Guided Trips

Planning & Field Curriculum

All of our trips are learning-intensive, regardless of length, location, or the group’s experience level or fitness. Learning occurs at two times:

  1. Beforehand, through the Planning Curriculum, and
  2. In-person, through the Field Curriculum.

Planning Curriculum

We are firm believers that the most successful trips are planned, not winged. Certainly, you can wing a trip and still be successful. But your odds of success will increase if you are willing to do some planning beforehand; with boundary-pushing trips, it’s probably a flat-out requirement.

The Planning Curriculum is primarily designed to prepare you for your trip with us. But it can be easily replicated for personal trips afterwards. In fact, we have re-tooled this material as a standalone online course, Plan Like A Pro.

Participation in the Planning Curriculum is required. For you, it’s part of the learning process. And for us and for your group, it’s assurance that everyone is properly prepared when they arrive at the trailhead.

Mechanics

To share the Planning Curriculum, we primarily use Google Classroom, an online teaching platform that is used by thousands of schools and educational organizations.

One of our guides manages the Planning Curriculum and reviews your assignments.

The start date of the curriculum depends on the start date of your trip.

Workload

The topics are spread out over nine weeks and divided into bite-sized modules.

We estimate that your cumulative time commitment will range from six to 20 hours, depending on your existing skill set, level of engagement, and history with us. This range assumes that you join us for two video calls, each 30-40 minutes long. Alumni and advanced backpackers will usually be near the low end of this range. If you are new to backpacking and if you go down multiple rabbit holes, you will be closer to the high end.

Modules

During the Planning Curriculum you will learn how to:

  • Train for your trip,
  • Create a trip planner document,
  • Assess the likely conditions on your trip,
  • Select clothing and gear that is appropriate for the likely conditions on your trip,
  • Plan breakfasts, snacks, lunches, and dinners,
  • Plan a route,
  • Create custom topographic maps, and
  • Download digital maps to your phone for offline use.

In addition, we use the curriculum to share important trip information, including:

  • Travel logistics, including a ride- and room-sharing system,
  • Fitness expectations,
  • Gear library reservations and vendor discounts, and
  • Skill tutorials to give you a head-start on the Field Curriculum

Field Curriculum

On shorter trips, a greater portion of your time will be spent learning. On longer trips, the learning is concentrated at the beginning (which conveniently slows us down, allowing us to ease our bodies into the trip and to eat some of our pack weight); in the middle and end, the goal is to apply and master these new skills.

Note that all the subjects listed below may not be taught due to land regulations or environmental limitations. For example, there will be no fire-starting clinic in an area where open fires are banned, and no river fording clinic in an area where there are no notable rivers. However, we can certainly still discuss these topics.

At the trailhead

  • Gear & supply check
  • Packing a backpack: load distribution & organization
  • Pack fitting

Leave No Trace

  • Durable surfaces
  • Cryptobiotic soil
  • Alpine vegetation
  • Campfires
  • Pooping and TP

Hiking

  • Layering
  • Hiking efficiency: effort and breaks
  • Trekking poles: sizing
  • Trekking poles: when (not) to use
  • Foot care: blisters and maceration

Environmental challenges

  • Talus and scree
  • Slabs and slickrock
  • Bushwhacks
  • Early-season snow
  • Creek crossings
  • Cold-and-wet conditions
  • Hazards: avalanches, lightning, floods

Navigation

  • “The toolkit”: equipment, skills, and experience
  • Map reading: scale, contours, shading
  • Dead reckoning
  • Compass: orient a map, and find and transfer bearings
  • Altimeter watches
  • GPS apps
  • Relative strengths of each navigational tool
  • On-trail navigation
  • Off-trail navigation & route-finding

Camping

  • Campsite selection
  • Shelter types: pitching instructions, pros/cons
  • Bed making: layering, contouring
  • Stove operation
  • Fire-starting
  • Knot tying
  • Quick-start morning tactics
  • Protocols for leftover food
  • Overnight food storage

Nourishment

  • How much food
  • What types of food

Hydration

  • Water planning
  • Finding water
  • Water purification
  • Filling techniques with different bottles
  • Water quality

Personal health & safety

  • Personal hygiene
  • Backcountry bidet
  • Women-specific topics (e.g. menstruation, UTI’s, hair care)
  • Overuse injury prevention & care
  • Clothes washing
  • Poison ivy identification

First aid and emergency

  • First aid philosophy & supplies
  • Emergency communication
  • Gear care and repair

Gear care

  • Reset dry
  • Pot cleaning
  • Protecting air-filled sleeping pads
  • Shelter + guyline storage

Wildlife and insects

  • Biting insects (mostly mosquitoes)
  • Bear protocols

Naturalism and history

  • Geology
  • Glaciology
  • Watersheds
  • Plants & trees
  • Wildlife
  • Birding
  • Human history