North Cascades Alpine Backpacking for Adults
This unique Outward Bound expedition will challenge and refresh you while exploring the beautiful North Cascades.
The North Cascades Alpine Backpacking course explores the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, one of Washington State's most remote and beautiful alpine environments. Here you will have the opportunity to escape your usual routine, explore stunning wilderness areas, and enjoy yourself to the fullest. You might bring a friend you enjoy spending time with to make the trip even more memorable. Students will learn wilderness skills – setting up tarps, cooking and navigating using map and compass. The course also includes an emphasis on leadership, character development, and an ethic of service. Wilderness travel can be challenging, but with appropriate pre-course preparation – using tools we provide – adults of various ages and body types can be successful. You do not need to have any previous experience but arriving as physically fit as possible and excited for the opportunity for personal development will enhance your experience and allow you to take full advantage of the expedition.
NOTE: Outward Bound strongly recommends that all students be vaccinated against COVID-19 and up to date as defined by the CDC prior to arriving to their course start. For all open enrollment courses beginning on or after April 15, 2023, Outward Bound will no longer require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. For questions regarding this policy please see this page or call us at 866-467-7651.
UPCOMING COURSES
This course is closed for the season.
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW – Almost Full
This means there are three or fewer currently available spots left on a course. To secure your spot click Apply Now to begin an application!
JOIN WAITLIST
Once a course has reached capacity, three waitlist positions become available. To join a course’s waitlist, click “Join Waitlist” to begin the application process. A $500 deposit is required. This $500 deposit includes a $150 non-refundable application fee and a $350 tuition payment. The $350 tuition payment is refundable only if you cancel your waitlist application or if an open position does not become available. If a position does become available, the applicant will be applied to the open position and the Application and Cancellation Policies of the Regional Outward Bound School will be followed, including forfeiture of the $500 deposit if you cancel 90 days or less prior to the course start date.
Waitlist applicants are encouraged to complete all required admissions documents while awaiting an open position. Positions may become available up to two weeks prior to the course start date. Applicants may only apply to one course. We recommend applying to a course with open positions instead of a course that is accepting waitlist applications. If you have questions, please call 866-467-7651 to speak with one of our Admissions Advisors.
CALL TO APPLY
This means a course is very close to its start date. Although it is unlikely to secure a spot this late, you can call the National Admissions office at 866-467-7651 to discuss your options.
COURSE IS FULL
When a course has reached maximum capacity, meaning all spots and the three waitlist spots are occupied, a course will read “Course Is Full.” This means applications are no longer being accepted.
CLOSED
As a course nears its start date, the availability status may read “Closed.” In this event, a course roster has been finalized and applications are no longer being accepted or processed.
Students will work together to explore the high mountain landscape of the North Cascades where they will learn the essentials of backcountry travel necessary to carry them into remote meadows and high mountain vistas. Activities include leadership and communication skill seminars, navigation with map and compass, Recreate Responsibly ethics, first aid and backcountry cooking.
Since its inception, Outward Bound has both taught an ethic of service on courses and sent students into our local communities for service projects. A structured, half day of service is scheduled into most of our courses. In Mazama, at our Washington base, we work with a number of different local organizations. These include:
- Methow at Home: fire mitigation and yard work for elderly community members
- Classroom in Bloom: weeding, planting, harvesting at an educational garden located at the local high school
- Methow Trails: trail work on the Methow Valley trail network
- Methow Valley Interpretive Center: working in the native plant garden and learning about local indigenous communities
- Methow Arts: projects to bring art to the valley and community
- Little Star: Montessori school serving pre-K and Kindergarten that offers scholarships to local children
In addition to scheduled, formal service, students may do impromptu trail service or campsite service in the Okanogan National Forest or Pasayten Wilderness. This might include breaking apart illegal fire rings or covering up social trails. Lastly and perhaps the most important of all, the students learn that by offering compassion to each other and supporting the crew through their daily chores of putting up tarps and cooking and cleaning, service can be given freely and daily in small acts of kindness. Students see the impact of their actions firsthand, and develop an appreciation of service and transfer this desire to serve their communities back home.
Solo is an opportunity for students to reflect on their experience, rest from the rigors of course, and think how their new insight and awareness can be transferred back home. Every Solo experience is unique and can range from a few hours to no more than 72 hours. Solo is not a survival test; students will use equipment to set up Solo camp sites of their own and given a small packet of food that equals the level of little-to-no-exertion that occurs on Solo. Solo campsites are chosen to offer as much solitude as possible, yet within emergency whistle-signaling distance from other group members. Instructors check on each participant at regular intervals, as safety is always a top priority. This is a unique time for students without distractions can rest and reflect by journaling, drawing, and process the lessons they have learned from their course to focus on their future goals.
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Getting Started
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.