You’ve just finished a trip backpacking and mountaineering in the wilderness of Yosemite National Park, during which you helped students that started as strangers – who had never camped outside before – become a family. With your guidance, your students now know how to survive and thrive in the wilderness, work together through challenges as a team and achieve goals like summiting a mountain peak. Your sense of satisfaction is huge. You share in your students’ successes, the reward of a safe and empowering expedition. It’s hard work and fun—you’ve made a difference in the lives of others.
Consolidate multiple technical skills across a variety of desert environments, all while learning the outdoor leadership and education skills required for employment within our industry from the premiere outdoor educators at Outward Bound.
An Outdoor Educator course provides the training required to enter a career in the outdoor industry and is ideal for aspiring outdoor educators. You’ll experience firsthand the entire process of how an Outward Bound course is run whilst being trained to the level of a new instructor. This course requires no previous wilderness background; you’ll experience a mixture of theoretical and philosophical workshops, intense technical training and assessment, backcountry expeditions as well as opportunities to build your resume and connect with other professionals—both seasoned and aspiring.
Start out gaining a solid base in backpacking (camp craft, navigation and wilderness travel) in the San Rafael Swell, skills required for any wilderness expedition. Then, transition to rock climbing and learn the practical skills essential for a professional outdoor leader: belaying and rappelling, escapes, anchors, and how to teach those skills to students. Gain in-depth knowledge of the considerations of managing safety and risk at a climbing site, as well as facilitating the learning experience for student rock climbers.
Next, your course will transition to the famous Robbers Roost area, a mazelike network of canyons once utilized as a hideout by Butch Cassidy’s “Wild Bunch.” Here, you’ll deepen your knowledge of anchors, rappels and rescues in technical slot canyons. Canyoneering offers a great capstone to the climbing and ropes systems knowledge you will have built during the climbing section of the course: planning and preparation, time management, navigation and route-finding and transferrable technical skills.
As your course evolves, you’ll be challenged with more ownership, decision making and leadership of your team. You’ll be responsible for group management decisions and be placed more in the role of the instructor.
Finally, you may be challenged to apply everything you have learned so far during an independent/unaccompanied final expedition. This opportunity provides you with an additional level of leadership and management experience, drawing from a summation of the skills you’ve acquired to date.
After your canyon expedition, you’ll have the opportunity to test your newfound outdoor education skills through a teaching practicum where you can pass on your outdoor skills and knowledge to a group of local school students.
NOTE: For the health and safety of students and staff in the COVID-19 pandemic, students may be required to travel to course start by private transportation. Please work directly with your Course Advisor for your course for the most up-to-date and regionally-focused travel options. All students and staff must provide a current negative COVID-19 viral test result before arrival to course and/or consent to having a COVID-19 test administered at course start. Outward Bound requires students and staff to follow COVID-19 protocols for 14 days prior to course start and while traveling including physical distancing, wearing a mask in public, and frequent and thorough handwashing. For complete “Health and Safety Practices for Outward Bound Expeditions,” click here.
This course starts within the next week. Please call us at 866-467-7651 to assess the possibility of applying for this course!
Most College Savings Plans, including the 529 College Savings Plan, may be used to attend an Outward Bound expedition, thanks to a partnership with Western Colorado University. Anyone can register – you do not have to be a current Western Colorado University student. Registration is easy! Click here to learn more.
Outdoor Educator Courses
Are you motivated by the never-ending discovery in the adventure of the outdoors? Are you passionate about sharing knowledge and helping future generations become comfortable and confident appreciators of the natural world? Working as an outdoor educator requires deep technical expertise in outdoor skills alongside hands-on training in the science behind experiential learning and how to create lasting impact for students. Outward Bound leads the outdoor education industry in both areas, providing a coveted foundation to jump-start an outdoor-involved career.
Build skills, form connections: Refine backcountry, technical, and interpersonal skills - and practice teaching them. Help students evaluate options, manage risks, and learn to engage people of different ages and backgrounds in an environment where they are “crew, not passengers.” Master the outdoor knowledge, strengths, and skills that can’t be found in a traditional classroom.
