Come learn with us and gain the confidence to explore the outdoors while connecting with nature and fellow adventurers!

What You’ll Learn:

• Gear Selection and Packing: Learn how to choose and organize the right equipment for your adventure.
• Backcountry Nutrition and Cooking: menu planning, food preparation, and cooking techniques 
• Navigation Skills: Build confidence using maps, compasses, and other tools to navigate wilderness terrain.
• Camp Setup: Develop essential camping skills for setting up and maintaining a functional backcountry campsite.
• Leave No Trace Principles: Understand how to minimize your impact on the environment.
• Knots and Rope Skills: Practice essential knots for wilderness survival and mountaineering.
• Mountain Weather: Learn to interpret weather patterns and prepare for changing conditions.
• Hazard Evaluation: Identify and assess both objective and subjective risks in the backcountry.
• Waste and Sanitation: Properly manage waste and practice effective sanitation techniques.
• Wildlife Safety: Understand precautions for encounters with bears and other wildlife.

Adventure Schedule:

• Day One: Sahale Outdoors Education Center, 5007 Pacific Hwy East, Suite 19, Fife, WA, 98424
  • Time: 8 AM- 4 PM (Includes 1 hour lunch break)
  • Content: Map reading, weather assessment, gear selection and packing, knots, nutrition, Leave No Trace, waste and sanitation, Q&A
• Day Two: Fort Nisqually Picnic Shelter, 5519 Five Mile Dr, Tacoma, WA 98407
  • Time: 8 AM- 4 PM (Includes 1 hour lunch break)
  • Content: Hiking, cooking, camp set up, hazard evaluation, food storage, wildlife safety, navigation, emergency shelters

What We Provide:

• Backpacks, mess kits, the 10 essentials, and other personal backpacking gear
• Tents, bear cans, and stoves
• Sleeping bags and sleeping pads

What to Bring:

• Packing Checklist
• Lunch and plenty of snacks to fuel your day.
• Any personal backpacking gear you want to try out.

Highlights

Make friends and explore backpacking!

Difficulty Level

Beginner: Focuses on building the basic skills needed for successful backpacking trips

Price: $300 per person

*Our minimum number for this event is 4. If at least 4 people are not signed up, participants will be refunded for the cancelled event.

Sliding Scale Pricing:

Our mission is to make outdoor recreation accessible to all. If you cannot afford the total cost right now, request sliding scale pricing here:

“It [Lushootseed] is from the beginning strength of the people, and it is from what the Creator put down upon this land for people…. The earth speaks. The animals speak. Everything has a voice.”

Vi Hilbert, Grandmother Video Project

The Puyallup tribe in their own language call themselves a name that means “people from the bend at the bottom of the river.” They are one of twelve Lushootseed speaking tribes in the Puget Sound region. The language of Lushootseed has vast diversity and multiple dialects, with each group having their own way of speaking. All dialects were to be honored and respected, reflecting the values of Lushootseed culture such as ‘Be kind, be helpful, be sharing.’

The Lushootseed speaking peoples called the mountain that dominated their horizon Tacoma or Tahoma, a word that may have meant “the mother of all waters.” The Puyallup tribe is calling on the state of Washington to rename the mountain from its current official name of “Rainier.”

Today, the Puyallup Tribe is a recognizable force in the fight for tribal rights, and were a significant player in the Boldt Decision of 1974, establishing the rights of Native Americans in Washington State to fish using traditional methods.

~ This information was found on PuyallupTribe.com