Alaska is a land of incredible fjords, forested ocean coasts, and high alpine meadows. Your monthlong adventure will give you a chance to learn two wilderness travel skills, backpacking and sea kayaking.
While kayaking, you’ll follow a route in Prince William Sound where glaciers flow directly into the ocean and a variety of marine animals are easy to spot. You’ll learn how to handle your boat in different conditions of wind and tide, and also how to be a good leader and keep a positive attitude after a long day of paddling.
The mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the Talkeetnas, the Kenai Mountains, or the Chugach Range will be your home for the backpacking section. Here you’ll start below tree line and head into the mountains along glacier-carved river valleys, reaching open high country known as tundra. The vistas here are wide, the mountains rugged, and the lessons lifelong.
Alaska Backpacking and Sea
Kayaking
Duration:
30 Days
Age:
16 and Older (Average Age: 19)
Tuition:
$4,890
Dates:
May 22-June 20, 2012
June 14-July 13, 2012
June 25-July 24, 2012
July 10-August 8, 2012
Students and instructors celebrate Fourth of July atop a mountain pass in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park during the backpacking portion of their course.
Photo: Amy Rathke
“People talk about wild areas all the time,
but Alaska has a wildness and beauty unlike anywhere else. When
our group finally made it to a summit, we just went wild. I’ll
never forget that feeling of being on a mountain where hardly anyone
else has ever been.”
Ryan Hughes
Semester in Alaska, 1999
University of Maine Student
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