Wilderness Travel Theory

This course reviews aspects of wilderness travel such as clothing and equipment, navigation, minimum impact camping, self-care and group travel techniques. Students will learn to navigate using both map and compass and with digital mapping resources. Students will learn about the three norths and adjust for declination, using bearings to identify features and to perform resections. Students will gain a thorough knowledge of topographical maps, latitude-longitude, the Universal Transverse Mercator grid system and will utilize this new learning in trip planning exercises. This course also introduces students to the concepts of summer and winter emergency survival in wilderness settings. Topics such as personal limits and abilities, mental preparation and psychology of stress are discussed. Experiential and applied learning includes bush craft, fire building, knife use, shelter building and overnight survival exercises in both fall and winter environments complete the course.