Value strengths and strengthen values: Absorb the technical prowess you’ll need to master multiple outdoor activities and potentially help others do the same. Discover the power of reflection and how to create lasting impact behind every adventure, challenge, and opportunity.
Demonstrate mastery: Learn from the best outdoor educators in the industry and add your own strengths as you design and lead courses, as you take on physical and mental challenges in numerous wilderness environments and as you become responsible for the creation and fulfillment of life-changing lessons.
What you’ll learn: Return home with the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching and leading field-based wilderness education programs. Depending on the course, you’ll have expanded knowledge and skills relating to a variety of land and/or water-based activities. You’ll be a conscientious safety and risk management leader and you’ll have a solid grounding in the Outward Bound philosophy and methodology for teaching and facilitation.
Outdoor Educator courses allow you to work in and through the widest variety of wilderness environments and develop high-level skills in each. Beyond preparing you for career opportunities in the outdoor industry, you may also earn academic credit in the field of Recreation and Outdoor Education.
Photo courtesy
of Karl Krebs
Photo courtesy
of Kim Reynolds
Photo courtesy
of Kelly Crandall
Photo courtesy
of Harmony McCoy
Photo courtesy
of Ren Ledford
Photo courtesy
of Ren Ledford
Photo courtesy
of Kim Reynolds
Photo courtesy
of Scout Sorcic
Backpacking
Backpackers carry everything they need –food, shelter, clothing and gear – allowing them to go deep into the wilderness where few people go. Students feel a sense of freedom from deadlines and tasks as they grow accustomed to eating when hungry, setting up camp when tired and having complete control over what they accomplish each day. The simplicity of hiking gives students the opportunity to focus both internally on their own thoughts and self-reliance, as well as externally to connect deeply with others as they talk, sing, play games and spend time together without distraction.
This course will begin with lessons in basic travel and camping techniques. Along the way, students learn Leave No Trace techniques, map and compass navigation and camp craft as they get a feel for the human and natural history of the area. Students backpack along valleys and long ridges, camp in basins with views like the top of the world and stop along the way to explore microclimates and alpine ecosystems. Most importantly, students spend time in an incredible area, sleep under the stars, feel the sunshine on their face and watch the sunset over this magical landscape.
Photo courtesy
of Scout Sorcic
Photo courtesy
of Matt Zia
Photo courtesy
of Matt Zia
Photo courtesy
of Matt Zia
Photo courtesy
of Matt Zia
Rock Climbing
Rock climbing is the ultimate opportunity to challenge oneself physically, mentally and emotionally. Contrary to common belief, upper body strength is not the determining factor in being able to climb well. Learning new body mechanics, balance, and energy maintenance techniques helps students climb efficiently and unlock the incredible feeling of flowing up a route. There are many ways to climb the same rock, allowing each climber to solve the puzzle in their own individual way. Students will learn basic climbing techniques, helmet and harness use, climbing commands and belaying, placing gear, setting up top ropes and may have the opportunity to attempt multi-pitch ascents.
Canyoneering
Canyoneering is like running the most exciting adventure course imaginable. Each obstacle occurs naturally - made by the power of water coursing through the desert, making its way to the river. A combination of climbing, scrambling, rappelling, hiking and even swimming may be involved in getting through this unreal terrain. The adventure begins by hiking across the sunny desert mesa to drop into a canyon via rappel. As students travel further down, the canyon narrows, twists, turns and drops, creating eerie cave-like conditions. Sunlight bouncing off the walls from far above causes the sandstone walls to glow red and orange. Exiting the canyon back into the desert daylight feels like returning from another world. This rugged, rocky terrain requires teamwork and effective decision-making. To meet the demands of technical terrain, Instructors begin by teaching the foundational skills necessary for efficient travel, such as basic movement over rock. Over this section, students experience technical canyoneering, slot canyons, day hikes and canyon backpacking.
