Request Catalog Contact Us

Calendar Photos

Wilderness Survival Skills Courses

"I am now comfortable in the woods like I never have been before. Being lost does not scare me as much as it used to, for I know that if I was lost I could create shelter, make fire, and take care of my most basic needs. A price cannot be placed on this type of confidence with wilderness survival skills."
-A.J.

Learn skills that can save your life, with our experienced staff to guide you. Build shelters from natural materials, locate and purify water, create fire from friction, and master wilderness survival skills. Gain knowledge of the key elements needed for survival in the outdoors unaided by modern tools.

Learn more about our Wilderness Survival Skills offerings...

Our Wilderness Survival Skills Courses

Winter Wilderness Survival and Snow Tracking - Feb. 8-10, 2008
Revel in the beauty of the Olympic mountains as you learn winter wilderness survival skills such as shelter construction, snow travel techniques and winter safety, and track cougars, marten, coyotes and other wildlife in the North Cascades this winter!

Weekend Walkbout Survival Course - May 16-18, 2008
If you have ever wanted to relate to the Earth without the conveniences of our modern world, this is the wilderness survival experience for you! Lessons will be learned from the landscape as the opportunities arise and we will explore the survival skills of creating fire, finding/making shelter, harvesting wild foods, and navigation techniques.

Summer Walkbout Survival Expedition - June 22-28, 2008
Explore the Central Washington high desert, experiencing the freedom of walking across a landscape and trusting the earth to provide for all of your needs! During this week-long course, you will learn and apply wilderness survival skills as the opportunity and need arises. Learning navigation techniques and fire-making, finding and constructing shelter, locating wild edibles and water by identifying of indicator species; this challenging wilderness survival course gives you the opportunity to experience the abundance nature provides to those with the awareness to notice.

NatureSkills Weeklong - July 13-19, 2008
Get a jump on your skills with Wilderness Awareness School’s most experienced instructors as we learn fundamental tools for connecting with and studying nature. During this week-long course, you will learn shelter construction, fire making, crafts for primitive outdoor living and other wilderness survival skills basics. You will also gain skills in tracking, birding, studying edible and medicinal plants, and exploring the natural world. It’s a wonderful mix of wilderness survival training, other outdoor skills, and nature awareness.

Kamana Naturalist Training Program - At your own pace
The Kamana Naturalist Training Program is a comprehensive home study course that covers the naturalist background needed to engage in the wilderness arts, including wilderness survival skills and primitive living skills, wildlife tracking, bird language, traditional herbalism, and naturalist mentoring. Begin with Kamana One: Exploring Natural Mystery. During this short course you will experience two weeks of awareness exercises and six areas of ecological study using a field guide and audio series narrated by Jon Young. Begin to see the world through "native eyes."

Outdoor Instructor Training - The Earth Mentor Program - June 26-Aug. 7, 2008
This six-week outdoor instructor course offers foundational tools for becoming a meaningful mentor in the lives of children. You will receive training in Wilderness Awareness School's unique educational method, gain experience teaching children as an Assistant Instructor at our summer nature camps, hone your wilderness skills and learn new ones, and even go on an expedition! College credit is now available as an option to students in this course.

Our Year-long Survival Course and more - Residential Program - Sept. 2008-June 2009
Our core intensive course is nine months of thorough grounding in every aspect of our curriculum, spent as part of a supportive community of fellow learners. It is perhaps unique as a survival school: the hard skills necessary to journey into nature without modern gear are blended with the naturalist knowledge to feel at home wherever you venture. At the Residential Program, you will develop the eyes, the ears, and the awareness with which to help our culture move forward into the future in a healthy and sustainable way.

Some articles of interest from our NatureSkills.com site:
Wilderness Survival Kit - by George Miller
Water Purification Processes - by Cathy Ellis
Survival Story: Staying Warm in the Extreme Cold - by Dale Kiselyk

Registration Information
Calendar
Scholarship Information