The course starts with nearly two weeks of sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands, exploring Washington’s inner coastal waters that make this area a renowned cruising ground for paddlers. Students traverse the waterways in single and double kayaks, seeking out island beach campsites, sleeping under the stars, and getting acquainted with the fascinating natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest coast. Becoming a competent sea kayaker involves learning how to read a chart, perform self and assisted rescues, paddle efficiently, and assess sea conditions appropriate to individual and group abilities. Students gain skills in reading currents and tides, kayak rescue techniques, marine navigation, and assessing the weather. Team building will be emphasized during this section.

Students will learn technical skills such as knots and hitches, fixed-lines, climbing techniques, and anchor building. Wilderness skills include navigation, natural history, and living in the backcountry. Mountaineering courses spend time both on and off trail, traveling to remote and beautiful places. Each day presents a different set of activities, with ample time for experiential learning. The instructor-to-student ratio is never more than 1:5 during this section, allowing for personal coaching on the physical techniques of climbing and mountaineering and catering the curriculum to individual course participants.

Students will travel in four to six person paddle rafts and learn to “captain” (maneuver) their paddle raft team through Class II to IV rapids. After learning basic river travel and safety, students will learn to read currents, anticipate obstacles, scout rapids, and negotiate technical portions of the river. Students will also learn river hydrology, swimming in currents, paddle techniques, and expeditionary travel. While on the rafting expedition, there may also be an opportunity for short day hikes.

Students will receive individual instruction and test their skills against vertical cracks, steep faces and boulders. Students will learn about basic climbing equipment, rope management, tying knots, belaying and rappelling techniques, and movement on rock.

The Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course is a 3-day introduction to wilderness medicine that combines classroom time with practical sessions. This section provides students with basic instruction and wilderness first aid skills. Students will leave this 3-day section with a certification in Wilderness First Aid and the knowledge to manage simple injuries and illnesses in the backcountry. It's a great stepping stone into wilderness medicine and may lead to a desire to take longer, more complex courses in the future.

Service to others and to our environment is a core value of Outward Bound and is integrated into each course. A structured, half day of service is scheduled into most of our courses. In Mazama, at our Washington base, we work with several different local organizations. These include:

• Methow at Home: fire mitigation and yard work for elderly community members
• Classroom in Bloom: weeding, planting, harvesting in an educational garden 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, develop an appreciation of service, and transfer this desire to serve their communities back home.

San Juan Islands, Washington 

Nestled between Vancouver Island and the North Cascades, the San Juan Islands are a unique coastal cruising ground with large expanses of sparkling water and mountain scenery. During their journey, students will encounter coastlines with a combination of sandy and rocky beaches, shallow and deep harbors, placid and reef-studded bays. Knotty, twisted Madrona trees grow along much of the shorelines while evergreen fir and pine forests cover large inland areas. Sightings of harbor seals, porpoise, and eagles are common, and you might catch a rare glimpse of an Orca whale. The islands get less average rainfall than the surrounding area due to the rain-shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains. Summertime high temperatures are around 70 degrees Fahrenheit while lows could be in the 40s. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi), Klallam, Samish, Tulalip, W̱SÁNEĆ, Lekwungen/Songhees and Coast Salish nations.

The North Cascades, Washington 

The North Cascades are called the “American Alps” for their rugged beauty and glaciated peaks; they remain some of the wildest and least traveled wilderness in the United States. The North Cascades host the greatest concentration of glaciers in the “Lower 48” and are full of high mountain meadows peppered with wildflowers. The mountain sections of our programs operate in the Sawtooth, Pasayten, and Glacier Peak Wilderness areas, as well as North Cascades National Park. All lie on the east side of the North Cascades and receive significantly less rainfall than the western coast of Washington. Temperatures typically range from freezing to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Syilx tmixʷ (Okanagan), Yakama, Nłeʔkepmx Tmíxʷ (Nlaka'pamux), Methow, np̓əšqʷáw̓səxʷ (Wenatchi), Coast Salish, Skagit, Tulalip, Entiat, Chelan, Skykomish and Nuxwsa'7aq (Nooksack) nations.

Deschutes River, Oregon 

The Deschutes River is part of the national Wild & Scenic Rivers System. The river flows north from the Oregon Cascades to the Columbia River and then on to the Pacific Ocean. The Lower Deschutes is a popular river for both whitewater rafting and fly fishing. The river is spring fed, which results in an unusually constant water flow and cold water. Excellent geologic evidence is present all around this area. This course will travel the entire 96-mile stretch of the Lower Deschutes. The rapids on the Deschutes are rated to Class IV, mostly Class II-III, and are excellent for learning paddle skills, hydrology and teamwork. The group camps each night along the banks of the river. The Deschutes River Canyon runs along the reservation of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs for the first 60 miles and follows a railroad for much of the length of the Lower Deschutes. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Tenino nations.

Central Cascades, Oregon 

Volcanoes dot the spine of the Cascade Mountains, rising over 10,000 feet above the forests, lakes, and rivers of the surrounding region. The Central Cascade range is home to the Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Jefferson. Four 10,000 foot glaciated volcanoes are present in this course area, with a total of nine major volcanoes. You’ll find a unique blend of dry east side and moist west side weather conditions which allow diverse types of vegetation to flourish, when they are not covered by the Cascades deep snowpack. The area has a complex geologic history that continues today. You can find active glaciers methodically carving away the mountain and the dramatic traces of avalanches that altered the landscape. It is these features of the volcanoes that create a challenging playground from which students will learn the more technical aspects of mountaineering and backpacking. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Yoncalla, Molalla, Kalapuya, Tenino and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs nations.

Weather 

Temperatures typically range from freezing to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The course area is on the eastern side of the Cascades, and thus tends to be drier; however, rain and thunderstorms are not unusual. Fall weather varies and students could experience snow and wet conditions especially in the mountains.