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Summer Residential Intensives:
Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship
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Recreational Administration Internship
Youth Mentoring CIT Program
Fall-Spring Residential Intensives:
Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey
Permaculture Pioneer Case Study
Future Scout Trackers Training
Wild Healers Herbal Exploration
Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation leading to the Stone Age Living Experience
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Wolf Camp was voted 1 of 2 Best Camps in the Northwest Family News Reader's Poll of 2001, the only year they ran a poll, and we were also chosen as one of the five "best camps ever" by YM Magazine in its March 2003 issue.
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Future Scout
Trackers Training
2009-10
Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:
• Program Dates, Deadlines, Prerequisites;
• Goals of the Future Scout Trackers Training;
• Skills Covered In This Program;
• Program Schedule & Tuition Breakdown;
• Program Genesis;
• How to Apply for this Program;
Future Scout Tracker Training Dates: August 17, 2009 - August 15, 2010 with optional extension to October 31, 2010, has the prerequisite of successful completion of any of our summer residential intensives. We have availability for 4 adults, or teens with parental support, in this program for 2009-10, so reserve your spot by applying right away.
Registration Deadlines: Apply simultaneously for the Future Scout Trackers Training and for any of our summer residential intensives (Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship, Permaculture Pioneer Facilitators Program, Recreational Administrative Internship, or the Youth Mentoring CIT Program for ages 13-17) and the total cost will be $3,000.
If you successfully complete a summer residential intensive, there is no extra fee for the fall-spring Future Scout Trackers Training, except for 10 hrs/wk work trade while living on campus. In addition, if you have already graduated from wildlife study or earth skills courses in the past, then you will receive a discount on your fees. During fall-spring, there are some travel and food expenses, required health insurance, and optional fees for participation in external herbal training courses or conferences.
You will have greater success with this program if you have experience with as many of the following activities as possible:
• Hunting and Fishing
• Wildlife Study (in-the-field biology classes, sit-spot sensory awareness exercises, etc)
• Orienteering (map reading, aidless navigation, etc)
• Search & Rescue; Lifeguarding; Wilderness First Aid, EMT Training
• Martial Arts Training (moral code, etc.); Ballet/Dance (balance work, etc)
• Writing & Journaling; Photography & Recording; Sketching & Drawing
• Time Outdoors (especially growing up playing in the woods, deserts, or beaches around your home; harvesting fruits and vegetables, fish and animals both domestic and wild, as a youth; plus taking adventures on the mountains, prairies, and waterways of this beautiful earth as a young adult)
• Community Living Experiences
• Wild Edible Foods & Herbal Studies
• Pioneering Skills (use tools safely and efficiently, etc.)
• Wilderness Survival; Primitive Craftwork
Overview of Benefits
The Future Scout Trackers Training is open to adults, and to teens with parental support. The program focuses on participation in four week-long group learning experiences in the fall, sixteen classes which run 9-5 on Mondays & Thursdays in the fall and spring, at least six half-day individual mentoring sessions with your program facilitator, thirty-eight independent study weeks at camp (16 required, 22 optional) plus optional participation in any of the other courses in which space remains available during the autumn through spring.
Note taking (or tape recording) during every class is required, along with weekly blogging. Attendance at earth skills gatherings taking place around the country are optional, travel expenses are shared, and tuition for those are at your own expense. Your independent study coursework follows the field exercises in Wolf Journey Parts 1, 2, 4 and 6.
The volunteer work you do over the summer is the reason that you may complimentarily attend any of the courses we offer in the fall and spring for as long as your relationship to the Wolf Camp community remains healthy and happy. Of course whenever living on campus between fall and spring, we all contribute at least 10 hrs/wk work trade, and we cover our own travel and some food expenses, required health insurance, and fees for participation in external courses.
And finally, graduates become eligible to receive some of the highest teaching salaries available anywhere in the outdoor educational field as a Wolf Camp instructor, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills.
Goals of the Trackers Training
The mission of the program is for participants to become proficient trackers, and for those who want to take their skills to the next level, proficient "scouts" of the future. Before that, it is simply important to realize that it is your lifestyle which reflects who you are, and since you will be studying the earth regularly, your lifestyle will be that of a tracker, so you will immediately be considered a tracker as soon as you graduate from one of our summer residential intensives and begin your Trackers Training in the fall.
