja, often called Indian paintbrush or prairie fire. 

3. Watching campers working through nerves, fear, and/or anxiety. Seeing them emerge more confident as runners and teammates. 

4. The smell of sagebrush, the woody, green plant that blankets camp. 

5. Campers’ end-of-week skits — good, bad, awkward, awesome. 

6. Re-learning deeper history of the land and its Indigenous people, Numu, or Northern Paiute. In spite of that history, they’re still in the region. Celebrating traditions of the Basque, who settled as sheep herders. 

7. A discussion with the girls at camp and Melody Fairchild in an aspen grove. Talking about the topics—especially the taboo ones — we cover in our book Girls Running. Hearing the athletes’ important questions, including “Why aren’t the boys hearing this talk?” and “How do I respond to people who make comments about my body?” 

8. Knowing we were in a place without scales and misinformation about “racing weight.” Also, talking about periods and puberty with straight-up facts. 

9. Experiencing differences of opinion in the presence of respect, dialogue and learning. 

10. Running around a bend and seeing a sheepherder perched on an outcropping of rock, a lamb and big dog at his side, his flock in the meadows below. 

11. Churning dirt, kicking rocks, eating earth. 

12. Lecturing kids who were out of line. (“It’s OK to be mad, upset, and annoyed. It’s not OK to be rude.”)

13. No cell service. 

14. Jumping into lakes and rivers mid-run. 

15. Hearing campers’ hopes, doubts, and dreams. 

16. Drinking spring water straight from the source. 

17. Seeing dirt-streaked runners shuffle down Steens Mountain Loop road, en route back to camp at the end of the so-called Big Day, and their triumph when they made it. 

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Elizabeth Carey (https://elizabethwcarey.com/) is a writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, is available at your local bookstore and here: https://shop.aer.io/GirlsRunning/p/Girls_Running_All_You_Need_to_Strive_Thrive_and_Run_Your_Best/9781948007184-9934.