Adventure Education

By Lauren Plummer

“What have you observed and learned about how professional adventure educators lead and instruct educational backcountry expeditions?”

There are many elements to leading a backcountry expedition, and an outdoor educator must pay attention to all of them to have a successful trip. Even before leaving on the trip there are things to do such as route planning, transportation planning, menu planning, and many other things of this nature. For the participants to learn and have an enjoyable time the leader must ensure that the trip runs smoothly.

To have a smoothly run trip the leader runs through in their mind what they will be doing on the trip. They must plan the route correctly so that at the end of the day you end up at a campsite, and also plan the route so that the group isn’t hiking 20 miles a day. The leader must think about the ability and goals of the group. You wouldn’t be hauling a group up Mount Washington when their goal was to learn more about rivers and streams. Another thing leaders plan is the menu. They must take into consideration any allergies or other food restrictions. Also, if you know you’re going to have a long day and will be covering rougher terrain plan the breakfast so that the group will have ample energy for the day ahead.

A leader must also establish from the beginning that they are in charge. Depending on the ages of the participants and the type of group you are leading this could be very easy or very difficult. The leader should set themselves apart from the group by acting like the leader. If they are right in the middle of every conversation and all over the place the group will be more apt to thinking that they are more of a peer, and not so much a leader. The leader should keep their distance, offer help when their asked for it, and let the group work out problems and decisions on their own. They should be there for the group when the group needs it but not at every little speed bump that pops up. Establishing that you are the leader is important, but it is also important to establish that you are an experienced and knowledgeable leader so that the group respects and listens to you. If they think you don’t know what you’re doing then they’re not going to listen to you or follow your directions. If you are not confident on your own skills and leading technique then the group will doubt you and it may make them feel uncomfortable to be out in the wilderness with someone who may or may not know what they’re doing.

The leader should keep the group informed and excited about what is going on. People like to know what is coming next, like where they’re going to be hiking, what’s on the menu for dinner. It helps people to feel more in the loop and people like to look forward to things and be informed. It is also helpful to teach small lessons throughout the day and keep the group working on things and thinking. To just hike and hike and hike is great but it is also great to throw a few nature facts around or play a word game to keep people thinking and in the now. This also helps people feel like they’re learning things and getting to know their surroundings.

During the trip it is very important to ensure that the participants are comfortable. The leader should ask the group if any one is forming blisters or if they want to stop for a water break. Also at night the leader should make sure everyone is dry, warm, and fed. If people are uncomfortable hen it is very hard for them to pay attention and have fun. Decision making is another big factor of the trip. The leader should make decisions that benefit the group before his or herself. The leader should be able to accept that the trip may have to be cut short due to an injury or inclement weather and should not put the group in harms way to fulfill their own expectations.

It is in the leader’s best interest to pay close attention to all of these elements. There should be a balance within these variables and if one is off it will offset the rest. The leader from time to time should take a moment to view the experience from the participants’ point of view to see how they’re feeling or to gauge they’re morale and to fix it if it is off.

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By Lindsay Hill

A wise outdoor educator once said, “A leader creates space that empowers others, inspires others, and makes conscious that which is unconscious in others.” Being a leader in the outdoors requires a lot of patience, strong perseverance and a deep passion to pass on the appreciation that wilderness can bring when it is treated with respect. As miles passed under the feet of many future educators on the first expedition throughout the Sandwich Range, each student became more and more engaged and focused on the natural beauty of the area and the unique teaching techniques that the leaders presented. For the first time, education was proving itself to be fun.

As an educational trip, the beginning of the trek into the wilderness was reliant on the two instructors as the sole leaders. They held the maps, they led the group in front, and they called the shots. They passed on basic knowledge of how to treat the ground and how to stay comfortable while doing it. At camp on the first night, the leaders spent the entire evening introducing techniques and necessary skills that are so crucial in having an enjoyable experience in the outdoors. Students looked to them to answer any questions or concerns that they may have had. From that point on, the “teachable moments” presented themselves frequently and everyone all found themselves learning interesting facts about the natural history of the area. It was truly experiential learning at its best.