Trackers are constantly aware of the entirety of a situation. They use "wide-angle" vision in order to concentrate on what is around them as well as directly in front of them. Great trackers flourish due to their expanded awareness. Trackers also learn nearly everything about their subject through its prints. A subject's history, size, strength, habits, state of mind and intention are all written in its tracks. Trackers also recognize patterns in every situation, and they come to anticipate that animals, and even humans, will behave in the same way over and over.
Later, you can think about learning the ancient art of the scout. These are the people who always know how a situation will turn out, and they position themselves in the best location for the outcome. From the outside, it looks like they are behaving like everyone else, yet they do have hidden skills – the skills of a tracker.
The key - the mark of a good scout - is attitude. Scouts are peaceful warriors who warn their people of danger, and who keep their people in the best locations to thrive off the land. A scout needs the knowledge of a naturalist, the awareness of a tracker, the sensitivity of an herbalist, and the attitude of an elder. They serve a role which is reserved for the most honest of people, since the diverse training they receive could otherwise be easily manipulated toward negative uses.
Through tests of mental clarity, emotional awareness, and physical aptitude, people can earn the right to learn the knowledge of the scout. Honoring the gift of air by breathing deeply when others panic is the best way to assess whether you have the strength to be a scout.
The first test a potential scout must pass is the ability to navigate on land while avoiding injury from falls and bonks. Feeling lost is the most common way people begin to panic and get themselves into trouble. But you can maintain a scout's attitude for a long time, simply by knowing how to navigate.
Coming to know the nature of water is the next test of a scout, as water is also direly important in survival situations. Water injuries are the second biggest danger in nature after falls and bonks. Negotiating life's swamps, rivers, and seashore riptides is often easiest by going with the flow of the water, as you will discover.
Scouts also know how to stay invisible. You'll learn camouflage and the voices of the birds for this purpose. But scouts can also make invisible shelter, and in order to do so, they must know how to erase clues that a tracker can follow, while avoiding damage to plants even when using them for shelter.
Finally, scouts gain training in many crafts, and some go on to become specialists in a skill such as hunting. Even one year cannot do justice to the many skills of the herbalist, hunter and artisan that a scout must learn, but you will begin the process of craftwork as all scouts must in order to become a jack-of-all-trades. However, it is tracking that is the foundation of the scout, and these skills must be reviewed every day.
To realize these ideals, you will need to begin to practice the tracker's lifestyle, based on the rhythms of your micro-climate and bio-region, as well as on the rhythms of the animals and plants around you. You will help develop a wall-size calendar to document the seasonal patterns of all your relations in the wilderness and society, while also developing your own personal medicine wheel of health.
Wolf Journey author Chris Chisholm already has field exercises lined up for you to complete from Wolf Journey Part Two - Trail of the Tracker. We will also use resources by Mark Elbroch, James Halfpenny, Tom Brown, Jon Young, Paul Rezendes, Joel Hardin, and other trackers, birders, and naturalists as our guides.
You and your fellow students study field exercises, some of which you will do alone, some together with a group here, and sometimes with Chris' guidance. You will graduate from the program once you have completed a minimum required amount of coursework which is part of the above activities, and also participated in the week-long Ultimate Tracker: Endangered Species course which runs in July during the second summer you are with us.
No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your health, including rest and rejuvenation, will be the priority. The goal is to always develop ourselves into more effective trackers and scouts.
Specialty Skills Learned
• Wildlife Tracking & Animal Surveying (identification, trailing, aging, interpretation)
• Birding & Bird Language (academic and song-to-alarm interpretations)
• Naturalist Sketching & Journaling (using sit spots, drawing instruction, quick journaling strategies)
• Skills of the Ancient Scout (sensory awareness, stealthy movement, camouflage, games)
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• Political Environmentalism (left and right wing strategies, legislative and artistic strategies)
Other Skills Introduced
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter (debris hut, lean-to, wickiup, thatch hut, earth lodge, split cedar cabins, including fire drafting strategies)
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction (bow drill, hand drill, fire plow, flint & steel)
• Primitive Tool Making (from harvested stones, bones, wood)
• Bow & Arrow Making (survival bows, self bows, lumber bows, fletching, lashing, etc.)
