October 2025 Day Walk Weekend
Day Walk Overview
​The Day Walk Weekend offers you the opportunity to break from the regular world, put away your phone and calendar, and look inward while surrounded by the quiet, still sounds of nature. You will be accompanied by experienced guides and a group of like-minded participants as you give yourself the gift of pausing, listening, sharing from the heart, and being truly heard and seen, both by the guides and the Land. This opportunity invites you “jump in” and set an intention, perhaps marking a new accomplishment, solidifying a new insight you’ve had, or bringing clarity to a seemingly stuck area of your life.
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The Day Walk is a solitary, ritualized day spent in nature, meant to clarify a stated personal intention and to incorporate it into one’s life. The Day Walk is a psyche (soul) story with three phases. First comes Severance: withdrawal from one’s day-to-day existence, the severing of ties, the preparation for the challenge to come. Next is Threshold: the time for separating the wheat (what is essential, true and authentic in us) from the chaff (what needs to be let go off, or seen in a radically new way), for confronting the monster and then passing over the previously impassable. The final stage is Incorporation: taking the lessons back into the body of one’s life, and out into the world and our communities.”​ (Text adapted from The Day Walk Essay, Scott Eberle, M.D.)
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Location: Harper's Ferry, WV
This fast will take place on the beautiful private land of the Friends Wilderness Center, located near Harpers Ferry, WV. Harper's Ferry is a river-side community located on the historical lands of the Manahoac, Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee) and Massawomeck Peoples.​
Trip Schedule, October 3 - 5, 2025:
Day 1: Oct 3rd: Arrival between 4PM and 6PM. Participants will meet at the Tree House area of the Friends Wilderness Center and set up tents/hammocks, meet as a group to begin the ceremony, and begin to share and acclimate with the Land and each other.
​Day 2: Oct 4th: Participants will receive nature-based teachings to help acclimate and commune with the natural environment and partake in experiential nature-based hikes and creative activities, in preparation for the setting of their individual intention that evening. These activities, particularly the intention setting, will guide, ground, and inform their Day Walk on the 5th.
Day 3: Oct 5th: Participants will be ceremonially put out on their solo Day Walk in the morning, returning in the late afternoon to food, refreshments and community. The rest of the afternoon and early evening will be an opportunity for each person to share the story of their Day Walk, and to receive feedback and mirroring from the guides and group.
Program Guides
Bryan Bieniek, LGPC, MS, MAT is a Wilderness Rites of Passage guide and lead facilitator on this journey. He has been leading Vision Fasts and Day Walks since 2012 and believes strongly in the role of ceremony as a means to increase capacity for insight and healing. Read More >>
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Joseph Haddad, BS is enrolled in a Masters degree program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and completing his counseling internship with Outdoor Therapeutics. His therapeutic approach is grounded in an anti-oppression framework and a myriad of evidence-based practices and indigenous wisdoms to meet the unique needs of the diverse populations he serves. Read More >>
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Hiking Terrain / Difficulty Level
The Friends Wilderness Center is a diverse ecosystem of 1600 acres of Blue Ridge forest, criss-crossed by hiking trails and mountain streams. All trails are marked and maintained and most are easy to moderate in difficulty, but are not paved. Participants should be prepared to hike and explore the property throughout the duration of the event, but long hikes and difficult terrain are not a requirement depending on people's comfort levels.
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Program Costs
Program registration is $249 for the whole program and participants need to be registered prior to October 1st, 2025 in order to secure a space in the program. Space is limited to 6 participants and spots are reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis based on deposits received. Program deposit covers the cost of:
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* Licensed healthcare providers and guide wages for 3 days
* Friends Wilderness Center campsite fee for 2 days
* Administrative Fees
* Some meals provided
* Base camp communal supplies
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Camping Equipment
Outdoor Therapeutics has a limited number of gear kits available to participants who do not have their own camping equipment. Gear kits include a two-person tent, tent rain cover, backpack, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and stove with a gas canister. Participants may rent gear kits for an additional $50 at the time of registration.
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Registration
Reserving your space for this program and purchasing gear can happen by selecting the button below. Within 2-3 business days, you will be contacted by one of the guides to complete the appropriate liability forms and to schedule a pre-trip screening.
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Questions before registering?
Please contact bryan@outdoortherapeutics.com if you have questions before making payments.
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