NOLS Blog
When Everything Came Into Focus — Hiking Patagonia’s Torres del Paine O Circuit Alumni Trip
I first learned about the O Circuit in 2025, a year before I actually did it. My wife and I were in Patagonia on a Road Scholar trip. It started with a cruise through the Strait of Magellan and the Darwin Passage, followed by a few days in Torres del Paine National Park doing short…
Case Study: Heat Illness on an Early-Season Wildland Fire Assignment
Photo by Kirk Rasmussen The Setting You are working on a Type 2 initial attack handcrew in the ...
Rothberg-Birdwhistel Expedition Fund: Panchachuli III Peak Climb
Team selfie. In May 2025, Bharat Bhushan, Prerna Dangi, and I took on a challenge to climb Panchachuli ...
Case Study: Non-Freezing Cold Injury on a Canoe Trip
The Setting You are leading an early-season canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It’s mid-May, and while the days are mild, the water is still very cold. Travel involves frequent portaging and wading in and out of the canoe to load and unload gear. Despite good effort, everyone’s feet have been wet…
Lou Gordon: Three Decades of Influence
Louise “Lou” Gordon’s office in the Wilderness Medicine wing of NOLS Headquarters is tucked into the perpendicular intersection of two banks of offices, in the center of the activity but quiet and a little reserved. Like Lou herself.
After more than 30 years, the last 6 1/2 as NOLS Wilderness Medicine’s Wilderness EMT Supervisor, Lou is cleaning and packing up her office in preparation for her retirement. Her last day is May 1.
Climate Medicine: Where Climate Change and Healthcare Meet
Springtime has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. Trees and grasses are greening up, flowers are blooming, and birds have returned to greet the morning with song. As many of Earth’s residents head into boreal summer, they know to expect rising temperatures. But what does that heat mean for human health? What happens when infectious diseases…
Summer Travel Programs for Teens: Why Wilderness Expeditions Offer More Than a Passport Stamp
Most summer travel programs for teens promise adventure. A select few actually deliver it. There is a difference between traveling through a place and learning to move through it with skill and intention. That difference is worth understanding before you commit to any program, and before your teen boards a plane. This guide breaks down…
Staying Power
Shari Kearney didn’t just find a place at NOLS—as our longest serving female instructor, she has worked over 424 weeks in the field and influenced generations of students. Shari Kearney is checking on Three Peaks Ranch’s stable of horses, kept on pastures outside of Lander, Wyoming in the offseason. Each autumn, the horses—dozens of them—are…
Connection, Resilience, and Dal Bhat: Manaslu Circuit Alumni Trip 2025
In November 2025, five gentlemen, one lady, three guides, and three support staff met in Kathmandu in preparation for a two-week NOLS alumni trek on the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal. Although we were all strangers coming from different parts of the world, our shared excitement for setting foot in the Himalayas was palpable. During those…
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.
Gans: Wyoming’s Recreational Waters Must Remain Pristine
Stream miles to be impacted are on public lands which are important to Wyoming residents who recreate outdoors and to NOLS for teaching outdoor skills.
NOLS Stewardship Award Presented to Jay Pence
On Saturday, Oct. 8th, NOLS awarded their 2016 Stewardship Award to Jay Pence, who is the Teton Basin District Ranger for the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
In a Montana Bear Attack, Lessons on Hope, Survival and First Aid
A 50-year-old man was attacked by a bear in the wilderness of southwest Montana. Alone and injured, he walked — then drove — for miles to save himself. How did he do it?
Learning to Lead at Annapolis: Ally Warnimont
Students of the Naval Academy are expected to participate in training. “NOLS, or National Outdoor Leadership School, is one of our options for summer training.”
Outdoor Education Center Hosts ‘Race and the Outdoors’ Film Screening and Discussion
Pomona College’s Outdoor Education Center hosted a film screening and discussion to create a dialogue around racial representation in the outdoors.
Gap Year Before College Should Be the Norm
Challenge, personal growth, leadership development and environmental stewardship are the hallmarks of these programs. NOLS is among the best known programs,