• Primitive Fishing (wiering, netting, spearing, bow fishing, hand fishing, hook and line, gorges, bullfrogging)
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making (double and triple reverse wrap using nettle, fireweed, cedar, kelp seaweed)
• Primitive Hunting & Trapping (bow and arrow, rabbit stick, at-latl, ethics, strategies, butchering)
• Hide Tanning (wet and dry scraping, brain and other high-tannin methods, hair on and off)
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
Earth Skills Educational Skills
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts
• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
Schedule (see one of the summer cooperative intensives pages for your schedule from June-August which must be completed before embarking on the Future Scout Trackers Training schedule)
Take a look at our Calendar for a visual perspective, and click on Training Camp Weeks for descriptions of initial courses. International Students: The INS just added some extra hurdles, so please inquire as to the latest status on obtaining a visa for study with us.
Your summer volunteer work during our youth camp season, though the best education in its own right, also results in the following benefits:
The schedule for the fall-spring Future Scout Trackers Training runs from August 17, 2009 - August 15, 2010 with optional extension to October 31, 2010. Our program is designed for you to arrive at Wolf Camp in May or June, receive intensive training during summer camps, then track-track-track through the fall, winter and spring, plus put your skills to the test during your second summer with us. In reality, you are welcome to extend your Trackers Training to last as long as you wish, staying until it is manifest, for as long as your relationship with the Wolf Camp community remains healthy and happy.
Again, there is no fee required for the following schedule as long as you successfully completed one of the summer cooperative residential intensives, and you continue to contribute 10 hrs/wk work trade in exchange for living at camp. Travel and some food expenses, along with your health insurance and care, are your own responsibility, as are fees for optional participation in external training courses which we may attend together
• August 17-23 Attend and assist with the GeoTRIP overnight youth camp, accomplishing a key goal of overviewing the many wonderous bioregions in our state.
• August 25-29 Attend the following adult group project: Ultimate Survivalist: Harvesting Preparations, Primitive Test and Hunter Education Options.
• September 1-5 Attend the following alumni group project: Archery Hunting.
• Monday, Sept 7: Wolf Journey Reflections, Wilderness Medicine & Mushrooms required class.
• Tuesday, Sept 8: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, Sept 9: Preparing for the Stone Age - Processing Plants & Animals, Shelter Building and Trapping recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, Sept 10: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, Sept 11: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• Sept 12-19: You can choose to study Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, or travel with us to the Rabbitstick primitive skills rendezvous at your own expense.
• Sunday, September 20: You can complimentarily attend our International Day of Peace & Equinox Bonfire, Medicine Lodge & Feast for alumni.
• Sept 21-28: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator.
• Monday, Sept 29: Wolf Journey Reflections, Wilderness Medicine & Mushrooms required class.
• Tuesday, Sept 30: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, Oct 1: Preparing for the Stone Age - Processing Plants & Animals, Shelter Building and Trapping recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, Oct 2: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, Oct 3: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• October 3-12: You can choose to study Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, or travel to the Falling Leaves Rendezvous with us at your own expense.
• October 13-17 You can complimentarily attend the following alumni group project at your own travel expense: Hunting & Harvesting the Dry Side.
• October 17-19 You can travel to the Okanogan Family Barter Faire or the International Tracking Symposium with us at your own expense.
• Monday, Oct 20: Wolf Journey Reflections, Wilderness Medicine & Mushrooms required class.
• Tuesday, Oct 21: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, Oct 22: Preparing for the Stone Age - Processing Plants & Animals, Shelter Building and Trapping recommend class if space remains available.
• Thursday, Oct 23: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, Oct 24: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• October 25-26 You can complimentarily attend our 12th Annual Harvest Party for alumni, friends and family.
• Oct 27 - Nov 2: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator.
• Nov 3-7: Complimentarily attend the following alumni group project: Pioneer & Primitive Living Experiences.
• Nov 10-14: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator.
• Nov 17 - Dec 19: Optional independent study weeks to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade when living on campus.
• Saturday, Dec 20: You can complimentarily participate in our Solstice Sweat for alumni.
• Dec 21 - Jan 7: Optional complimentary campus living to participate in our holiday dreaming project.
• January 8-11: You can participate in our alumni envisioning retreat in exchange for 5 hours of work trade.
• January 12 - March 5: Optional independent study weeks to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade when living on campus, and/or attend optional earth skills and permaculture gatherings at your own expense to further your education.
