Backcountry

Editor’s Note: This post begins our Outdoor Skills Essentials series, created for anyone who wants to become more capable and prepared in backcountry environments. Each post introduces practical concepts and skills that contribute to thoughtful preparation, responsible participation, and greater confidence while living and traveling outdoors.

Long before a group reaches the trailhead for a challenging day hike that concludes at the peak of one of Colorado’s 58 Fourteeners, there’s a ton of work to do. That also goes for a multi-day backcountry expedition such as the ones we offer here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). 

Gear needs to be sorted, the route studied, weather checked, meals planned, and group equipment divided among packs. Participants also need to consider water sources, potential campsites, clothing, travel time, and what conditions or wildlife they may encounter along the way.

All of this happens before anyone takes the first step on the trail, yet each decision from that point onward contributes to what happens once the group starts moving.

At NCOAE, outdoor skills begin with this type of preparation. Participants learn skills and put them to use in environments where their decisions affect how they live and travel in wilderness. Before those decisions involve navigation, campcraft, climbing technique, or other skills in the field, participants need to think through where they’re going and what they’ll need, as well as how they’ll contribute to the group.

Outdoor Skills Begin With an Expedition Mentality

Our Outdoor Skills Essentials curriculum introduces Expedition Mentality as a “mindset of planning, preparing, and acting in order to sustain the emotional and physical safety and comfort of self and community.”

A backcountry experience (even one lasting less than 24 hours) puts people in an (more…)

Flash floods. Drought. Heat domes. Triple-digit heat indexes. Fire clouds. Those aren’t predictions from some distant climate scenario, they’re terms pulled from today’s headlines, actively transforming how we approach wilderness adventures and outdoor expeditions.

Some of these news stories hit close to home for anyone embarking on outdoor adventure programs or remote excursions. In late August of this year, a catastrophic flash flood triggered by a glacial collapse swept through a mountainous region of Nepal popular with trekkers, killing hundreds and leaving thousands missing.

Days later, a violent thunderstorm sent floodwaters roaring through Bright Angel Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, killing two hikers, destroying footbridges, and forcing evacuations, underscoring why backcountry safety and wilderness medicine are more critical than ever.

Nature has always challenged, and sometimes punished, those daring enough to explore remote backcountry destinations. But rapidly changing atmospheric conditions have raised the stakes, even in more (more…)

Taking a well-deserved adult vacation offers joyful predictability. There’s time off to do what you want, visit places that you’ve maybe never seen before, and return home with some great photos of friends and family. Then, for most of us, it’s back to a predictable grind. By mid-week, we’re back to being the same employee or boss that we were when we packed up and headed out for vacation. 

What The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) offers outdoor enthusiasts — including adults who are curious about backcountry travel — is an alternative to your typical adult vacation. We prepare, set up, and guide life changing adventure-based adult education courses for anyone looking to learn new skills — or those sharpening existing skills in the outdoors, enabling them to return to daily life with new insights into leadership and how to protect our natural resources. 

We can even help you pitch your trip as a benefit to your employer. Who knows? Adventure-based education may be the future for your organization’s workplace employee engagement. (more…)

Here’s an outdoor educator’s nightmare: You’re walking through the woods and you spot a bunch of teens climbing barefoot on a rocky cliff leading to water. Other inexperienced campers clumsily tend a campfire that is about to get out of control. Still others in this group stand waist-deep in a river, oblivious to the fast-moving water just feet away, or the possibility of divers above them.

You look around and there doesn’t appear to be any adults, instructors or guides at this nightmarish campsite. What’s wrong with this picture?

First off, if you’re a professional outdoor educator or backcountry guide, you’re probably tempted to walk in amongst this mayhem and ask these youngsters what group they’re with and then ask them what it is they think they’re doing?

The Practice of Risk Management

Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we take risk and site management seriously. To us, it’s far more than just a (more…)