WILDERNESS GUIDE PROGRAM
When? May 1st 2023 – March 31st 2024
Where? The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest at Nishnajida (Ojibwe for Camp Where the Old Ways Return) which includes 80 acres of wilderness. The camp is located six miles from Teaching Drum’s campus (Nadmadewining), ten miles from Three Lakes, Wisconsin. The camp can be reached by canoe, by forest trails, or by dirt road to within a mile of the camp.
The Wilderness Guide Program will take you from being self-sufficient to earth-sufficient, from survival to living, and from spectator to attuned immersion.
Why Choose the Wilderness Guide Program?
The Wilderness Guide Program is a full turn-of-the-seasons wilderness immersion experience. This is a one-of-a-kind program—no syllabus. There are no books, lectures, recordings, or classrooms. The Wilderness Guide Program leads you back to the original way of learning geared specifically to you; a complete living-learning experience in the wilderness, with no outside distractions and unmatched expert guidance.
You will learn how to find safe drinking water, and, at times, gather your own food. You make your own shelter, fire kits, pack frames, bowls, baskets, and more; all from what the earth provides. You learn what to use for soap and shampoo, and for cuts and intestinal cramps. You will learn to stalk and walk silently which allows you to see more than you ever thought possible.
You reawaken to the spiritual life of your ancestors. You remember from their direct teaching the ways of Deer, Squirrel, Raven, the Elder Trees, and other nonhuman relations.
Located in the heart of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest of northern Wisconsin, the camp is where participants live, learn, and practice the essential qualitative skills of communication and cooperation along with all the skills needed to live comfortably in the Northwoods, including:
- Fire by friction
- Primitive cooking and nutrition
- Foraging, fishing, and trapping
- Lost proofing and orienteering
- Weather forecasting
- Animal tracking
- Wilderness first aid (using plants for wounds and medicine)
- Natural shelter and lodge building
- Canoeing
- Tanning hides and crafting
Time is measured by location of the sun and moon, how long it takes to cook an egg on the fire, or paddle across the lake. Length is determined by finger, hand, and arm. Participants learn what it means to be Earth centered, and fully engaged with life rather than merely observing and dreaming.
The agenda for the day is based on the needs of the camp and the participants rather than by a teacher. The wilderness guides are there to support the camp and to work with individuals as needs arise.
The Wilderness Guides at Teaching Drum Outdoor School have over 74 years of combined experience of wilderness survival skills and personal development training. They have made it their life’s mission to help others reconnect with nature, to their deepest selves, and to find balance within. The guides are there as a resource for how to walk honorably and respectfully on the Earth.
Registration
The Program is limited to ten participants, so we suggest you contact us immediately if you want to be assured a place.
Acceptance into the Wilderness Guide Program is a carefully deliberated process We encourage those who are interested in the program to visit the school beforehand, if possible. Tuition is $12,500 for each adult.
Allow up to $1,500 for incidental expenses such as craft supplies and canoe rental.
Another option is to participate in the Program in a one, two, or three-month program, under the banner of the Wilderness Moon Program
For either option, or to learn more, email WGP@teachingdrum.org or call 715-546-2944.
This experience is offered by Abel Bean, America’s most experienced practicing wilderness lifeway guide. No one else currently active has successfully taken groups into the wilderness for year-long immersions for twenty years running. A master at dream interpretation, he has broad-range experience with all three archetypes, trauma transformation, and animal guides. Needing to survive in the wilds for years without matches, he knows fire intimately. The same is true with the core primitive skills he will be teaching you, such as shelter building, wild food foraging, trapping, canoeing, fishing, hide tanning, orienteering, and much more.
Abel is assisted by visiting specialists in the fields of tracking, storytelling, indigenous culture, stress management and trauma recovery, invasive and endangered species, and more.