Review: MAPS Meet 2011

(Guest post by Lauren Jacobs) 
 

Morning Circle

I've been going to MAPS Meet for 6 years now. I look forward to it all year long, and though I see many of the people only during this one week a year, they feel like family.

I think that sense of family, or tribe, is what brings a lot of people to MAPS. The first year I went, I didn't know what to expect. I was bowled over by the warmth I found. The camp is treated as a temporary tribal village. Children are born into and have grown up at these meets; there's a sense of community that only comes through shared history, despite the fact that many travel far every year to come. The MAPS Meet represents 4 generations, and every year the ages range from newborns to elders, which I think adds to the tribal feel.

An elder speaking at Morning Circle

There are all kinds of people at MAPS, people both old and new to wilderness skills: hippies, hunters, boy and girl scouts, farmers, soldiers and veterans, anarchists, freegans, tribes people, anthropologists, techies looking for a vacation from the hum of computers, scientists, artists, activists, and many others. 

The classes are equally varied, and cater to all skill levels. A lot of the leading wilderness skills experts in the United States teach at MAPS Meet, but they're all approachable. Some of the classes featured yearly are: primitive pottery, friction fire methods, soap stone carving, flint napping, knife use, tracking and scouting, brain tanning, forging, cordage, spinning, weaving, felting, basket weaving, flute making, wild edible plants, medicinal tincture making, drumming, building a camp kitchen, shamanic journeying, and much more. For me, the running theme through all of these classes is accountability, and measuring the cost of your lifestyle choices. These are life skills that allow you to question daily habits in a new way.

The way the meet is structured, you have the opportunity of taking 3 classes a day, for a total of about a dozen classes.  Breakfast and dinner are served daily in the main lodge, and everyone gathers for morning circle. After dinner there are trading blankets and other activities, and in the evenings there are bonfires, where everyone gathers for music, drumming, dancing and stories. 

The MAPS Meet is one of the larger gatherings of this type in the US (at around 200 people), and definitely the most family-friendly (and newbie friendly) I know of. There are the before-mentioned meals being served daily, for starters (many other meets ask you to bring all of your food). MAPS Meet provides a place to store extra coolers of food, and a lodge for gathering during heavy storms and the like. Cabins and teepees on wooden platforms are available for those who prefer them to tents. Also, there are bath houses, with showers, sinks, and flushing toilets. There are children's programs for ages 3 to 12, and parents are welcome to bring their children of any age to class besides. The children have nighttime activities as well. 

A primitive cooking space with tasty chicken cooking

MAPS Meet is a gathering dedicated to the instruction of wilderness living skills, but the experience is so much more than that. It's spending the 5 days in the woods, and letting your body get attuned to the sensuous richness of outdoor life. It's full, productive days, and celebratory nights. But mostly, it's becoming part of a community that will change your life.


In addition to having a passion for primitive skills, Lauren Jacobs is a celebrated DC local artist and teacher.  Samples of her work can be found here.  Here's a list of neato exhibitions where her pieces have been on display.  That's right, I used the word neato in a sentence.  High five.