Can you plan all aspects of your first trip, next trip, or dream trip — and without making errors, taking too long, or forgetting key parts?
Successful backpacking trips are typically planned, not improvised. A thoughtful approach towards gear, food, maps, permits, travel, fitness, and skills will increase your safety margin and trip quality, and will actually create more potential for adventure — by solving foreseeable problems beforehand, you can respond fully to the true unknowns.
On March 24th, we start our first 2025 session of Plan Like A Pro, an online course in which we guide students through a holistic trip planning framework:
- Defining trip parameters,
- Researching likely conditions,
- Selecting gear,
- Planning meals,
- Creating or finding maps and guides, and
- Developing skills and fitness,
The curriculum is designed to be applicable for every location, season, experience level, age and gender. All assignments are reviewed by our instructor team, and the course includes three virtual meetings (gear, maps, and post-course wrap-up).
We launched the program in 2020, and more than 400 students have completed it. Read 184 testimonials. Some students have used the framework to plan their first-ever backpacking trip, while others have planned multi-week or -month thru-hikes on long trails and high routes.
Find all the details, including curriculum, dates, and course fee here.
How to register
- Complete the registration form.
- Submit the course fee.
If we can help you purchase the right gear the first time, avoid tens of hours down an internet rabbit hole, or maximize the potential of your vacation time, or help you avoid an evacuation, the course will pay for itself several times over.
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