Tracking • Wilderness Survival • Plant Uses • Traditional Skills • Earth Philosophy

2012 Class Descriptions

Below are the descriptions of the classes offered at Earth Skills. You can also download the information here. (Includes the summary schedule and the enrollment form)

TRACKING
SURVIVAL
TRADITIONAL SKILLS
EARTH PHILOSOPHY

Tracking

Basic Tracking & Awareness

(No Prerequisite)

• February 11 (Saturday), Malibu Creek State Park
• April 21-22 (Saturday-Sunday) Tracking in Joshua Tree, see below
• June 22 (Friday)*, Windy Springs Preserve
  
• September 15 (Saturday), Malibu Creek State Park
• December 1 (Saturday), Malibu Creek State Park
  

* May be taken by itself or in conjunction with Advanced Tracking and Trailing & Mapping.

$68 / (+$15**) for all one-day classes

Basic Tracking gives you a solid introduction into mammal track and sign identification, as well as nature awareness techniques that will make your future outings exponentially richer. Working closely with the instructors, you will practice identifying and interpreting tracks from clear prints and patterns, and will learn how to read signs and what they say about animal feeding, breeding and behavior. We show you how tracks are "windows" to animals' body language and biology. Finally, you learn methods to slow the mind and body so that you see, hear and experience more than you ever have.

** One copy of The Tracker's Field Guide is also available to each Basic Tracking enrollee at a discounted price of $15.00 including tax (reg. $19.95 + tax); see enrollment form. We will bring your book to the class, or if you order it from the Products page at this price, we'll ship it to you in advance for an additional $3.00.

Basic Tracking in Joshua Tree

(No Prerequisite)

April 21-22 (Saturday-Sunday), Joshua Tree National Park

$110

This two-day Basic Tracking class takes advantage of a splendid location, a private campground in Joshua Tree. We will introduce track identification with abundant field practice tracking jackrabbits, foxes, bobcats, coyotes and other desert animals. We will cover mammal signs, track interpretation and awareness skills. This class is offered through the Desert Institute. To enroll, call the Desert Institute at 760-367-5535 or go to

http://desertinstitute.homestead.com/classes/survival/tracking.html

This class counts as a Basic Tracking class, but is also open to those who have already taken Basic Tracking.

Grandfather Awareness Class

(Basic Tracking Required)

March 3 (Saturday), Malibu Creek State Park

$60

We have so many memories of crazy assignments in the Pine Barrens as we began to learn earth skills – and they all trace back to Stalking Wolf’s, or Grandfather’s, way of experiencing the natural world, and the awesome possibilities he bequeathed to Tom Brown and his extended family, which includes you. Last year we went back to these roots with a thoroughly enjoyable class, so we're repeating the opportunity in 2012. This class will include activities we don't include in our tracking and nature awareness workshops. We’ll “go ask the mice,” extend our awareness through multiple veils, sneak around, sit, hide, and be drawn to animal and plant teachers – all to access the world described in those wonderful stories in The Tracker and other Tom Brown, Jr. books. Young people from 12 to 17 may come along at half price.

Intuitive Tracking

(Basic Tracking Required; Advanced Tracking or practice recommended)

March 4 (Sunday), Malibu Creek State Park

$60

We are very excited to offer this new workshop focused on intuitive methods to find tracks, to follow trails through difficult stretches, and to “connect to the animal” in a deeper way. The practice and exercises you will undertake are based on our own extensive work over the past three years following trails from deer to mice, using intuition in equal measure with practical tracking techniques. We recommend this class especially for serious trackers who’ve invested some quality dirt time (for example in Advanced Tracking, a Dirt Time workshop or their own field work) and want to expand the possibilities. Also our Earth Philosophy graduates who’ve done some tracking and for whom the intuitive techniques are familiar, will find powerful ways to reinforce their skills.  If you are a less experienced tracker but are willing to work hard to open a new door, call us and we’ll see how this workshop might work for you.

