Topics: NOLS Rocky Mountain, climbing, adventure, Live the Dream, mountaineering

To the Wilderness

21 years old, working part time jobs, unsure about finishing school, and in desperate need of an adventure ... that's exactly where I found myself a little over a year ago. Where was I going? What was I doing with my life? These questions frequently ran through my mind and I desperately needed to find a solution.

Topics: Alumni, Behind the Scenes, Lander, NOLS Rocky Mountain

Topics: Alumni, Behind the Scenes, NOLS Rocky Mountain, leadership

NOLS is contesting a recent rule implemented by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that resulted in the downgrading of water quality standards for approximately 76 percent of streams in Wyoming. Many of these streams meander the lands used by NOLS courses throughout the Wind River Mountains, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming Range, and the Red Desert.

Topics: NOLS Rocky Mountain, Environmental Stewardship, education, backcountry, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability

Achieving at NOLS Patagonia. Photo by Mauricio Clauzet.

Topics: Alumni, Behind the Scenes, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Backpacking, education, leadership

Topics: Alumni, NOLS Rocky Mountain, adventure, Live the Dream, leadership

Topics: NOLS Rocky Mountain, Expedition Prep, adventure, video, NOLS Southwest, backcountry, lightweight backpacking

Topics: Alumni, Semester, NOLS Rocky Mountain, cooking, Live the Dream, video, NOLS East Africa

Topics: Alumni, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Expedition Prep, cooking, backcountry

Topics: Alumni, Behind the Scenes, NOLS Rocky Mountain, llama packing

Matt Kearns spent the spring of 2015 on a NOLS Outdoor Educator Semester. From backcountry skiing to whitewater canoeing, he did it all. Read about his semester, funded in part with his veterans benefits, and how it helped give him the space and direction to consider a career in the natural sciences.

Topics: Semester, NOLS Rocky Mountain, climbing, Backpacking, Live the Dream, video, NOLS Southwest, backcountry skiing, canyoneering, Wilderness Medicine

There are many uses of public land, and they don’t always align. For example, it would be challenging for NOLS to teach wilderness skills surrounded by oil and gas development. How do managers decide what should be done with a tract of public land? Ideally, they hear from the people who use the land.

Topics: NOLS Rocky Mountain, Wyoming, Environmental Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability

By Kimberly Germain

Topics: Alumni, horsepacking, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Live the Dream, leadership

Topics: Alumni, leadership, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Live the Dream, mountaineering

“It was the cool gray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in the deep pervading calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred; not a sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation ... Gradually the cool dim gray of the morning whitened, and as gradually sounds multiplied and life manifested itself. The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and going to work unfolded itself to the musing boy ... All Nature was wide awake and stirring, now; long lances of sunlight pierced down through the dense foliage far and near, and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the scene.”

Topics: Alumni, leadership, NOLS Rocky Mountain, Live the Dream, mountaineering, backcountry