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, 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:
$4,640
Dates:
May 24-June 22, 2010
June 14-July 13, 2010
June 25-July 24, 2010
July 10-August 8, 2010
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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