yes...forced marches, hypo/hyperthermia, and mormon wildernesses are bad....
but i must say, some wildernesses are good. many kids can benifit from spending some time outside, particularly city kids, and computer-centered kids. i have to say 99% of wildernesses are shit, but there are a few good ones. noteably, Outward Bound and the National outdoor leadership school.
personally, i went to two different wildernesses, on three seperate occasions. i HATED it. it was hard, too cold/too hot, and in the summer the bugs were driving me suicidal. I used to be a spoiled city kid - i liked my pizza, my air conditioning, and being able to spend 6 hours a day playing counterstrike.
then two years out of wilderness, i took a herculean dose of shrooms and went out into the woods, and spent a day there. I felt connected, at one with nature. i realized some stuff, wont get too deep into it now. But anyways, since then, i feel a craving for nature. i need to be outside, and as remote, wild and unpopulated as possible. i HATE the city now, and i used to love it. those shrooms gave me a serious attitude, perception, and personality adjustment.
I'm 100% positive that if i had not had prior wilderness exerience, i would never have been able to come to those realizations, with or without shrooms.
I was thinking of joining as a counselor because not only can i treat the kids with more compassion, but because i belive i can convince these kids, and change them the same way the mushrooms changed me. if my counselors at my wildernesses had that same sort of experience that i could have related to, maybe i wouldnt have needed the shrooms. but they were a bunch of millitary hacks, not hippies. wildernesses need to be run by hippies.
