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Summer Residential Intensives:

Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship

Permaculture Pioneer Facilitators Program

Recreational Administration Internship

Youth Mentoring CIT Program

Fall-Spring Residential Intensives:

Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey

Permaculture Pioneer Case Study

Future Scout Tracking Intensive

Wild Healers Herbal Exploration

Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation and 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.

Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation 2009-10

Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:

• Program Dates, Deadlines, Prerequisites;
• Goals of the Primitive Skills Program;
• Skills Covered In This Program;
• Program Schedule & Tuition Breakdown;
• Program History;
• How to Apply for this Program;

The Stone Age Living Experience is available to adults at no charge, but completion of the Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation is a prerequisite. Stone Age Living is basically a self-directed experience utilizing Wolf Camp and surrounding public lands, with guidance available from experienced Wolf Camp staff, and logistical support facilitated by Chris Chisholm. We don't have a separate page describing the Stone Age Living Experience since it's such an individual endeavor, but if you want a sense for what achieving this, the ultimate objective for earth skills practitioners, would be like, click on this message from Nikki & Micah that will inspire you beyond words.

Preparing for a Stone Age Living Experience usually takes the most diligent student a minimum of two years of intensive, full time training. However, most people who lived back in the stone age seem to have thrived best in clans of 20 or so. That means if you want to go it alone, chances are slim that you will thrive. However, Nikki and Micah pretty much accomplished this feat, and they realized that Stone Age Living is very different from wilderness survival. To be sure, embarking on a stone age living experience requires wilderness survival practice, because you have to know what to do in any emergency - they happen regularly, especially those little crises. But in reality, a stone age living experience is not something you just jump into; it is a slow replacement of your modern goods with things you developed from scratch.

Why is it a slow replacement? Because modern humans have lost not only the knowledge of the ancestors, but also the crafted goods. In other words, not only do you have a huge amount to learn, but you need lots and lots of time to craft all the materials (livable shelters, hunting and storage gear, medicines ... everything) you will need. Once you have built all your primitive artisanry apparati and learned to gather and preserve all the plant and animal products needed for long-term survival, we look forward to watching you walk into the wilderness with nothing - and we mean nothing - from modern society:

Your blades you made from indigenous rock, bone, wood and cordage. Your shelter retrofitted to remove any modern support. You have two seasons worth of firewood that you gathered without modern blades, and two seasons of food preserved and primitively chached away from scavengers. You can go out and get all the food you need with completely stone age tools in case your food is spoiled. You can keep yourself healthy with herbal medicine, and you can heal your basic wounds with primitive medicine. You have plenty of bent cedar boxes, water tight baskets, tanned hides for clothing and preserved furs for bedding. You have a dougout canoe that you made for transporting yourself and what you harvested in Puget Sound and in the Skykomish River back to your primitive camp.

In the meantime, read on for how to get ready through the Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation, during which you can live as primitively as you like: using one of our shelters until building an earthen lodge; supplementing your wild foods with garden vegetables, oil and grains you trade for; maintaining embers from your friction fires and drawing water from the camp well until you can consistently purify water; wearing your old clothes until donning cedar and leatherwear; storing medicinal herbs in class jars until making bent cedar boxes ...

Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation Dates: August 22, 2009 - 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 Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation 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 Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation, except for 10 hrs/wk work trade while living on campus. In addition, if you have already graduated from 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 earth skills gatherings.

Applicants with previous earth skills experience will have a greater chance of acceptance, and even intermediate level primitive skills specialists will find this a good challenge since every course can be taken to intensive levels. However, diligent beginners will be nurtured to be successful in all of the classes and courses, as well as during off-times when you are free to camp here.

Overview of Benefits

The Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation 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 & Wednesdays 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 2, 3, 5 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.

Successful completion of the Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation will put you in a position to embark on the Stone Age Living Experience described above. Also, 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 Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation

This is the ultimate way to learn earth skills in our opinion, and your participation will help make the new Wolf Camp a great place. In addition to learning in-depth earth skills at any of the courses we offer to adults plus attendance at any of the youth programs you want to assist, there is one main objective for this program: Remain living around primitive camp for a year.

When you are ready for this challenge, we will provide the “safe container” from which you will strive to live primitively, alone or in a small group. When you return, we’d love to have such a true survivor stay with Wolf Camp as long as your relationship with staff and students remains healthy and happy. We encourage you to caretake the land and primitive camp facilities for as many seasons as you choose to remain, in an effort to make Wolf Camp as healthy, abundant and beautiful a place as possible, and similarly, to make you as healthy, strong, and self-sufficient as possible.

Spend the first part of your program ensuring that shelters will be finished, meat smoked and dried, hides prepared for warmth, and all the other tasks completed in preparation for the coming season. This is a mild climate, however wet, and it does snow periodically at our elevation, so it's a great place to learn to thrive through a variety of conditions. We think we'll be able to succeed in creating a purely primitive, year-round camp where you can interact with any others in the program, but spend much of your time alone. Those who decide they don't want to live fully primitive will be encouraged to remain one of our other cooperative residential intensives.

