Ten days after graduating high school, on my 18th birthday, my dad and I left home for the airport at four in the morning. Some hours later, we landed in Denver. Four days after that, my dad dropped me off at the Alpine Science Institute in Lander, Wyoming. From there, my dad would drive to Denver, fly home to Michigan, and spend a typical month at home with my mom, sister, and our dogs. I, on the other hand, would spend the next 30 days backpacking in Wyoming’s Wind River Range with three amazing instructors (all women!) and ten other students in my “WRW4-1” group.
Growing up, I had always heard stories of my dad’s NOLS adventure when he, at 19, spent a semester in the Southwest backpacking through the Sonoran desert, caving, climbing, and whitewater canoeing along the Rio Grande. I have always enjoyed spending time outdoors, but I had never given NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School) much thought until deciding I would take a gap year after high school. By way of some leap of faith, I applied for and was accepted into this 30-day backpacking course in Wyoming through NOLS Rocky Mountain, which would turn into what I can only describe as a most magical month in the mountains.
Not only do I consider taking a NOLS course to be a transformative experience, but also it has been cited as such by the other NOLS alums I know—my aunt, my dad, and my peers from my WRW4-1 group. Just a few weeks ago, on the way back from my spring break backpacking trip in Utah, I stopped in Colorado to see a member of my WRW4-1 group. In the course of our chat, my classmate said he would recommend taking a NOLS course to practically anyone. I wholeheartedly agree with him! As I would recommend taking a NOLS course to you, here are some perks afforded by the NOLS experience:
Live in world-class backcountry spaces!
The Wind River Range—also known as the Winds—in Wyoming, where my NOLS course and the first ever NOLS expedition was, is comprised of over 2 million acres of protected lands. The areas I traveled through were absolutely stunning and no two places looked the same. It was a privilege to be able to live in such a gorgeous, remote region for a month, free of roads, with abundant water, and not encountering many other people outside of my group.
However, the Wind River Range isn’t the only amazing place where you can opt to take a NOLS course! NOLS offers semester courses abroad in Patagonia, New Zealand, India, East Africa, and Baja (Mexico). In the United States, the Adirondacks, the Southwest, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and various portions of the Rocky Mountains—like the Winds and Yellowstone—are home to NOLS expeditions. No two NOLS campuses are the same and going on one expedition can’t possibly allow you to see the entirety of one amazing wilderness area—I, for one, plan to explore more of the Winds some day!
Meet like-minded people!
If you’re the type of person who decides to take a NOLS course, it’s very likely you’ll share some commonalities with your classmates!
In particular, my peers from my WRW4-1 group are all super cool people who I feel so fortunate to have met and spent a month with! We arrived as strangers and after a month together, we left as friends who had shared unique, difficult, and inspiring experiences together that others can’t quite grasp. Each of us contributed our own valuable expertise, stories, perspectives, and qualities to the group. If you opt to take a NOLS course, I can guarantee the people you meet will be a highlight of your trip as they were for mine!
Challenge yourself and strengthen your outdoor skills with the help of experts!
I have always loved the outdoors, but I have never considered myself particularly sporty or athletic. Before NOLS, I had never slept in a tent anywhere except for my grandparents’ backyard. Needless to say, I was nervous about the fact my outdoor skills were minimal and I would be trekking through the mountains with 60 pounds on my back. My dad assured me that I would be in the hands of experts—and he was right. Each one of my instructors was knowledgeable, extremely qualified, and taught me so much.
By the end of my course, I was able to lead three of my coursemates on our four-day, three-night Independent Student Group Expedition (ISGE) without our instructors. Before this, we had learned to cook on a small stove—even to bake bread and cook pizza, pack efficiently, set up and take down camp, practice backcountry hygiene, manage risks, plot our routes, set up and take down a bear hang for our food, purify water, perform basic wilderness first aid, and navigate the backcountry using a map, compass, and UTM coordinates. Aside from this learned knowledge, we had gone through many challenges with grace, while supporting one another, and engaging in collaborative problem-solving efforts.
While my coursework only included education in backpacking, general wilderness skills, and fly fishing, other NOLS courses include instruction in rock climbing, wilderness medicine, sea kayaking, sailing, whitewater canoeing, and mountaineering.
Foster environmental stewardship!
NOLS is a great proponent of environmental stewardship and recognizes that the impact of its operations within backcountry spaces must be minimized. All NOLS courses follow Leave No Trace principles and practices and have done so for a very long time—even when my dad took his course in the Southwest 30 years ago. Thanks to my NOLS education, Leave No Trace is something I have carried with me as I recreate in outdoor spaces ever since. NOLS also offers short courses where you can earn a certification in Leave No Trace.
Access alumni trips, earn academic credit, and boost your leadership skills!
Being a NOLS alum allows you to enjoy many benefits, like discounts at various placesS and the ability to join alumni expeditions across the globe. I earned six college credits from the University of Utah during my month-long course, which I was able to transfer toward my University of Michigan degree. On a semester course, you can earn as many as 19 credits. While a Leave No Trace certification, Wilderness First Responder certification, and the ability to be an outdoor educator are various qualifications which can also be earned through NOLS, completing a more general NOLS course is still a great way to signal your leadership capabilities on a resume—and you could use one of your instructors as a reference!
Disconnect and connect to your environment!
On a NOLS course, you don’t use your phone at all in the backcountry—we left ours in a closet at NOLS Rocky Mountain.
Since I first got a phone, I had never gone without it for long—and especially not for 30 days. It was so refreshing to be without my phone for so long and to live in such a lovely setting at this time. Being without the internet or my phone during this period allowed me to be more present and focused on my surroundings. I also feel like the lack of phones helped us all get to know eachother better, too. While living phone-free could be considered challenging, my group had no shortage of activities to engage in–we spent our free time journaling, swimming, drawing, reading, doing yoga, meditating, listening to our instructor play the ukulele, playing card games in a tent, fly fishing, and chatting. This strengthened ability I felt to live in the moment over the course of this month served me in so many ways, and I truly feel I got to know myself better because of this disconnection, too.
If this time I spent off my phone in a gorgeous setting learning outdoor skills with people who also chose this experience was transformative for me, surely it can be for you, too! If you’re interested in a NOLS course, keep in mind that there are scholarships available and there’s lots of information about the organization and available courses at nols.edu!