What we’re about
Greetings hikers and nature lovers! We would like to encourage naturalists and those with an interest in the natural world to go on walks, hikes, workshops, camps, classes, conservation fundraisers and educational forays with us around Puget Sound, in the North Cascades and Central Washington Canyonlands, and the Olympic Peninsula. We encourage you to become an organizer and post events!
When you are out for a hike, are you curious to learn more about the animals, plants, trees, insects and birds? Would you like to learn more about the ones which have practical uses for food, shelter, fire, medicine, crafts, tools or survival? Do you know which ones can be hazards? Do you know who made that track? Can you tell what the birds are communicating through their vocalizaitons? Maybe you want to know more about how the land was formed, or its history. This is the place to share what you know and hopefully learn from others as well.
Northwest Nature Hikes may have specific goals like birding, marine animals or geocaching. We may want to seek wildflowers in the spring, berries in the summer, or do some snow tracking in the winter, but most will be more open to simply looking and seeing what we can discover along the way. The important thing is that the destination is not the goal. Our goal is to take time to explore, share and learn more about nature and our connection with it.
What to bring: Cell phone and the 10 essentials. See http://www.mountaineers.org/images/tenessen...
Optional items: binoculars, notebook, field guides, magnifying lenses, camera
DISCLAIMER: The leaders function as nature facilitators only. By signing up for any event on this site you represent that you have read, understand and agree to the terms of this disclaimer. You accept that hiking, on and off-trail, is a potentially dangerous activity that can result in injury or death and that weather and trail conditions can change. You agree to come prepared and by this you acknowledge that you join us on this hike at your own risk. You are responsible for your own safety and agree to hold harmless all organizers and leaders in the event of injury or loss.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Wildlife Safety, Bird Alarms, Animal Tracks & TrailsOrting Bell Tower, Orting, WA$95.00
##### Saturday, April 26, 2025 Workshop from 9:30-5:30 in Orting WA, just 45 minutes south of SeaTac. Cost is $95 with carpooling available. To register additional friends and family members, use Promo Code ADDITIONALFRIENDSFAM for $5 off their fees.
Join us for a great day tracking and trailing wild animals. Learn to know when cougars, coyotes, bears or other critters are around by listening to the birds on the trail, and learn what to do in case you run into them. Learn to view nature like a detective, following clues and solving mysteries that others neglect to see. Amazingly, animals reveal themselves to all who can read their stories in the earth. As you will see, tracks can even tell us about the size, health, emotions, history and even intentions of animals which would otherwise remain hidden all around us.
We’ll start with a safety overview for living, hiking, hunting and foraging in wolf, cougar and bear country. It is important to understand large predators and their prey in order to keep yourself safe, and to keep them safe in the wild. That’s the crux of the matter: everyone wants to protect nature and themselves at the same time. The key is knowledge, and taking right action based on that knowledge. Each species has particular triggers to become aware of, and you should learn their “language” in order to avoid problems.
The workshop takes place where sign of all the big and little wild animals found in our bioregion are concentrated. Whether you hunt with a camera, bow or gun, or if you just love northwest wildlife, you are welcome you to join us for a special day of tracking. Learn specialized tracking and trailing skills as we venture to get close to elk, deer, bear, and a host of other critters as well. In addition to learning what to do in case you run into bears on the trail, you will gain skills to help you become the first to know where to find (or avoid) their hidden dens.
The most important skill in nature is awareness, whether it be for safety or discovering animals. We will start by practicing “wide angle vision” like owls do, plus “expanded hearing” like deer use to decipher whether sounds they hear in the forest are predators or friendlies, and the “stealth walk” like foxes teach us in order to move undetected in nature so we see more animals and experience their behavior as if we weren’t there. We like to say that if you bring home just one set of skills from tonight’s class, that these awareness activities are it. They will help you see more wildlife, and keep you safer, in city and wilderness, better than any other set of knowledge.