Shed more and more of the store-bought gear we tend to depend on in order to live naturally in an earth lodge that you build. Learn to rarely let the fire die completely, multi-task to ensure that the next meal is constantly being prepared, and build natural tools to make life in the lodge more pleasant. Construct animal-proof storage sheds for your foods, improve your lodge so that your winter is dry and warm, continue gathering foods and medicines so that your health is better ensured, and when needed, guide novices who visit primitive camp.

There is no better way to allow the skills you learned in previous earth skills course sink into your bones, while at the same time, you will learn countless truths about shelter, fire, water, food, and primitive life in general. Most challenging is food. You may choose to have a ration of grains or other staples upon which you can add whatever you can forage.

But most critical will be developing your hunting and fishing abilities. Once you become skilled at harvesting such foods from the wild, and efficient at processing and storing them, life tends to become easy – lots of free time to do artwork, make baskets, and enjoy the central fire with others sharing the experience. But getting to that point is challenging, and we will work to make everyone who participates achieve success. Study herbal health cures to prepare for the absence of modern medical intervention, and pay attention to the medicine wheel to help maintain happiness and well being in general.

Program participants will be asked to volunteer additional time to give tours and assist students who visit primitive camp, as long as it doesn't get in the way too greatly with your daily tasks. You graduate from the program when you have completed 12 months in the program and reached the learning objectives you set at the start of your program. No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible 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 better and better primitive artisans.

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)
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Primitive Cooking & Food Storage (pit cook, clay oven, ash cakes, smoking, jerkying, pemmican)
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation (drawing from knowledge of area herbalists)
• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas (from daily health routines, to our special spa treatments)
• 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)
• Flintknapping & 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 (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)

Experiential Skills Introduced
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Sustainable Building & Permaculture
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Trapping
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• 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)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
• Rock Climbing & Alpine Mountaineering

Earth Skills Educational Skills
• Best skills to introduce to each age group (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, young adults, parents, elders)
• Most effective methods to use with each age group (didactic/wolf, questioning/coyote, imitation/ant)
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• 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)
• Incorporating Earth Skills & Starting New Schools (examples of non-profits, partnerships, sole ventures, and communities)

Schedule (see one of the summer cooperative intensives pages for your schedule from June-August which must be completed before embarking on the Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation 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 Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation runs from August 24, 2009 - 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 study Wolf Journey projects through the fall, winter and spring, share your skills with new students in your second summer, and go hard-core in your second autumn season. In reality, you are welcome to extend your Primitive Living Experience 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 25-29 Attend the following adult group project: Ultimate Survivalist: Harvesting Preparations, Primitive Test and Hunter Education Options.
• September 1-5 Attend one 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, Sept 10: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, Sept 11: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended class if space remains available.

• Sept 12-19: You can choose to study Wolf Journey 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 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, Oct 2: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, Oct 3: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended class if space remains available.

• October 3-12: You can choose to study Wolf Journey 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, Oct 23: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, Oct 24: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended 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 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 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 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 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, March 12: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, March 13: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended 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 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, April 2: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, April 3: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended class if space remains available.

• April 4-12: Optional independent study week to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey 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 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, April 23: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, April 24: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended class if space remains available.

• April 25 - May 3: Study the Wolf Journey 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, May 7: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, May 8: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended class if space remains available.

• May 9-18: Optional week to further manifest your case study and continue with the Wolf Journey 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 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 is the core class of your program.
• Thursday, May 28: Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands optional class if space remains available.
• Friday, May 29: Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design recommended 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 Sailing with Sealife - Marine Mammals, Fishing & Foraging from Kayaks or Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa; finish your principal craftwork projects during the Stone Age Artisan camp; stay home to prep for your primitive living experience, or help guide participants attending the Alpine Quest or attend the Ultimate Herbalist; prep for your primitive living experience, or participate in Secrets of the Ancient Scout or the Permaculture Activist.
• Aug 16 - Oct 31: Embark on your Primitive Living Experience, with help from those attending hunting and harvesting courses at Wolf Camp this fall.

History of the Primitive Living Experience and where graduates are now:

Nikki was the first Wolf Camp apprentice in 2000, before it was an official program, after attending our adult classes in 1999. She became the most advanced student we ever had at Wolf Camp and a lead instructor in 2001. She has been the most inspirational teacher most students have experienced here. In 2004, she went on sabbatical to test her primitive living technology skills and survival skills for a year and a half before emerging from the wilderness safely this past autumn, probably as one of the most skilled people anywhere in the field of earth skills. Micah graduated from our apprenticeship after our pilot year in 2003, and then he embarked on a wilderness survival trek in the western wilderness in February of 2004. His feats were amazing and we are looking forward to hearing about where he takes his skills in the future. Everyone enjoyed Micah's diligence, sensitivity, humor, intelligence, and all-around personality while he was here, so we hope that we will be able to hire him to consult with Primitive Living Experience participants over the coming year. Click here for a Written Message from Nikki that will blow your mind.

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.

