Backcountry Guide . . . Outdoor Educator . . . What’s the Difference?

If you’re considering a career in the field of outdoor education and adventure programming that involves leading groups through remote wilderness areas, your career path will come to a fork in the road where you will face an important choice: Do you want to become a backcountry guide or an outdoor educator?

At first glance, these two roles may appear to be too similar to matter, but they serve distinct purposes. While both require expertise in risk management, their focus and approach differ considerably. In general, the differences boil down to the following:

• A backcountry guide is primarily responsible for leading groups safely through remote, rugged environments, with a focus on navigation, logistics, health, and safety.
• An outdoor educator or field instructor does everything a backcountry guide does but with the added responsibilities of teaching wilderness skills, fostering environmental stewardship, and creating opportunities for individual and group personal growth and learning. 

In this post, we explore the key similarities and differences between these two roles and what each brings to the outdoor experience.

Recognizing the Similarities

Backcountry guides and outdoor educators (field instructors) are more alike than they are similar. They both have a passion for nature and human-powered outdoor recreation and adventure, and they both share their technical outdoor knowledge and skills freely with others. More specifically, backcountry guides and outdoor educators share the following qualities:

• Mastery of technical outdoor skills, such as reading maps, using a compass, planning routes, building shelters, starting fires, backpacking, backcountry cooking, and more
• Ability to evaluate and mitigate risks and provide first aid
• Ability to communicate effectively
• Ability to attain some degree of comfort in uncomfortable environments

They also have similar responsibilities in respect to logistics, food preparation (backcountry cooking), and preparing and maintaining gear. 

Exploring the Differences

The differences between backcountry guides and outdoor educators (field instructors) can be summed up with the old saying, “Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.” 

Backcountry guides give a fish; that is, they do all or most of the heavy lifting for the group — planning, packing, cooking, cleaning up, navigating, and so on. 

Outdoor educators and field instructors teach people to fish; that is, they provide information, guidance, and learning opportunities to make individuals and group members more self-sufficient and improve their leadership skills.

Specifically, backcountry guides and outdoor educators differ in the following ways:

• Both have a primary responsibility to ensure safety, but the outdoor educator / field instructor also establishes learning outcomes and objectives for the group in backcountry health and risk management and provides learning opportunities for group members in these areas.
• The backcountry guide performs tasks for the group including selecting/setting up camp and cooking, whereas the outdoor educator / field instructor provides instruction and support for group members to learn these skills and complete tasks for themselves, including camp selection, shelter set-up, backcountry cooking, and more.
• The backcountry guide makes key decisions for the group regarding changes in routes, schedule, and activities, whereas the outdoor educator / field instructor empowers group members to assume leadership and decision making about routes, schedule, and activities while ensuring that the group meets its expeditionary and developmental objectives.
• The backcountry guide serves as the group’s navigator, ensuring that they follow the planned route(s), whereas the outdoor educator teaches navigation skills and engages group members to share responsibility for navigation on a course. The outdoor educator / field instructor provides oversight and expertise but can allow the group to suffer the natural consequences for poor navigation, assuming the risk level is appropriate.
• The backcountry guide may or may not seek out and use teachable moments to share information about a course area’s flora and fauna, whereas the outdoor educator and field instructor intentionally keeps an eye out for teachable moments to foster curiosity and the sharing of knowledge.
• Planning for an expedition focuses primarily on trip logistics and safety returning participants from the course area, but for an outdoor educator or field instructor, planning also involves generating desired learning outcomes, choosing lessons to meet those outcomes, and planning lessons to ensure that group members achieve their learning objectives.
• During each expedition, leaders develop an understanding of participants’ previous experience and skill level, but outdoor educators and field instructors must accommodate differences in learning styles and choose and develop ways to present information to participants for optimal learning.
• The backcountry guide views participants as “clients,” whereas the outdoor educator views them as “students.”

In short, a backcountry guide is more of a doer, while an outdoor educator/field instructor is more focused on empowering students and course participants and facilitating their development, both as individuals and as a community. Both play essential roles in the world of backcountry adventures and education, and each requires a unique personality and skillset. It is up to you to determine which role is best to your personality, knowledge, experience, and skills.

Outdoor Educator and Field Instructor Training

If you’re interested in a career as an outdoor educator or field instructor, The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) can help. Our Instructor Course covers essential skills such as risk management, expedition planning, curriculum design, lesson planning, outdoor experiential and adventure education principles, wilderness navigation, Leave No Trace, backpacking, campsite selection and management, rock climbing, and sea kayaking. You’ll also get an in-depth application of the NCOAE Curriculum.

Explore more on our Instructor Course page. Additionally, we offer adult leadership expeditions and Gap Semester programs that provide opportunities to enhance your technical outdoor skills and build leadership, communication, and decision-making abilities.

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About the Author: Cameron “Cam” Francisco, MEd, is the Associate Director of Outdoor Education at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). Prior to joining the team at NCOAE, Cam spent 19 years as an independent school educator and administrator. A member of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE), Cam is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and is certified in CPR by the Red Cross. His hobbies include fishing, soccer, skateboarding, hiking, and camping.

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