Probably the most rewarding-and challenging-form of interaction with history that we attempt every year is 'Trek,' a week long adventure in the wilderness of the Adirondack Park. We also do two and three day scouts, in both Medieval and Enlightenment kit. Walk for miles in 'their' shoes and you'll have a visceral experience of the past that cannot be matched by less in-depth experiences in craftsmanship or mainstream reenacting, or even the more intense experiences like martial arts and 'immersion'. The ongoing experimental archaeology that is our twenty-one years of trekking has taught us more about living in the past than any single source. And the wilderness is always - real.
Sometimes we work as volunteers for the New York State DEC. We have been volunteers responsible for a grid in the Metcalf Range of the Adirondacks, where we have been exploring into places unvisited by people for more than fifty years. This is a serious wilderness experience, and never a simulation ...