Name: Andrew Walz
Age: 21
Home: Aitkin, MN, USAI was born in the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul but only lived there until my parents finished graduate school. I grew up in the small town of Aitkin, in Northern Minnesota. It's absolutely beautiful country with thousands of lakes and few people. Here's a little memory just to give you an idea of what it is like: the school bus routes were often very extensive because people's homes were so spread out around the countryside. One day I think I was in third grade we were late to school because a girl got on the bus and her pet goat followed her onto the bus. The poor bus driver who happened to be a substitute that day could not get the goat off.. Anyway it was quite an experience growing up in a small town atmosphere. The county I live in is also the poorest in the state so I grew up with all types of people. It was good though. My parents come from the city and are very open-minded so I learned a lot growing up. They are also very active and outdoorsy. They climbed Mt. Robson in Canada for their honeymoon. I had one brother and one sister and as a family we did a lot of camping, hiking, and other sports. My parents taught us the names of flowers and trees, and we always got excited about wildlife. They taught us to be curious about nature but to respect it. Both my parents majored in parks and recreation. My dad went on to medical school, which is a long story . . . I'll just say he's an incredible person. (The University of Minnesota Parks and Rec Faculty has a %100 acceptance rate to Med School because he is the only one that has ever done it!). My mom is incredible, too. She was a competitive three event water skier for a good portion of her life and still holds the state record for the longest jump for women (93ft). She stopped jumping when she got pregnant with me but still skies and is actually now an active snowboarder at the age of 47!! I learned so many things because there was many opportunities to participate in and so little competition in my town. I played American football, baseball, basketball, tennis, skied, snowboarded, and rode bike a lot.
(Hiking in '85, Carl & Andy) (Hiking and snowboarding Lake Tahoe area '01, Andy)I went through a stage which actually lasted until I went to Uni where I loved nature but I just wanted to conquer it. I never killed or destroyed anything, what I mean is that I wanted to do the longest hike, or climb the highest peak, or take the most dangerous route. I was quite competitive too. I joined a ski racing team, and began to compete in the other sports I mentioned above. I always wanted to go faster, score more goals, get "bigger air". I feel now like I may have missed out on a lot just because of my mind set. I forgot to mention one other thing, water. I learned how to swim at a young age and loved it. I loved the water in every aspect. Canoeing, Sailing, Waterskiing, Wakeboarding, you name it. We got our own place on a lake near town and I used to go swimming under every full moon. It was so cool. I now teach swimming lessons to little kids and continue to wakeboard and boat.
(Wakeboarding, Andy -- Nord Lake, MN)My family traveled a lot and I began to do a lot on my own too. I fell in love with the Mountains, when I first saw the Colorado Rockies. Since, I have made a pilgrimage at least once a year to the mountains including the Grand Tetons, Sierra Nevadas, Canadian Rockies, and even the French Alps. I do a lot of hiking and snowboarding. My most memorable experience was a backpacking trip that I did with a group of friends in the Collegiate peaks of central Colorado. We learned about "No-trace" camping and spent a week in the wilderness with everything we needed on our backs. We even tackled a "14er" which is a special because at elevations above 13,000ft the lack of oxygen is supposed to be quite a hindrance. I still remember clearly summiting Mt. Oxford at 14,192ft and what an amazing feeling it was. I had a friend take a picture of me and with out even thinking a I threw my arms up into the air. It's so cool to see a Mountain from the top looking down. And the stars at night are incredible! I remember the most depressing thing was on our last night when we were headed down into this valley we set up camp and went to watch the sunset. It was beautiful but once it got dark you could see the lights of a town off in the distance and it just looked so ugly and out of place. When we did get finally get back it didn't feel as good to shower as we had said it would and it felt awkward to ride in a car again. I just wanted to be back on trail.
(Andy -- Summit of Mt. Oxford)Not long after this trip, I moved to the city and started university. I liked the city because it was exciting but I found it was kind of confining. I missed the lakes and trails from home. I started doing a lot of biking and I took up rowing. I did end up competing in crew but it wasn't the same as skiing or football used to be. Rowing was more of an escape. I could get up early and go out on the river and even though the river went right through the heart of the city there was never anyone on it and it was so peaceful compared to the streets.
(Andy (2nd from right) -- '00 four man crew)I think after my backpacking trip, my attitude toward nature started to change a little bit. I wasn't keen on going so fast and conquering everything. What really changed my outlook though was May 28th almost 2 years ago now. My brother, Carl, was killed in a car crash. I was actually in Philadelphia at the time for a regatta, which was really hard. I rowed our last race anyway, and cried pretty much from the finish line to the airport where I flew home to the most miserable summer of my life. Everything was changed. Especially my outlook on nature.
Nature became the place where I could grieve. I began to appreciate life so much. I had so many spiritual experiences. One instance happened one day on the tennis court. Now you first have to understand that tennis was my brothers game. I loved the sport, but not as much as he did. We used to play all the time and he could even beat me handedly (he was three years younger). We played as a doubles team as well and always used to encourage each other. Anyway, I was playing a match and it was one of the first times I'd played since he died, which was hard in itself, and I started to play like crap. I was frustrating myself to the point where I was ready to throw my racquet or something. I headed back to the service line after a double fault or something and there was a big toad sitting right on the court. Now, toads were something we grew up with and used to admire, too. It was as if Carl had sent it out there to tell me, "look moron, just relax, because I'm not there doesn't mean you can't play like you used to." I couldn't help but smile and cry at the same time. I picked the toad up and brought it to the fence and continued playing in much better spirits. Many things in nature began to have the same sort of affect, not just on the court, but in life in general.
I have been searching out spiritual experiences in nature for some time now. Coming to Australia was a means of continuing that search. I had heard nothing but wonderful stories about the different landscape Australia has to offer. Since I've been here, I have not been disappointed. I just want to see more!
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