Five-Day Tracking Intensive at Windy Springs

June 22-26 (Friday morning - Tuesday afternoon), Windy Springs Preserve

$498

Whenever we hold tracking workshops at Windy Springs, it seems like we’re just getting to know the bears, cougars, foxes and chipmunks we track, when we have to pack up and leave! Well this year we’ll stay for a full five days, spending time to follow trails for hours, roam widely to understand animals’ movement patterns, and access individual animals’ personalities through tracks. You may join us for all or part of the week depending on your wishes and what you’ve done already tracking-wise. Windy Springs is privately owned but we can also explore habitat along the south fork of the Kern River as far as Clover Meadow. This class is a thankful nod to our past because, when we began to learn tracking in the 1980’s, the Kern River was one of our principal study areas. Here’s the schedule:

Day 1. Basic Tracking. Introduction into track identification and interpretation, with lots of practice in an awesome tracking area. (If you’ve taken this before you may enroll at half price as a refresher.)
Days 2-3. Advanced Tracking. Following challenging trails, pressure releases, animal sign scouting, advanced awareness and human tracking practice.
Days 4-5. Trailing and Mapping . Following individual animals for long distances (in small teams and individually), intuitive tracking, understanding your animal. Surveying and understanding animal movement patterns through large-scale exploration and mapping.

The above-listed price covers all five days and includes four dinners; participants bring their own breakfasts and lunches. Pricing for partial attendance is as follows: Basic & Advanced Tracking, $293, Advanced Tracking & Trailing / Mapping $440; Advanced Tracking or Trailing / Mapping $225 each.

Advanced Tracking

(Basic Tracking Required)

June 22-24* (Friday evening-Sunday afternoon), Windy Springs Preserve

* May be taken by itself or in conjunction with Basic Tracking and Trailing & Mapping .

$225

Becoming an advanced tracker means above all being able to see nuances the novice would miss: spotting tracks in pine needles, leaves or on hard-packed ground; noticing subtleties in track aging; being able to follow an animal across difficult terrain. The advanced tracker also gains confidence in reading tracks for motion and in distinguishing tracks of individual animals of the same species. Finally, he or she learns to be less obtrusive and more alert to the rhythms of nature. As real students of how people learn, we instructors know that the complete tracker must draw on the different talents of analysis, perspective and intuition. Thus the Advanced Tracking class gives you practice in all of those things. You will track animals across challenging terrain, practice reading soil movement or “pressure releases” in tracks, learn to read patterns of animal movement on the landscape, and stalk quietly at night. In teams, you will track the instructors as a final exercise.

Trailing & Mapping

(Advanced Tracking or Equivalent Experience Required)

June 25-26 (Monday - Tuesday), Windy Springs Preserve

$225

We follow the Advanced Tracking workshop with two days of intensive tracking work based on intriguing questions that emerge there. We will follow animals' trails for long distances, interpreting their choices and learning methods to keep on track after "hitting the wall." We will practice intuitive tracking and reading the personality of individual animals through their tracks. Finally we'll expand the work we did in 2011, mapping animal trails to understand larger-scale patterns of animal use and travel, keying this to seasonal habits and biology of the resident bears, mountain lions, gray foxes and other mammals.

Nature Awareness

(Basic Tracking Recommended)

September 8-9 (Saturday-Sunday), Los Padres National Forest*

$225

The Nature Awareness class emphasizes stalking, camouflage and quiet sits, so if you’re drawn to sneak around in the woods and watch animals, this is the weekend for you. Our base camp is a rich mountain habitat at 8200 feet. You extend the fine-tuning of your senses many-fold from what you learned in Basic Tracking. You practice reading fine details in the “concentric rings” of the forest. Then, you learn to walk with a mind and feet so quiet that you move like a shadow. You travel in scouting parties and disappear quickly through simple camouflage. This is one of our most fun classes, and it will profoundly change your future experiences in the outdoors.

