“We want [our students] to use the education to be leaders in their community with an understanding of ecology and conservation for the wild outdoors far beyond their legislators back home. We expect these people to be a grain of sand on the beach of future leadership.” —Paul Petzoldt

Topics: Behind the Scenes, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability

I grimaced slightly as I rolled onto my side, stretching the sunburnt skin on my back and shoulders. After the mild pain subsided I couldn’t help but laugh at this new source of discomfort, and its stark contrast to the bite of the frigid wind in Frey and the raw chill of the fog in Los Arenales.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, NOLS Patagonia, rock climbing

We arrived at Velvet Falls, one of the first notable rapids of this family trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, instructor, NOLS Teton Valley, whitewater rafting

Editor’s Note: We’re introducing six new courses to our fall lineup that are all 10 days or shorter. Enjoy!

Topics: Behind the Scenes, NOLS Rocky Mountain, NOLS Southwest, NOLS Northeast

We’re announcing the newest NOLS course: Pluto Space Travel and Spacewalking.

According to executive director John Gans, “Pluto’s an unconventional choice, but was only logical for our newest course area.”

Topics: Behind the Scenes

You’re the type of person who will eat a noodle that fell in the dirt, shudder when you think about “surface pooping,” and march right through mud puddles on the trail rather than around them. You’re a master of Leave No Trace.

It can be hard to know how to bring your dedication to LNT to your daily routine. So, I asked around my colleagues at NOLS Headquarters to find out what they do to keep LNT alive in their daily routine. Maybe it’ll spark ideas you can fit into your lifestyle.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, leave no trace, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability

I took my first NOLS course, Alaska Backpacking, the summer before my senior year of high school. Many things I learned in the backcountry made me better prepared for my final year of high school and starting college. If you're thinking about taking a gap year, that's a perfect time to hone your leadership skills. The value of travel, work experience, or service during a gap year isn't just in activities—it's also in the intangible skills like teamwork and self-reliance.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, Gap Year

At the start of a 10-day rock climbing seminar for NOLS instructors, I didn't know what to expect. It was my first seminar, and I worried that I wouldn't know as much as everyone else and would always be working to catch up. But once I got to NOLS Southwest and started meeting my coursemates, I quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, instructors, rock climbing

When we decide to create a new course, it comes from a combination of our faculty’s passion for the area and constant desire for growth, and from what students say they want to see more of.

So, here’s a peek at the new courses you can take starting the summer of 2017. You can focus on service learning, explore the far north of Norway, or walk through the heart of Alaska’s Talkeetna Range.

Topics: service, Behind the Scenes, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Sea Kayaking, NOLS Alaska, Backpacking, NOLS Scandinavia

[Editor’s note: When I asked folks at NOLS’ headquarters for book recommendations, a small and steady flood of suggestions hit my inbox. The request expanded from a small circle of coworkers and friends to include folks I’ve never met—so many that they couldn’t all make the list.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, Books

Leave No Trace is part of the camping mindset—when you’re out in the woods, your environmental impact is easy to see. But how do we bring that ethic back home with us?

Topics: Behind the Scenes

On the first day of the 2016 Alumni Service Trip in the Adirondacks, I remember thinking that our motley crew of highly motivated yet enormously unskilled laborers had quite an impossible mission before us. It was our goal to revamp a bridge and, looking at the bridge spanning across Moose Creek, it looked like a daunting task.

Topics: Alumni, Behind the Scenes

On the very first NOLS course, students walked into the mountains wearing the same outfit. A single patch decorated every shirt: the stars and shield logo that represented the National Outdoor Leadership School.

Topics: Behind the Scenes

NOLS looks a little different today.

For the past year, we've been developing a new look and logo for NOLS, and today I'm delighted to share the behind-the-scenes action that created this look and what's ahead.

Topics: Behind the Scenes

Reflections on returning to society after a NOLS course…

Topics: Behind the Scenes