Outdoor Skills and Leadership on the North Country Trail

Prerequisites: Students should have the ability to carry a backpack (including 30-40 lbs of equipment, food, and supplies) for at least 3-5 miles per day. Some previous experience in the wilderness, hiking or backpacking experience is helpful, but not required. Have a blast in an exciting outdoors-based leadership program while developing outdoor skills, confidence, and trust. Monday morning participants will be spend time planning out details for the class's final trip. Then, we will head to the North Country Trail to begin our multi-day backpacking exploration. Skills learned while on trail will include water filtration methods, proper packing of equipment, cooking in the outdoors, proper care of food in the wilderness, and much more! Participants will gain a greater understanding of working with groups in the outdoors, as well some basic risk management tools. Expect to hike multiple miles each day, with many elevation gains and losses over the course of the week. Views are impressive, wildlife is abundant, and the hiking is great. Participants will be breaking camp each day and hiking to a new camp for the evening. Participants will be expected to carry their own personal gear, as well as a portion of group gear and food for the week. What to bring: This course requires an extensive packing list of outdoor gear. See the What to Pack page of the SYP website for more information. Live-in only.