This 30-day backpacking course in the Mountain West is perfect for any 14- and 15-year-old excited to spend a full month in the backcountry, making new friends and learning how to live in the wilderness.

You’ll backpack 80-100 miles through Wyoming’s Bighorn or Wind River Mountains—both ranges known for their granite peaks, wildflowers, and dramatic scenery—carrying everything you need on your back. Your experienced instructors will start by teaching you the basics: cooking, map reading, Leave No Trace principles, and techniques for traveling in grizzly bear habitat. From there, you’ll progress to leadership skills, wilderness first aid, and off-trail navigation. Based on conditions and group interest, you might also learn fly-fishing, snow travel, backcountry baking, climbing, and geology.

Photo credit: Carly Gutermuth

You’ll live in small cook groups, building an inclusive community through teamwork and shared challenges. You’ll have layover days to rest and explore. Traveling through elevations from 7,000 to 13,000 feet, you’ll learn to live comfortably outside in all types of weather. Cold and snowy conditions can occur any month of the year.

As you demonstrate competence, you’ll gain more responsibility. You may travel in student-led groups for a day, and if ready, your course could culminate in a multi-day student expedition where you navigate independently for two to four days—the ultimate test of everything you’ve learned.

This course provides an excellent all-around introduction to mountain travel for teens who aren’t afraid to work hard, get dirty, and learn hands-on skills.

Photo credit: Steph Taylor

Information for Parents: The NOLS Difference

At 14-15, your teen’s brain is in a critical rewiring phase—where experiences now become traits later. While camps keep teens comfortable, a NOLS course gives them tools to navigate an uncertain world. Spending a month hiking beneath Wyoming’s granite peaks, navigating through grizzly country, and learning to live comfortably in nature teaches them that the world is big, beautiful, and not revolving around them. We teach through natural consequences: if the tent isn’t set up right, they get wet. No nagging, just feedback that builds responsibility and judgment. Plus, research shows 96% of NOLS grads complete college. You’re investing in the adult you want to send into the world.