5 minute read
The Nomad Scout
The Nomad Scout
By Nicholas Ebelhack
“The rangers just changed the trash cans yesterday,” said Joshua Samuels, Iota Rho (Western Illinois), posing with his day’s trash haul from Lake Ouachita in Arkansas in one of his videos. “They’re going to be floored later when they drive by and see that it's full,”
Samuels disposes of the 18 pounds of garbage he recovered from national forest land, clad only in his kilt and hiking boots. His medium-length beard disconnects from his hair, styled in a harsh undercut culminating in a ponytail that drops past his shoulders. If you tried to picture an environmentalist living out of his van relying on survivalist training on a months-long journey, you’d probably come up with something close to what Samuels looks like.
After four months, Samuels had traveled nearly the length of the continental United States with his fiancée Allison, who he had proposed to during the trip. They picked up hundreds of pounds of garbage along the journey and putting their instincts and education to the test, all while sharing a message of sustainability and environmental consciousness through his YouTube, Instagram and Facebook pages, “Nomad Scout.”
A journey of this scale takes a lot of confidence. Recalling his time at Sigma 3 Survival School, which ended in an eight-day survival challenge where he was given only a knife, Samuels pictured his next tattoo, one that will join a collection of others that represents each year in his life.
At 24 years old, he was one of the youngest participants in the program. Despite being proud of rising to the occasion, he tries not to draw comparison to others. Quitting his job to traverse the nation, he’s not worried that he’s going to fall behind. He’s already been scouting out his future.
“I can’t compare my path to anyone else's because I have faith in myself.”
While Samuels' passion for the environment and sustainability education has developed over an extensive number of outdoor experiences, the inspiration for his trip occurred while on an internship in Portland, Oregon when he noticed a lack of ranger oversight that led to excessive dumping.
“The National Forests aren’t the same as national parks. They aren’t managed as closely and the don’t necessarily have rangers or janitors picking up trash,” Samuels said. “A lot of them are dump sites for people to avoid the costs of throwing away trash.”
Samuels rests in his hammock and takes in the sights from his journey through the nation's national parks and forests.
Allison Cook
As simple as it sounds, Samuels sees picking up trash as a skill, saying that "you would be surprised at the lengths that people would go to hide the trash they are dumping.”
But while anyone has the ability to make a difference by helping clean the nation’s forests, few may be willing to go to some of the lengths Samuels did to commit to a sustainable nomadic lifestyle.
In addition to formalized training and education, Samuels ventured beyond the classroom to make his trip possible, which meant learning how to create and store sustainable energy in his Jeep, installing portable refrigeration and building a budget to support two people for four months. They spent just $3,200 during their trip on expenses, which included food, park passes, car insurance and fuel.
To make the most of the space, Samuels said he had to forgo installing a bed in the back of his Jeep.
“With van life, 90% of people have their sleeping quarters inside of their vehicles,” Samuels said. “I’ve even seen beds in the back of Volkswagen Bugs before, so it can be done, but for us, that wasn’t a priority.”
Throughout the journey, Samuels' resourcefulness was constantly challenged. Towards the end of their journey, their solar panels were stolen, and even in the face of a devastating turn of events, his environmental impact was at the forefront of his thought process.
“We were using them not just to charge our laptops and phones, but also to refrigerate our food,” Samuels said. “It was hard not to live in an environmentally conscious way since we had to keep running our Jeep and using fuel to create energy in order to keep our food from spoiling.”
While the nomadic lifestyle wasn’t a permanent desire for Samuels, he expressed that he was happy he had the opportunity to document and express how his travels were both sustainable and enriching.
“A lot of people are trying to shrink their carbon footprint, and it’s a hobby for me," Samuels said. "I wouldn’t necessarily call it a way of life, but it definitely impacts your day-to-day activities.”
Joshua and Allison experienced nearly everything the nation's landscape had to offer, culminating in their engagement at Angel's Landing at Zion National Park in southwest Utah.
Allison Cook
Over the course of Joshua and Allison’s endeavor, they climbed sequoia trees in California’s Sierra Nevada, hiked the mountains in Colorado Springs and caught sight of the bluest lakes in Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park. For an outdoorsman like Samuels, it was a journey through paradise. But while briefly adopting the nomadic lifestyle was a dream realized for Samuels, the physical strain of living out of his Jeep was dwarfed by looming questions and potential financial hazards after quitting his job to explore the nation.
“My job was well-paying and had benefits but all of a sudden I was doing nothing. I also had to make sure that this trip was attainable, but mentally and spiritually it was worth what I was doing financially.”
The confidence Samuels needed to start his journey hasn’t dissipated. He’s currently taking classes to earn his master's in sustainability leadership through Arizona State University with the goal of becoming a sustainability consultant for corporations.
As for his social media channels, Samuels said that photo and video might not be the best application for what he wants to do, but he’s looking forward to utilizing what he learned in his future career.
Drawing on his Pi Kappa Phi experience, which fostered his commitment to responsible citizenship and meaningful service, he noted that “as a student, what you’re doing in the classroom is important but your extracurricular activities will drive your passion.”
That passion, which he seeks to take to a larger scale, still drives Samuels along his path to his next journey.
“I feel like I will be able to reach more people and have a greater impact on others and the environment as a whole by involving myself in sustainability practices to larger corporations that have a larger impact.”
“We were planning to jump into our next trip before our panels got stolen, which was been sailing around the world in a sailboat," Samuels said. I want to take my adventure from my Jeep in the continental United States to around the globe.”
The caveat? Neither Joshua nor Allison knows how to sail. But knowing Samuels' faith in his abilities, it’s likely they will be on the sea sooner than you would think.