* Under permit from LPNF. We operate on a non-discriminatory basis.

Dirt Time Workshops

Because dirt time is so varied, we offer Dirt Time Workshops that will enable you to get out in the field to learn from different approaches in different locations. These workshops are one-time only, or at least will not be repeated often. Some require only the Basic Tracking class as a prerequisite; others require Advanced Tracking. (The prerequisites are there for a reason, but we make occasional exceptions for those who've had training with other schools.)

For 2012 we are offering:

Feline Tracking weekend

(Basic Tracking Required)

May 5 (Saturday) and May 6 (Sunday), Frazier Park area and Rosamond

$105 Saturday,
$65 Sunday, $150 both days

This weekend, consisting of two one-day classes, offers new experiences in feline tracking. We'll spend part of Saturday with a captive mountain lion at Working Wildlife, studying gaits, track patterns and body language as expressed in the tracks. Also that day, at the Feline Conservation Center in Rosamond, we will study tracks of captive ocelot and jaguarundi. (Though not found in California, an ocelot was documented in Arizona in 2011, and there have been unconfirmed sightings of jaguarundi there in recent years.) We'll also learn about behavior and biology of these cats, as well as about their resident lynx and jaguar (a jaguar was also sighted in Arizona in late 2011). Finally on Saturday we'll offer an indoor slide program about mountain lion behavior, signs, interaction with humans, and some good practice in distinguishing cougar and dog tracks.

Sunday's field outing dovetails nicely with Saturday's feline study, but it's also excellent practice in and of itself, in surveying, trailing and understanding habitat use through tracks and signs. We'll focus on nearby bobcat habitat, mapping trails, signs and use of these animal's home ranges. You may enroll in either or both days. Both classes have limited space, so enroll early.

Fall Tracking Workshop

(Basic Tracking Required)

TBD

$225

We are scouting the options for an October or November 2012 tracking workshop.

Wilderness Skills

Wilderness Skills

(No prerequisite)

July 13-15 * (Friday 9:00 am-Sunday 3:00 pm), Los Padres National Forest**

* Held in the Frazier Park area; may be taken by itself or in conjunction with Plant Uses the previous day.

$275

A full three days of projects involving shelter, water, fire and food will give you a solid background in wilderness survival priorities, and what it is like to set up a “survival camp.” Individual and group projects include debris huts, bow drill firemaking, cordage, survival basket weaving, stone tools, traps, and primitive hunting tools among others. Many novices as well as experienced outdoorspeople have taken this class, and it is likely that one or more of the skills will become a longtime pursuit for you, increasing your confidence and enjoyment in future wilderness travels. The purpose of the class is not to test how tough you are; however, there is a fair amount of physical work. We hold the class at a car campsite, enabling us to bring in a variety of materials for practice and demonstration.

** Under permit from LPNF. We operate on a non-discriminatory basis.

Plant Uses

(No Prerequisite)

• April 1* (Sunday), Malibu Creek State Park
  
• September 16 (Sunday), Malibu Creek State Park

* May be taken in conjunction with Edible Plants the previous day.

$68

In our study of wilderness skills, we have learned a lot from the “plant people” as well as the native peoples who used them for shelter, food, clothing, tools and medicine. When you make baskets, bows, arrows, rope, smudges and firemaking apparatus among many other things from plants, you begin to know not only their names, but their personality and how and where they grow. In this one-day class, you will get to know intimately the local plants with multiple uses as you work on projects including making cordage and processing and preparing edible plants. This class combines the perspective of the survivalist with that of the ethnobotanist. A thorough written summary of local plant uses which we have prepared is included.