We moved our facilities in 03-04 and did not promote our Primitive Living Experience due to our focus on getting the camp and farm up and running. We had two takers for the Primitive Living Experience in 2007, and one, Andrew Twele, spent this past fall constructing his primitive camp and learning to hunt and fish so that (after spending time with family this winter) he can start hard core next year. You can read more about Andrew on our staff page. We'll ask him to write a message for new prospective participants when he comes back across the lake from primitive camp in time to make it home for Christmas. Here's what Andrew had to say about his program the day he completed his summer apprenticeship (Aug 9, 2007):

My Current Situation, by Andrew Twele

Six months ago I flew across the country, leaving behind everyone I’d known and loved. I came to Wolf camp for two basic reasons. The teaching apprenticeship and primitive living programs offered here.

I just completed the earth skills teaching apprenticeship program at Wolf Camp. It is so nice to have some quiet time, something I yearned for during the summer camp season. There was two or three different camps going on at any given time during the week: A day camp, consisting of children ages approximately 6-11, and an overnight camp of ages 10-16 which is typically divided into two classes, one for beginners (1st year campers) and advanced (2nd years.)

As the sole surviving intern I was responsible for much of the behind the scenes work. The other instructors were all great folks. One of them, named Jason, is my look alike. Kids always were getting us confused. He is well practiced in many primitive skills and I learned a great deal just being around him.

Nikki is amazing. She is one of a very few people who have actually spent an entire year living primitively. I came here in part to follow in her footsteps by embarking on the same type of adventure. Unfortunately the first week she was here I was sick as a dog and the second was so consumed by my role as a lead instructor that I had very little chance to pick her brain.

A great tracker named Dan was also here instructing for a week. On an off day he took me for a hike up into the mountains. We waded through a beautiful clear mountain lake. And climbed up beyond the tree line to the highest point which was probably around 5,000 feet or more. It was the highest I’ve ever been with my feet still on the ground. The habitat was like no other I’ve experienced. It is so beautiful up there I’ve vowed to return to the higher elevations for a solo trek.

Carol is a great teacher and counselor. She was quite appreciative of my help and assured me of my teaching abilities. Of the Instructors I seemed to get to know Huck the most. He is in his early twenties and from Arizona where he works as an EMT and Search and Rescue volunteer. The southwest is on my list of places to experience and would very much like to take him up on his invitation to visit.

Chris Chisholm, the Camp founder and Director has found himself burnt out as a result of years of trying to run the school himself, which is the work of at least two or more people. He plans to step back his role here in coming years and I think this summer he was testing the waters a little. (I'm already rested up and will be back raring to go in June, though! Hopefully with Huck and Jay co-coordinating programs with me :) - CC, Dec 1, 2007)

I picked up some valuable teaching tools from the experienced instructors here and discovered much about my own abilities. I have served many roles, some simultaneously, including cook, gopher, janitor, assistant, lead or co- instructor, the general go-to guy, first aid (band aid dealer) and counselor for the boy overnight campers. So summer for me was hectic and difficult at times but a great learning experience.

Everyone I have met through Wolf Camp has turned out to be pretty cool. I would do it all over again. In fact I hope to be asked to return as an instructor next year.

I have gathered my gear together and am preparing to move across the lake to primitive camp for the remainder of the fall season. I have a cache of food, sleeping gear, some tools, a bow, a few arrows and warm wool clothes. I will attempt to become self sufficient before my food rations run out. I will need to hunt, fish, trap and forage for sustenance.

This is what initially drew me here. The opportunity to live off the land in the simplest and most direct manner. To learn the ways of the natural world and to live them. The ultimate goal being to spend an entire circle of the seasons living primitively. This will be my first adventure into such a realm of existence. I have been fascinated by, studied and practiced many wilderness living skills in the past five years. What has been a passion, hobby and profession will soon become everyday life. I will intimately experience nature at a level deeper than all but a relatively few humans today have an understanding of.

I miss my friends and family and always look forward to Christmas when we will be reunited. Beyond that time I have no definitive plans for the future, only dreams. In the past I have read of great naturalists and other characters with a similar lack of commitment and have dreamed about having such freedom. That was of course at a time when I felt stuck in the path that society had paved for me. I have since managed to disassociate myself from such expectations.

Now I am free from the chronic depression I suffered as a result from my dissatisfaction with the goals and ideals of American culture and my inability to meet them. I will never be happy working a city job. I have found a greater calling. I am answering it as I write this now. Unlike too many people I know I shall live my dreams. They are becoming a reality. I take steps towards them almost everyday.

Having been removed from domestic life I have liberated myself from my prior nicotine addiction and other negative habits. By leaving for the woods I have achieved what most spiritual people aim for which is to be guided not by temptation and bad influences but by a higher spirit. This is fairly simple in my current circumstances. I suppose the real challenge will be to achieve these things while living in society.

Application Process for the Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation

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

Employment: We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills, including Permaculture, Tracking, Primitive Artisanry, Advanced Herbalism, or Wilderness EMT training with real outdoor survival practice. If you would like experience as a teacher and learn skills of the Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Scout, Hunter, Artisan, or Permaculture Pioneer, apply to become an instructor through our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship.

SITE MAP This site is updated often, so be sure to tell us if you find a missing link, erroneous information or other problem. Thanks!