Wilderness and Mental Health

How Wilderness, Backcountry Adventures and Being Outside Can Improve Your Mental Health

Guest blog post by AzRA Guide Laura Fallon

It is no secret that time in blue and green spaces is good for your mental health.  There are literally endless studies and articles that will tell you it’s true.  But in addition to those benefits, there is another layer that is becoming more and more rare—time away from technology.  When you step into a wilderness space, you have the opportunity to unplug, get present, and be in the moment in a way that is very hard in our modern world.  Even when you turn off your phone, if it is nearby, I bet it is still influencing your thoughts and your attention.

Grand Canyon is one of those atypical places that you still can’t get cell service.  You can’t check the news or find out what’s happening with your friends or family or work.  You get to be with who you are with, in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  When I started guiding, we used the pay phone at Lees Ferry to do last check-ins with family and friends.  Now, tucking my iPhone into my Pelican Case deep in my 20mil is one of my favorite rituals to send a signal to my body and mind that I am free for however long the trip is.  The choice is still there.  You get to choose to step out of the buzz of technology and daily life and live in the moment, dictated by the environment—the river, the wind, the sun, the rain.  I have always valued this for myself and for every passenger on the trips I have guided.  Now, wilderness and Grand Canyon (which is not actually considered a wilderness environment, but a backcountry environment) in particular has a whole new layer of meaning and importance to me.  Last year was the first year I didn’t go into Grand Canyon since starting to guide in 2001.

I didn’t have the choice.  I was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called Plasma Cell Leukemia, a type of Multiple Myeloma.  There is nothing like having your choices taken away from you to help you have gratitude for the choices you do have.

I am so thankful for my time in wilderness.  It continues to teach me to be present, to check in with myself, and to feel my connection to everything living.  Nature has also been a great motivator during my cancer journey.  When I didn’t have control over so many things, I could get out onto the trails and move my body, clear my mind. I could set goals and remind myself what my body could do, not just focus on what it couldn’t.

Laura Fallon Photo by David Zickl

While writing this, I am sitting in a hospital, being monitored from a new treatment procedure called CAR-T.  All I can think about, and what is keeping me present and focused right now, is that I get to go back into Grand Canyon at the end of this treatment, August 18^th.  I cannot wait.

How does all of this relate to you?  I have known the power of wilderness on my physical and mental health for decades, but working as a mental health therapist, I see how disconnection to self, others, and the environment is making people struggle.

We are literally hardwired to connect, and yet so much about this modern world is stressful and disconnecting.

We are often overextended and beyond capacity, and we need to recharge.  Time in wilderness spaces can be that recharge. Nature provides a space to hear your thoughts and cut out the hum of constant stressors in our life.

Not everyone can go into Grand Canyon or do a river trip, I understand that.  But, sitting with elements of nature—rocks, shells, plants, going for a walk on a local trail, sitting outside in a park for lunch during the work day, or taking some time when you can to totally unplug will literally lower your stress level, make you more aware of what you need (interpersonally, physically, emotionally, and mentally), and put you back in charge of your mental health.  You get to choose.

Here is a review of the literature of the efficacy of NBI (Nature Based Interventions) on people’s mental health:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9754067/

If you are curious about my continued connection with nature and wild spaces impacts my cancer story or how you can be a part of helping me raise funds to find a cure please visit my fundraising page at: https://give.themmrf.org/laurafallon.  I am going on a trek to Guatemala this December, climbing volcanos to raise awareness about this type of cancer.  This is what I can offer, determination and my sweat training for the trek.  Even if you can’t donate, please share this link on your social media and help me spread the word…a cure is just around the corner!!

Laura Fallon is a long time AZRA guide and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor she has spent her life connecting her work as a guide to wellness and preventative care.  When Laura is not working with clients or running rivers, she can be found hiking mountains both locally and nationally. 

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