Edible Plant Workshop

(No prerequisite)

March 31* (Saturday), Frazier Park

$75

Last fall's crop of local pine nuts, currants, acorns and elderberries is stored and ready to be used in breads, soups, salads, desserts and entrees, along with plants we will gather just before and on the day of this wild edible cooking class. Our friends Barbara Drake (Tongva) and Robin Cornett (Blackfoot) will join us as we work on numerous recipes in small teams. To encourage newcomers, until February 15 we're accepting enrollment only from people who haven't taken this class before; thereafter we'll open it to anyone.

Class size is limited to 12 and the workshop always goes to a wait list, so enroll early!

*May be taken back-to-back with Plant Uses the following day

Moccasin Manufacture

(No prerequisite)

February 12 (Sunday), Frazier Park area

$75 or $85 with catered lunch

It may be snowing outside, but indoors at the Work of Heart gallery in Frazier Park we'll be sitting by the fire making a pair of moccasins that will fit like a glove. Many of our students ask where they can buy moccasins for stalking and quiet nature observation, and our answer is usually that store-bought moccasins are not designed for outdoor use! You really have to make your own – which is the object of this class. Price includes cowhide material.

A Primitive Stone Tool Kit

(No prerequisite)

March 17 (Saturday), Santa Monica Mountains

$75

With basic tools made from stones and hardwood, one can accomplish any survival task without a knife, including making fire, bows, arrows, traps, spears, fishing gear and so on. In this class you will assemble such a primitive tool kit, making a knife, chopper, scrapers, cutting flakes, abraders and a drill out of stone, as well as a hammer stick and wedge out of hardwood. You’ll add a glue stick and a hand-held vise to complete your set. The workshop will include some basic percussion flaking and fire-hardening. The class is held on private land in the Santa Monica Mountains. Class size is limited.

 

Traditional Skills Weekends

In the Traditional Skills Weekend, which we have taught since 1995, we honor the Old Ways by working on many traditional hands-on projects including the preparation of indigenous foods. Every class has a different theme and most rely on Native American co-teachers. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly.

Fall 2012 Native Culture Weekend: Gift-Making Workshop

(No prerequisite)

September 29-30 (Saturday-Sunday), Wrightwood

$175

Two months before the winter solstice and the holiday season, join us for some serious gift-making led by our First Nation colleagues and veteran Earth Skills instructors. We’re putting together a series of projects for you to hand-make, such as game sets, toys, jewelry and adornments, toiletries, food packets and other items that will be special gifts for any children, ladies and men on your list because they are earth-based and traditional. (Hint: you may keep some of these for yourself (we won’t tell), or you can save them for birthdays or anniversaries too.) As always this weekend includes a Saturday dinner with native foods, as well as songs, stories and music. This class is held at a camp in Wrightwood with accommodations in shared cabins. Newcomers are most welcome to join this eighth annual traditional skills weekend. (Note: We will post specific projects for the class as we confirm them.)

Earth Philosophy Series

If you’re like us, the real reason you love spending time in nature is to achieve some perspective and balance, an antidote to an otherwise crazy world. In nature we receive clarity about what’s really important, because the phrase “everything is connected” is not abstract but dynamically evident everywhere we look. That’s why our ancestors, and indigenous people everywhere, looked to nature for essential teachings that kept a community respectful and in balance.

The question seems to be, what happens to the wisdom we receive from a walk in nature, a vision quest, a sit, a conversation with a hawk, a spontaneous quiet moment watching water and wind? Does it fade quickly, or is it brought back to the world we live in – a culture dominated by superficiality and instant gratification?

Our Earth Philosophy graduates seem to be able to hang on to nature’s wisdom, integrate it into their lives, and influence the world around them in a positive way a little more than the average outdoor enthusiast. Using nature as a constant reference point, keeping the communication channels open so to speak, and being aware, open-minded and respectful, they tend to “walk the walk” as examples of what’s essential and balanced. In a way they have chosen to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Therefore we consider the Earth Philosophy series of classes to be our most important ones. They’re based on our classes with Tom Brown, Jr. and pass on, unaltered, techniques and wisdom learned from his Lipan Apache mentor, whom we call Grandfather.

