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…
Just Go for It: Making Gap Year a Reality
We caught up with NOLS grad Bailey Barnes to learn more about the challenges—and fun—of a gap year, and how she made her gap year a reality.
A Night in Norway: Why I’m Thankful for My NOLS Wilderness Medicine Field Guide
A WFR graduate recalls responding to a hypothermic patient while stuck in a hut in Norway's mountains.
Pursuing a Passion: Choosing an Outdoor Gap Year
Choose an outdoor gap year! Gap year parent Eugene Buchanan writes about his daughter's surprising decision to take a wilderness-based gap year.
Real Life Scenario: Helicopter Evacuation on the Bailey Range Traverse
3 days into guiding a 9-day trip on the Olympic Peninsula, my colleagues and I noticed that a 65 year old client was showing more fatigue than we thought normal.
Reflecting on the 2016 Wilderness Risk Management Conference
Walking through the Exhibitor Reception the first evening of the WRMC, I met and mingled with a lot of folks dedicated to that same goal of being a leader in crisis situations.
Blood, Sweat, and Cheese: The 10 Rules of Backcountry Living
23 days, 12 students, 4 instructors, and 1 epic adventure. This fall, I participated in an Outdoor Educator course with NOLS in Lander, Wyoming.
5 Gap Year Tips from the Wilderness
Check out these top 5 gap year tips and discover the transformative power of outdoor gap year programs.
First Aid Kit Advice for River Travel
When it comes to rafting down rivers, especially on multi-day adventures, we can usually go ahead and build our own comprehensive first aid kit.
No Barriers for the WRMC
WRMC participants from No Barriers reflect on the value of risk in learning.
Busting Popular Leave No Trace Myths
Learn the truth behind popular myths about Leave No Trace principles.
NOLS Historian: Just Close Enough
Meet the author of the book A Worthy Expedition: The History of NOLS.
