This two-day, overnight course will be an immersive experience in learning and using the basic skills necessary to travel, camp, and spend extended time in the winter landscape. We will meet in the Black River State Forest and hike our gear out and make camp at a backcountry site in the mixed forest of this area. With adequate hands and interest we will have both a wall tent and personal tarps to sleep in/under and lots of hearty food cooked on the fire or the woodstove. We will work with various ways to make shelter, stay warm, cook food and clean up, and enjoy exploring, foraging, making camp craft, and being in awe of the winter woods in one of the wildest areas of southern Wisconsin. We will function as a cooperative team, setting up camp, cutting wood and hauling water, cooking and lending a hand where needed. Lessons in winter safety, tool use, winter wildlife and ecology, and navigating the landscape will all be included.
Date: Saturday, Feb, 8 - Sunday, Feb. 9
Time: 9:00 AM Saturday - 4:30 PM Sunday
Meals provided: Lunch and dinner on Saturday, breakfast and lunch on Sunday
Ages: Adults only
Location: Black River State Forest, WI
Instructions: Warm gear for extended time outdoors in winter will be a must. Warm layers, insulated boots, jacket, snowpants, and a winter sleeping bag, are top priorities. An extended gear list will be sent out to registered participants.
Sliding Scale Course Fee Guidelines
**Supporter Level Ticket: $630
If you move through the world with financial ease and the means to fulfill many of your wants as well as your needs – you are able to eat out when you want, abundantly meet your needs through employment or can comfortably not work, have access to family wealth, own property, etc. – consider paying at this level, which will help us ensure the long term sustainability of our programs while keeping our offerings accessible to those with access to fewer resources.
**Sustainer Level Ticket: $500
If you are able to meet your needs with relative ease while budgeting your educational and entertainment spending – for instance, you are able to take classes and eat out occasionally as long as you are mindful – consider paying at this level, which will help sustain the work of the Folk School at a modest level.
**Supported Level Ticket: $365
If you struggle to fund your basic needs and have limited access to resources in your family and community, or if you would not be able to access this offering without a discounted payment option, consider paying at this level. We value your presence and contributions to our community and do not want any economic circumstances to be a barrier to attendance!
Instructor Bio - Nicholas WazeeGale
Nicholas WazeeGale is a lifelong student of the natural world, traditional cultures, and sustainability. His life is intricately tied to the Driftless landscape through foraging plant and fungi foods, hunting and fishing, tanning skins, making traditional handcraft, and obsessively observing and tracking the myriad unfoldings of the living landscape. He is a long time instructor with the Driftless Folks School and other outdoor education institutions, contracts as a professional wildlife tracker with the Wisconsin DNR, and teaches at the Kickapoo Valley Forest School. He is a certified Wilderness Guide through a year long wilderness living immersion course and holds both a Professional and Specialist Certification in track and sign via Tracker Certification North America.
Find him online at…
Instagram: @naturalnuances and/or @wildrootshandcrafts
Facebook: Nicholas WazeeGale
Website: www.wildrootshandcrafts.com