NOLS Blog
How to Make Hash Browns with Cheese
Hash browns have a well-deserved reputation as a delicious breakfast treat, but this cheesy version is great for lunch or dinner too—and that’s before you add nuggets of ham or bacon and a few shakes of hot sauce into the mix! This recipe requires a little forethought—both the hash browns and dried onions benefit from…
NOLS Picante Sauce
Picante perks up almost any savory recipe—try it on eggs, beans, in soups and coupled with anything on ...
Backpacking Among Giants: A Trip Report from Norway’s Jotunheimen Mountains
Photo by Amanda Klein In August of 2025, the inaugural NOLS Alumni Norway Backpacking Trip ventured into the Jotunheimen Mountains ...
Case Study: Altitude Illness While Trekking
The Setting You are on the trip of a lifetime hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal with one of your best friends. This trip has been in the works for over a year. You’ve spent countless hours training, reviewing maps, and daydreaming about being in the mountains. You can’t believe you’re finally here! You flew…
What a NOLS Risk Review Really Looks Like: A Case Study with NatureBridge
In the same year as NOLS’ 60th anniversary, we are celebrating 20 years since the formation of NOLS Risk Services. For 60 years, NOLS has operated in remote locations all over the world, and in 2005, NOLS Risk Services was formed to share what NOLS has learned about operational risk management in the process. NOLS…
Case Study: Dental Emergency while RaftingÂ
A member of your rafting party loses a tooth partway through a 4-day trip. How do you respond?
Where Play Meets Purpose: A Journey Through the Canyons
Since 2022, NOLS and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business have collaborated on a yearly weeklong expedition to the canyons in southeastern Utah. This expedition is the culmination of a semester-long leadership course for Ross undergraduate students. It combines concepts and learnings from the classroom course with the NOLS leadership curriculum in a…
Rothberg-Birdwhistell Exploration Fund: Expedition to the Peruvian Andes
In the spring of 2025, we set out on an Alpine and ski mountaineering expedition to Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. As outdoor educators with experience leading students on NOLS courses, our team shares a deep commitment to learning through challenge and a connection to wild places. Our goals: explore new terrain, attempt several high peaks, and…
How to Make Oat Scones in the Backcountry
Oat scones taste delicious plain or with honey, peanut butter, wild berry jam, or cheese. They are also excellent with soups or casseroles and make good trail food. Oat Scones ½ cup butter 2 cups oatmeal 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder Pinch of salt (allows recipe to use less sweetener) ¼ cup honey or brown sugar…
The Kids Are All Right?
A Big City Mountaineers teen trip opens a window on some of the more daunting challenges of increasing youth diversity in the outdoors. By Corey Buhay
Summer Sunday: The Wyoming Winds
I wanted to go Lander, home of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and to the Wind River Range, where the fishing was supposedly epic.
The Lander Valley Leadership Expedition Attracts Eight Inspiring Students
The Lander Valley Leadership Expedition has become a tradition for upcoming seniors at Lander Valley High School who elect to serve as 'Senior Mentors'.
So You Want To Be An Astronaut?
One of the toughest aspects of the training is NOLS Expeditionary Training. This involves the whole class roughing it out in the wilderness for 10 days.
Program Connects At-Risk Kids With Nature
The idea behind City Kids is to get kids out of these neighborhoods and into wilderness adventures that help them learn, grow and build skills.
Murie Center Honors Spirit of Conservation
Actor Harrison Ford received the 2016 Murie Spirit of Conservation Award, adding a wow factor to the event. NOLS Director John Gans also attended.
Taking a ‘Whole Person’ Approach to Helping At-Risk Students
Summer Search Boston, a nonprofit enrichment program has students take NOLS courses during the summer as part of their participation in the program.
Nadia Carrie’s Summer Semester in Alaska
The 19-year-old recently finished a 75-day expedition in Alaska, kayaking, hiking and mountaineering hundreds of miles. This was part of a summer semester with NOLS.
A Rejected ‘Bachelorette’ Contestant Finds Love
After the Bachelorette, as an escape, he signed up for a three-week National Outdoor Leadership School sailing expedition in Mexico in October 2012.
Journey 4 Renewal: Canoeing from Minnesota to the Hudson Bay
They paddled 1,239 miles over 66 days from Wilderness Canoe Base to Hudson Bay–raising over $40,000 for Wilderness Canoe Base in the process.
First-Aid 101: Tips From Hartley Nature Center
This list was compiled byTiffany Smith, who has been a certified Wilderness Responder for eight years through NOLS Wilderness Medicine.
Sheyna Gifford Completes Year-Long Simulation of Mars Mission
UC Berkeley and NOLS alumna Sheyna Gifford emerged from a year-long simulation of a Mars mission with a new perspective on the universe.