Professional outdoor educators have a great way of leading students to make the correct decisions in a practical manner. Having worked with young adults in a wilderness setting, I understand that it is very important for an instructor to be comfortable with yielding some level of control to the learners. A famous quote by Paul Petzoldt, founder of NOLS, says, “To train people to make good decisions in the outdoors, you’ve got to take them into the outdoors, into real situations, and let them face challenges by themselves…” Also, a professional outdoor educator will be well aware and comfortable with the fact that there is a lot of unplanned chaos that often comes up when working in the wilderness. They will be ready to let students struggle or perhaps fail for the good of their learning experience. At the beginning of any trip, the leader is the teacher, the sole resource of safety and comfort. However, they quickly evolve into a coach on the sidelines that simply directs the students if something unplanned comes up. This being the first trip, the instructors gave the opportunity to practice basic map reading and compass skills first hand. As professional educators, they understand that the best way for students to truly learn the skills, they need to practice in real situations. They introduced the concepts and then took a step back to observe the practices, being sure to step in with helpful hints to bring the newly established abilities to perfection.

Professional adventure educators are always sure to explain things thoroughly and with confidence. Students can see that their leaders are trustworthy teachers and mentors. They also were able to see the leaders anticipate problems that could have arisen. Always leading by example on this past trip, the instructors were great communicators who cared for others and were able to inspire their students to be working at their best. With each passing day, they would step back a bit further, allowing students to step in with a little bit more responsibility than the previous day. They did not make the decisions, they were simply around to guide the choice.

It is easy to notice that as outdoor professionals, instructors take a lot of time and effort in providing their students with educational situations in which they will be able to learn from and hopefully transfer back to other areas of their lives. In an outdoor environment, education surrounds every move and with that comes natural consequences. John Graham says in Outdoor Leadership: Technique, Common Sense, & Self Confidence, “Good leaders sometimes tell people what to do, but leadership is not just giving directions – it’s liberating people to do what is needed in the best possible way.”

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By Sam Anderson

As a student of my first backcountry expedition I noticed how much time and preparation is put into leading a group. Risk management is probably the biggest concern for a leader that I observed. However preparation for a trip starts before you are even into the field, and is still continued each day out in the backcountry. Just like in the reading from Graham I realized how leaders establish themselves as a leader and not just a friend on the trail. As a leader I believe that getting to close to your students can sometimes backfire.

Preparation for going on and expedition was a lot more then I had expected. Leaders had to make sure we had the appropriate gear for the style of trip we were on. A trip would go very wrong if a student did not have the right equipment. You have to physically know the terrain you are going to travel, sometimes doing recon of area. Weather forecasts can be crucial, they help you figure out when to do each section of your trip. For example, we did a small hike in the rain, and then on the nice day did our longest hike. Map work, is used as well to help you see the terrains you will encounter on the hike. I noticed our leaders would have us pack the food; therefore we had to make sure we had everything. It made us less dependent on having the instructor do it for us. That way if we did not have enough it was our own mistake and you can’t blame someone else.

Risk management is the biggest concern I feel that a leader takes into account in the expedition. Our leaders taught many techniques to make sure the group as a whole is completely safe at all times. Bear hangs were an important lesson to teach us no matter how far we were on the trail. The bear hangs had everything we needed in them to keep our trip going smoothly. Every time we reached a camp spot we emptied our packs at the cooking sight. This included food bowls, toiletries, empty wrappers, and of course all food items. I had set up one in a spot with a class mate on the last day. Our leader had come with us when we had to hang the food and noticed the spot was not appropriate. Instead of letting it go and hanging the food he requested that we find an alternate spot and set it up again. River crossings as well as rock scrambling were thoroughly observed as each student went across. They were also examined by the leader in the beginning to navigate the best route to go. The leaders made sure we new the risks before we got there and how to avoid them. I noticed that our leader would always be watching what was around him, sky, and land. This was important so he could respond if there was a change in the weather, or on the terrain.

I noticed that our leaders would make sure that we knew that they were the leaders. It’s ok to have fun with us but when it comes to something important it was not all fun and games. For example, our leader told us we had to be on the trail at 9:00 and we would be. In that certain amount of time you had to clean up camp, get dressed, and eat. When we would eat our leaders would make their food farther away then ours, and ready before ours. This would help us not be dependent on them to have them do it for us. They would always be ready for the next step before any of us, so once we were ready things would get done. Our leader on the last day found a broken tree that my group removed; he took the time to make sure we knew it was wrong. I believe that as a leader you have to keep your students in line, let them know when there wrong. It shows that despite being friends you have to know you messed up.
All leaders have different ways of doing backcountry expeditions. However the rules are basically the same, you always have to be alert or your surroundings, and prepare for your trip. Certain qualities define you as a leader, and how you present them will let your group know who is boss. I notice qualities from my instructors that I hope to practice in the future.

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