In order to help you open to a world of evidence that animals leave wherever they move, we’ll look for and discuss scrapes, lays, burrows, latrines, larders, nests, partial tracks, pressure releases, vegetative cuttings, and everything else we can find – even the condition of feathers to determine exactly how or if a bird might have been killed or injured.You also have to be able to trail animals if you want to find them, so now that your eyes are adjusted to seeing sign, we’re going to train you in the kind of trailing that real animal trackers use, keeping your head up and walking fast, identifying voices of the birds to know what is up ahead!
##### FAQs
Who are the instructors? Wolf Camp directors Kim & Chris Chisholm are leading this workshop.
What ages can participate? Workshops are designed for adults, but youth may enroll with a parent/guardian.
How should we prepare for the workshop? Please prepare as you normally would for a hike, including snacks, lunch, water bottle, 10 essentials, etc., but especially with appropriate clothing including rain gear and waterproof footwear. Also, bring along a set of binoculars, digital camera, and if you don’t have a birding field guide yet and wish to purchase one, we recommend: Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest by David Moskowitz, among others.PAYMENTS
Simply reserve your spots via one of the following methods, or click on specific programs for FAQs:• Zelle is preferred using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up right away with that via email;
• Or use Credit Card, PayPal or Apple Pay;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone; - Backcountry Safety, Navigation, Map & Compass WorkshopCampground, Ashford , WA$145.00
Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 9:30-5:30 with complimentary transportation from Puyallup WA to our favorite accessible wilderness location along the Nisqually River at the foot of Mt. Rainier with Wolf Camp directors Kim & Chris Chisholm.
This class will give you great teaching tools for use when hiking and backpacking. If you are “navigationally challenged,” then we hope the simple way we teach these skills will open a world of understanding for you in the wilderness. If you are ready to guide others, we hope this workshop will give you the tools to lead. Skills will include:
- Outdoor Leadership & Risk Management
- Navigating & Orienteering with and without Map & Compass
- Efficient Packing, Survival Shelters & Campfire Cooking Primers
- Herbal & Wilderness Medicine Primer
Top 10 Lost proofing Skills: The most important skill for lost proofing is awareness. In fact, some people say there is no such thing as being lost, just in being unaware, so we will practice skills to improve your spatial recognition including wide-angle vision, expanded hearing, and new ways of walking appropriate to various environments, among other skills such as reviewing the 10 Packing Essentials and risk management tips shared from our Search & Rescue background,
Top 10 Orienteering Skills: You will be amazed by some of the incredible ways to find north-south-east-west in order to walk in a straight line toward your destination on a map. One of our favorites is floating a leaf in water and placing a pin on the leaf. Amazingly, it points to magnetic north. We’ll demonstrate that, and some other ways to orient yourself to the cardinal directions in city and wilderness, from GPS to the stars.
Top 10 Navigation Skills: There are some very important skills to learn in order to negotiate your way through nature without map or compass. For instance, do you know how to follow the contours of a hill in order to stay above thick brush and away from steep cliffs? How about lining up landmarks in order to go straight? We’ll talk about these skills and practice others as allowed by time and location.
Map & Compass Field Training: No matter whether you have GPS or not, the crux of these skills is understanding map and compass. Our method of using map and compass should allay your fears, even when it comes to contour lines and magnetic declination. We are going to transition to a big, near-by commuter parking lot to practice navigating with compasses, as well as we helping you test to see if you are “right or left dominant” because when walking in nature, most people continually veer left or right when they actually want to go straight. Key to navigating in nature is learning how to compensate for your dominance.
## FAQs
What ages can participate? Workshops are designed for adults, but youth may enroll with a parent/guardian.
How should we prepare for the workshop? To get a jump-start on the skills we cover in this class click here for our blog post on the subject but otherwise, prepare as you normally would for a hike, including snacks, lunch, water bottle, 10 Essentials, etc. – all that a safe hiker or any leader should bring, plus hats, warm clothes, proper footwear, and rain gear as necessary for the outdoor portion of class.