Intuitive Skills Workshop + Personal Skills Workshop

June 810 (Friday eve-Sunday), Los Padres National Forest*

$225

This intensive class combines two levels of the Earth Philosophy curriculum, beginning Friday evening and running to Sunday afternoon. In the Intuitive Skills part of the program, we show you, through many activities and lots of practice, how to own and trust your intuition. Working in a natural setting, you will learn how to access intuitive communication at any time, how to clarify it when necessary, and how to integrate intuition into your ongoing awareness.

In the Personal Skills curriculum, you learn how interactions with the natural world can address personal questions and empower personal gifts that may be temporarily lost in the modern world. As our ancestors experienced, teachers in nature motivate, clarify, cleanse, heal, balance and prioritize. This direct teaching from non-humans was an essential part of our evolution and remains valid and powerful today. In these two days, we deepen and expand the tools of intuition and awareness, and show you how to use them to honor your personal gifts, get out of ruts and stay in balance.

*Under permit from Los Padres National Forest. We operate on a non-discriminatory basis.

Community Skills Workshop*

(Personal Skills Workshop required)

TBA (Fall 2012), Frazier Park area

$165

“The goal of the community,” writes West African author Sobonfu Somé, “is to make sure each member of the community is heard and is properly giving the gifts they have brought to this world.” We offer this workshop, as it were, for the “scout” (the Personal Skills graduate) who has come back to the community with wisdom and the desire to contribute gifts for a larger purpose. We work on larger awareness tasks, as well as introduce healing skills in the broad and specific sense.

Solo Spiritual Quest

(No prerequisite)

July 28 - August 4 (Saturday-Saturday) Call or email us for details

Note on Solo Wilderness quest cost: We set the price to cover direct expenses only. Some scholarships are available.

For the sixteenth year, we are excited to offer the Solo Spiritual Quest, an experience for answering deep personal questions, balancing and grounding one's life, and empowering one's personal gifts. Our past quest participants have ranged in age from 18 to their 60’s, with extraordinarily varied backgrounds.

While the quest has roots in ancient ceremonies that have occurred in many cultures around the world, it maintains its relevance and power for us modern people. This is because the very act of being alone for four days and nights, and fasting within the rhythms of nature, brings you to a threshold of teaching and centering. The unessential tends to be stripped away, allowing you to discover what is real and necessary for you at this time. Some have quested to sort out important decisions, some to empower underused gifts, and some to shed the complicating “chaff” that modern life bestows. Some of our questers repeat the quest every few years.

Like most significant learning events, the quest does require sacrifice and usually has challenges that tend to be unique for each quester. It is not an experience to undertake out of mere curiosity because it requires a significant commitment. However, the strength you find within yourself, and your willingness to go to the edge of the unknown to learn, create an experience that you can draw on for a lifetime.

Our Solo Quest borrows from no specific tribal tradition. It is a four-day fast, during which you drink ample water. Though others will be questing at the same time, you will be alone in your personal quest circle in a pine/oak woodland. You will have no distractions (journals, cell phones, music, etc.) but will have a sleeping bag and sufficient clothing. You leave your circle only to use your personal latrine and to leave a marker for the facilitators once a day. You will see no one during your fast, though we do set up a communication system for your safety. There is a day and a half of orientation and preparation before you begin your quest, and there is a day of transition after you come out. We feed you before and after your fast and watch over the area 24 hours a day during it. The 2012 quest will be held on 320 acres of private land in the southern Sierras at about 7000 feet elevation.

The fee for the quest, $385, goes entirely to direct expenses such as lease of the land, insurance, food and travel costs for the staff, who volunteer their time for this seven-day program. Some scholarships are available.

To participate in this year’s quest you must ask for an application and return it to us by June 10, 2012. If you have any questions, please contact Jim or Mary at any time and we would be happy to talk to you.

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