Service
Service to people and the environment is a core value of Outward Bound and is integrated into each course. Participants follow Leave No Trace ethics as service to the environment and do acts of service while leading and supporting fellow participants. Designated service projects are often coordinated with land managers like the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service to collaborate on land restoration projects, while some projects are more social services based. Students develop a value of service, seeing the impact of their actions firsthand and transfer this desire to serve their communities back home. Past projects have included working on a goat farm, building trails, cleaning trash and debris from natural spaces, working with a local community garden and removing invasive species. Service on the Outdoor Educator course involves the practicum, in which you’ll plan lessons and deliver them to local students.
Solo
In order for profound learning to take place, there must be time to reflect on the experience. Solo is that opportunity, and that time can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours or more, depending on the length of the course. Weather and time permitting, Solo provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. Many students use this reflection time to make decisions about their future, journal and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings unencumbered by the constant external stimulation of modern life. The duration of Solo depends on the course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group. With all the food, skills and supplies they need, participants are given a secluded spot to reflect alone and are monitored by Instructors at regular intervals, as safety is always a top priority. Students find that Solo provokes profound and powerful learning in a short period of time and often becomes one of the most memorable parts of their Outward Bound experience.
Outcomes
This 55-day course will trains students to the level of a backpacking and climbing instructors. It provides extensive experience in these activities and prepares them for an entry-level position anywhere in the country. Over the duration of the 55 days, Outdoor Educator students will develop the requisite technical skills, group management skills, facilitation skills and teaching skills. Throughout the course via focused discussions, activities and workshops, they’ll also be prepared to transfer these skills to any future outdoor leadership endeavors. Students will be assessed on all skills and knowledge and receive a professional development plan, work on your resume, and identify professional goals and a pathway to reaching them with the support of their Instructors, Course Managers and fellow students.
Technical skills:
Wilderness First Aid
Backpacking Instructor (Desert and Canyon Backpacking)
Rappel Instructor
Top Rope Climbing Instructor
Instructor skills:
Leadership
Group management
Emergency Management
Search and Rescue
Risk Assessment
Facilitation and debriefing
Teaching for educational outcomes
Photo courtesy
of Steve Creech
Photo courtesy
of Dillon Marks
Course Area
Canyon Country, Utah
The most spectacular aspects of the Utah landscape are the hidden treasures found within its vast canyon networks, formed by millennia of wind and water. The canyonlands of Southern Utah are still as stunning, mysterious and wild as they were for the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont Native Americans who roamed these lands over 800 years ago, and whose ruins and rock art still abound in the canyons. The canyons are composed of a spell-binding labyrinth of alcoves, fins, pinnacles, buttes, towering walls, ledges and arches just waiting to be explored on canyon backpacking courses. Canyoneering courses also venture into narrower, deeper chasms two feet wide with walls several hundred feet on each side. These sandstone slot canyons are a geological playground for scrambling, teamwork, and rappelling. These regions are within the ancestral lands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Pueblos, Southern Paiute, Diné, and Hopi nations.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
DAY 1-7
Backpacking in the San Rafael Swell.
DAY 8-9
Transfer to rock site.
DAY 10-20
Rock camp
DAY 21-22
Transfer, warehouse pack out
DAY 23-40
Canyoneering and backpacking in Robbers Roost
DAY 41-46
Transfer and finals prep; begin resume building
DAY 47-52
Final Expedition in White Canyons
DAY 53-54
Practicum prep and facilitation with after school program; course evaluations
DAY 55
Depart
Course Stories
Imagine you're an Outdoor Educator...
You’ve just finished a trip backpacking and mountaineering in the wilderness of Yosemite National Park, during which you helped students that started as strangers – who had never camped outside before – become a family. With your guidance, your students now know how to survive and thrive in the wilderness, work together through challenges as a team and achieve goals like summiting a mountain peak. Your sense of satisfaction is huge. You share in your students’ successes, the reward of a safe and empowering expedition. It’s hard work and fun—you’ve made a difference in the lives of others.
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.