• March 6-8: Cooperative Intensives Reorientation, with tentative trip to the Mountain Man Rendezvous here in Monroe at your own expense.
• Monday, March 9: Wolf Journey Reflections and the Hidden Wilderness required class.
• Tuesday, March 10: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, March 11: Wilderness Medicine and Grand Projects of the Stone Age recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, March 12: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, March 13: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• March 16-20: In exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, participate in the following optional events: Group meeting and mentoring on Monday; St. Patrick's Day party on Tuesday; rebuilding the medicine lodge on Wednesday, equinox sweat on Thursday and equinox wandering day on Friday.
• March 23-27: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator.
• Monday, March 30: Wolf Journey Reflections and the Hidden Wilderness required class.
• Tuesday, March 31: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, April 1: Wilderness Medicine and Grand Projects of the Stone Age recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, April 2: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, April 3: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• April 4-12: Optional independent study week to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade when living on campus.
• April 13-19: Optional week to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and/or attend the Rivercane earth skills rendezvous at your own expense.
• Monday, April 20: Wolf Journey Reflections and the Hidden Wilderness required class.
• Tuesday, April 21: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, April 22: Wilderness Medicine and Grand Projects of the Stone Age recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, April 23: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, April 24: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• April 25 - May 3: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator.
• Monday, May 4: Wolf Journey Reflections and the Hidden Wilderness required class.
• Tuesday, May 5: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, May 6: Wilderness Medicine and Grand Projects of the Stone Age recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, May 7: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, May 8: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• May 9-18: Optional week to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade
• May 16-18: Optional travel with us to the Native Shores Rendezvous at your own expense.
• May 18-25: Study the Wolf Journey Field Exercises and Tracking Projects in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade, and schedule a half day mentoring session with your program facilitator sometime mon-fri.
• Tuesday, May 26: Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting optional class if space remains available.
• Wednesday, May 27: Wilderness Medicine and Grand Projects of the Stone Age recommended class if space remains available.
• Thursday, May 28: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands is the core class of your program.
• Friday, May 29: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design optional class if space remains available.
• Monday, June 1: Wolf Journey Reflections and the Hidden Wilderness required class.
• June 13 - July 4: Start putting your skills to the test during the Earth Skills Proficiency Challenge and complete a review of your safety procedures during the following two adult training weeks.
• July 5 - August 15: Attend Tracking Endangered Species, Search & Rescue; help guide youth attending Living with Primitive Food, Fire & Shelter camp; enjoy Sailding with Sealife - Marine Mammals, Fishing & Foraging from Kayaaks; finish your craftwork projects during the Stone Age Artisan camp; guide participants attending the Alpine Quest; and take your skills to the next level, either assisting youth attending Secrets of the Ancient Scout, or attending the Ultimate Scout yourself.
• Aug 16 - Nov 7: Optional continuance of your tracking and scouting projects to bring your learning full circle, such as intently hunting using your skills, and celebrate the success of your experience.
Genesis of the Future Scout Trackers Training.
"It all comes back to tracking" - Nikki. Would you like some mind-blowing inspiration? Click here for a Written Message from Nikki that will show you what can come from tracking.
Click Here if you would like to listed to an Audo Recorded Greeting from Nikki for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system, and there is also an Audio Recorded Camp Greeting from Chris for you to listen to if you like as well.
This is the pilot year of the Future Scout Trackers Training, and we hope to include yours amongst the first set of names to list here as we develop a history for this program together!
Application Process for the Future Scout Trackers Training
To apply, first call Chris Chisholm at 360-799-1997 or 360-319-6892, and send him a short initial email with your full name, address, phone numbers, and specific interest. When you are ready to apply, begin by choosing one of the following summer residential intensives, and follow the application directions found at these links:
• Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship
• Permaculture Pioneer Facilitators Program
• Recreational Administrative Internship
• Youth Mentoring CIT Program
Summer residential intensive graduates have all become my friends, meaning that we mutually depend on one another, just as a anyone can depend on a true scout. Although I am a generalist in the earth skills field, tracking is where I started, and it remains my absolute favorite activity. The Future Scout Trackers Training is the pinnacle of my work over a decade of developing Wolf Camp, and I invite you to enjoy this life-long pursuit with me. I hope you can follow this road far enough to consider yourself one of those mysterious scouts who are out there protecting us, and protecting the earth. - Chris
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