Also bring an Orienteering Compass, if possible, although we’ll have plenty to share and can sell basic compasses at the end of the workshop. Please note that “surveyor’s compasses” and other non-map-compasses won’t work well for backcountry travel. If you don’t have a hiking compass yet, try online, or cheaper sports stores for last-minute purchase, and we may have the following recommended compasses for sale at class, including: the Rothco Orienteering Compass Item #337 for learning in the $10-$15 price range, or the Brunton 15TDCL Compass if you want to go up to the next level in the $35 price range for precise mirrored sighting and adjustable declination, the Silva Ranger 515 Compass at about $45, or the patented Suunto “global needle’s unique ability to handle tilts up to 20 degrees makes it perfect for hikers that don’t want to break their stride. Not having to level the compass exactly makes it easier to take an accurate reading while you’re still moving along the trail.## Cost & Registration
Cost for this workshop is $145 for one person, and $120 per additional friend/family member registering in advance, with optional transportation provided from Puyallup WA, plus reduced tuition and scholarship options also available by request.
Simply reserve your spots via one of the following methods, or click on specific programs for FAQs:
• Zelle is preferred using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up right away with that via email;
• Or use Credit Card, PayPal or Apple Pay;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone; - Risk Management, Wildlife Safety & Awareness SkillsLake Sammamish Hans Jensen Group Camp, Issaquah, WA$45.00
This class will be a fun and informative way to learn how to exponentially increase your senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing to get your bearings in the wilderness. We’ll also practice what to do in case of encounters with bears, mountain lions, and other scary critters, as well as provide you with a foundation of outdoor risk management skills.
Adults as well as families with children are invited. Expect a class that provides you with generous information, hands-on experiential learning, and heart-felt inspiration. Instructors include Wolf Camp founder Chris Chisholm (http://www.wolfcamp.org/about/kim-and-chris-chisholm/) and/or coordinator Kim McKillip Chisholm (http://www.wolfcollege.com/about/kim-and-chris-chisholm/) depending on the number of participants.
Confirm your spots via one of the following methods:
• Zelle is preferred using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up right away with that via email;
• Or use Credit Card or PayPal or Apple Pay by clicking here;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone; - Lostproofing, Navigation, Map & CompassLake Sammamish Hans Jensen Group Camp, Issaquah, WA$45.00
Learn to get your bearings in the wilderness, and accurately understand your surroundings. This class can be taken as a stand-alone class, but it will also build upon our morning Risk Management, Wildlife Safety & Awareness Skills class, starting with the Top 10 ways to navigate and our special Wolf Camp 4 Step Methods of using map and compass.
In addition to introducing the Top 10 ways to navigate (http://www.wolfcollege.com/top-10-list-of-natural-navigation-lostproofing-orienteering-tips-tricks-advice/) in the wilderness, we will be using fun and entertaining games and activities to practice and learn these new skills, which you will be able to use for the rest of your life. Of course, we will also train you on the special Wolf College 4 Step Method of using Map & Compass (http://www.wolfcamp.org/how-to-use-a-compass-using-map-compass/). We look forward to a fun class of navigation training with you!
Adults as well as families with children are invited. Expect a class that provides you with generous information, hands-on experiential learning, and heart-felt inspiration. Instructors include Wolf Camp founder Chris Chisholm (http://www.wolfcamp.org/about/kim-and-chris-chisholm/) and/or coordinator Kim McKillip Chisholm (http://www.wolfcollege.com/about/kim-and-chris-chisholm/) depending on the number of participants.
##### Registration Options
Simply reserve your spots via one of the following methods, or click on specific programs for FAQs:
• Zelle is preferred using our email address with that extra “e” on skye plus try to add a note including camper name/age, camp start date/theme, plus your CONTACT INFORMATION (phone number is fine if system doesn’t allow sharing email) if we don’t already have your info since Zelle doesn’t automatically share that with us;
• Or use Venmo to @Chris-Chisholm-13 or • CashApp to $wolfschool but again, try to add your contact information, camper name, program theme and dates, or follow up right away with that via email;
• Or use Credit Card or PayPal or Apple Pay by clicking here;
• Or call us between 9am-9pm at 425-248-0253 ex 1 with a credit card to register over the phone;
