My seven year-old daughter attended the Wilderness Skills Camp and was absolutely thrilled with her experience. She was so excited to tell me about the adventures of each day, and always looked forward to returning. Under the expert guidance of Brian and Toni, I watched my daughter become more confident and connected to the world around her. It feels very important to me as a parent to expose my children to the slower pace of nature, to compensate for the very structured, fast-paced world we live in today.
Brian and Toni's depth of experience and commitment to building each child's relationship to the natural world is a rare and precious gift. I highly recommend this camp!
Laura McCormick, Ph.D.
Parent and Clinical Psychologist |
Wilderness Skills Institute is unlike anything else
 Matthew Downey, 9th grade
Sir Francis Drake High School,
San Anselmo, CA
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"The time I spend doing camps with Brian at Wilderness Skills Institute is unlike anything else I have ever done. The first camp I took with Brian was a week long summer camp, and I remember after the first day feeling like I wanted to learn everything possible about what he had to share. One of my favorite things that Brian teaches is the friction fire; it is such a gratifying process to create fire out of nothing more than two pieces of wood and it is useful as well. Archery is another of my favorite things he teaches. It is really cool to learn to use a bow and arrow; it is a fulfilling sensation to feel as if one has control over the arrow. One of my favorite things about the way that Brian and the rest of the staff mentors us is that it is a total immersion, they always have useful tips or pieces of knowledge, so I always end up learning way more than is just within the domain of the specific activities we may be doing. For instance, when learning to track an animal, Brian gathered leaves off a plant that we saw along the way, later that day we used those leaves to build the tiny speck of glowing coal we made with our hands into a fire. When asked what it was he asked us questions about the plant, with those answers and the field guide I discovered what it was. That night he put a bundle of the mug wart into the coat he was going to use as a pillow, when he was asked why, he handed me some and said “Try it”" |
Programs Featured at Wilderness Skills Institute, LLC |
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 Winter and Spring Break Wilderness Day and Overnight Wilderness Camps for all ages
- Dates:
- Winter Break 4 Feb 20 - 24
- Spring Break 1 April 2 - 6
- Spring Break 2 April 9 - 13
- Times: Drop-off 9 AM Pick-up 3 PM
- Location; Santa Cruz Mountains CA
- Ages 6 - 8, 9 - 12, and 13 - 18
- Price: Day camp $450; Overnight camp $900
These coed wilderness week long camps offer participants a great opportunity to develop a deeper connection with nature and greatly increase their skills.
The winter wilderness camps will build shelter and learn to be warm and comfortable in the north coast winters. In spring they will return to their shelter and continue their journey with nature practicing the nature core routines, wild crafting, orienteering, and animal tracking skills.
We will spend our days exploring the creeks, meadows, forests, bay, and ocean, learning hands on skills, animal tracking, wilderness safety, navigation, wild crafting, playing scout games, learning survival skills, science-based natural history, rappelling, archery, blacksmithing, and more.
Those that are in our overnight wilderness camps will also have camp fires, storytelling, night hikes, astronomy, remote camping trips, early morning bird sits and animal tracking. These camps offer participants the same great opportunity to connect with nature as our day camps with the added experience that only an overnight camp can provide.
Completing this camp, with instructor approval, may make the participant eligible to attend 4 Fires Rendezvous For Teens. |
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 Overnight Weekend Wilderness Skills Camps for Teens and Pre-Teens
- Dates:
- February 17 - 19
- March 16 - 18
- April 20 - 22
- Times: Drop-off 9 AM Pick-up 3 PM
- Location; Santa Cruz Mountains CA
- Ages: 9 - 12 and 13 - 18
- Fees: Pre-Teens and Teen Mentors $100, Teens $150
These wilderness camps are a series of weekends in pristine wilderness of Santa Cruz County. Each month theses coed camps will have different focus; each developing the skills and tools necessary for primitive living in the forest. This series of wilderness camps will prepare the pre-teens and teens for our 7 day intensive summer wilderness camps. Teens come in on Friday, pre-teens on Saturday. Teen mentors are by invitation, they have been a part of 4 Fires Rendevous For Teens or other approved WSI programs. Teen mentors add to the experience of the other members by modeling skills and helping when needed.
We do this through intensive hands-on wilderness living skills training, mentoring people how to harvest and transform the gifts of nature for everyday needs such as tools, fire, shelter, food.... in a conscientious and sustainable manner, as our ancestors did for 100's of thousands of years.
Completing 3 of these camps, with instructor approval, may make the participant eligible to attend 4 Fires Rendezvous For Teens.
These sessions will include:
- Wild foods and medicinal plants
- Friction fire, making natural cordage
- Wood, stone, and bone tools and utensils of everyday life
- Structure building
- Bow and arrow making
- Tracking, hunting, and trapping methods
- Hide tanning, hide glue
- Clothing and moccasin making
- Stone and bone tools
- Basketry and containers
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