…Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we’re known nationally and around the world for our consistency in producing highly impactful backcountry climbing, backpacking, kayaking and other outdoor adventures of an educational and team-focused nature. Our highly trained and experienced outdoor educators, field guides — along with our wilderness medicine and…

…One of the most important parts of proper wilderness medicine is the assessment process to determine the extent of your patients injuries….

…Little in the wilderness experience quite compares to sitting around a warm campfire after a day on the trail. Crackling embers, shimmering luminescence, and radiant warmth have an almost primal attraction.  When you take advantage of our teen leadership expeditions, adult leadership expeditions, or our high school summer semester, you’ll experience many campfires. Whether you’re…

…Cultural bias is deeply ingrained in society as a whole. In outdoor education, this bias can be attributed primarily to the following factors…

…Two National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) instructors recently guided an international group of high school students on a 16-day custom outdoor education program in the Alaskan wilderness. The teens, all of whom were enrolled in a youth leadership program in South Korea, got their first introduction to Alaska’s glaciers, jagged mountain ranges,…

…Much like most educational institutions this past year, we find ourselves looking down the road toward new beginnings. And for us here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), that means new wilderness courses, upgraded emergency medicine education courses, and more wilderness medicine education programs. Long before 2020 faded into the rearview,…

…When a group forgets to pack an important piece of outdoor cooking gear, we like to see how problem solving unfolds to keep the expedition moving forward….

…The Wilderness Society — which is way up there near the top of the list for conservation organizations working to protect our nation’s shared wildlands — recently released its list of 20 wilderness areas to see before you die. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the nation’s Wilderness Act, which protects more than…

…Francis Bacon, the Renaissance statesman and philosopher best known for his promotion of the scientific method, is credited with the expression, “Knowledge is power.” But to those of us who prefer to see a world bathed in fresh new adventures, knowledge can actually be a curse. Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure…

…NCOAE is proud to offer a variety of outdoor expeditions and leadership programs for teens. Learn more about our offerings and upcoming appearances for 2024 here!…

…When next you find yourself in a wilderness area, whether that be at a national park in another state or a local or state park closer to home, take a moment to look at the folks around you while you’re enjoying the flora, fauna and pristine views. What you’re likely to notice is a lack…

…Maps cover the floor like carpet. I’m perched on the edge of a couch in the back room of a surf shop, watching the Weather Channel. I jot down timing, Learn how to monitor weather for outdoor adventures using a proven framework to identify risks, build knowledge, and make safer go-or-no decisions every trip….

…Happiness is an inside job. And on the flip side of that coin, depression — a mood disorder — is a condition that also primarily originates from inside our minds. Happiness is an action word. It requires a decision. And happiness does not have to wait. Take the winter months, for example. If you are…

…One of the best parts of an outdoor educator instructor course is when the group of participants comes together — either spontaneously throughout the day, or at the end of a solid day of training — and we all benefit from the unorganized sharing of one’s individual talents and skills. These experiential-based skill-sharing sessions —…

…Apparently, I spent three quarters of last year and a quarter of this year mostly sitting on the couch. I held a beverage in one hand, chips, cheese and crackers in the other (and yes, I can hold that much). Adding new meaning to the term “binge-watching,” I viewed dozens of subtitled, multi-season detective series…

…For those outdoor education organizations — or for those enthusiasts who live for a well-planned wilderness experience — the inclusion of a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) on the trail brings an additional layer of risk mitigation to any backcountry experience. As for the question posed in the headline above, one of the primary reasons for…

If you’ve ever heard Led Zeppelin’s 1969 classic “Communication Breakdown,” you know how quickly things can go sideways when people aren’t on the same page.  In this case, the second greatest rock ’n’ roll band of all time (yeah, I said it and we can discuss that issue later) was singing about communication in a…

…Strange and interesting things are afoot in the human-powered outdoor recreation community, and if you’ve been paying attention to issues surrounding the use of wilderness areas lately, what follows here might not come as a surprise. What has emerged is a growing division among outdoor enthusiasts as to whether or not mountain bikes should be…

…The economy is booming and we here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) find ourselves in the position of seeking a few part-time instructors. Specifically, we’re looking for instructors to supplement our expanding team of EMT professionals who teach courses at our North Carolina headquarters. Among the many courses we offer is…

…Editor’s Note: This year, the NCOAE blog is going to cover a variety of topics, written by a variety of our staff members. Topics will include best practices in Adventure Education (both in and out of wilderness settings), land use, history of course areas, flora and fauna, cooking, and why us “dirtbags” may be the…