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The evening was calm and peaceful. Mark Blaiser dipped his paddle through the still water of the Kawishiwi River near the border of Minnesota and Canada. The 25-year-old sat silently in his canoe and watched a moose and her calf splash into the river and swim across. The moment struck Blaiser as profound. Now, at 41, Blaiser is the new executive director of Idaho Rivers United, a nonprofit devoted to protecting, conserving and restoring the state's rivers, streams and riparian areas.

In 1999, Murden McClure became the first woman and American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She loves to see the changes coming to women’s sports as young women aren't afraid to go after what they want—and it's being recognized

This August, NOLS Northeast, in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), hosted a service project trip specifically for NOLS graduates and family members in the Adirondacks.

Six reasons to visit Wyoming that aren't Yellowstone: Lander and NOLS.

We live in a time of “Look at me, look at me,” presented to us on a daily basis whenever we have any contact with social media. I am witness to countless situations where people feign interest in news and conversations so that they can turn it around and make it all about themselves. It’s so refreshing, then, to be able to say, “Look at them,” which is why I am writing about Katie McDonnell, age 19, and Taylor Rabbitt, 22. Although these ladies have never met, they share an exuberance, discipline, and passion to learn about our oceans, mountains, and diverse cultures through adventure, education, and exploration. They both have a great attitude towards life. Katie McDonnell is a freshman at Elon University and a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) graduate.

Dr. Qubein’s leadership qualities sparked memories for me of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), the premier teacher of outdoor living skills and leadership, offering courses from 10 days to full semesters in some of the world’s most spectacular natural settings. Over my lifetime, I graduated from four NOLS courses

Ever since my cousin told me about his NOLS expeditions that he took in high school I had been interested in going on one myself. The fact that I had always had a little bit of wander lust and a major spirit of the wild only helped encourage me to take the plunge and go on this adventure. The summer after my sophomore year of high school I decided that it was the right time for me to take my outdoor Sabbatical.

When was the last time you attended a class focused on scaling a mountain face or navigating rapids? For most of us, spending a class period outside on the quad during college was a one time thing. At the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), class is held on the mountain or walking through the woods. Students embark on expeditions where they learn to rock climb, whitewater raft and lead through outdoor challenges. Instructors guide students through extreme scenarios daily so they can learn to remain calm under stress and make good decisions. For the past 30 years, Marco Johnson has actively instructed wilderness education courses while recruiting and training NOLS field staff worldwide. We sat down with Marco to learn how he teaches students to thrive in off grid situations and how we can keep our cool when faced with an indoor emergency. Here are his top three tips:

When you hear the word wilderness, what do you picture? Vast woods full of leaping stags? A mountain rearing up into the clouds? Jungles tangling in all directions? Or something else entirely?

To help recognize NOLS’ 50th anniversary, the Star-Tribune caught up with Peter Metcalf, founder and CEO of international outdoor gear company Black Diamond Equipment and former NOLS student to explain how his experience in the organization helped shape his future.

NOLS was founded in Wyoming and is still headquartered in Lander, where it serves tens of thousands of students each year. Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard caught up with John Gans, the executive director at NOLS, to hear his take on the school’s 50-year legacy.

Photographer Hudson Henry on the new documentary An American Ascent, which covers the first African American expedition to take on Denali.

John Ganns, Director of the Lander based National Outdoor Leadership School, welcomed over seven-hundred returning NOLS graduates , former staff, community members and officials during opening ceremonies last night (Thursday) of the 50th Anniversary of the school, founded in March of 1965 in Lander.

Students learn to be adaptable and resourceful. They learn to persevere and to pursue goals doggedly. Those are life skills – skills that will stay with students long after they leave their mountain, desert, jungle or ocean classroom.

Fifty years ago on March 4, 1965, Judge Jack Nicholas and Paul Petzoldt signed papers establishing the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander,' current NOLS Executive Director John Gans told a large gathering at the Lander Community and Convention Center. 'While Paul was a visionary, he did not envision that today we would be an international school that taught courses in 28 countries, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have chosen ‘National’ for the name.'

This month, on October 8th through 10th, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with an alumni reunion full of events and merry-making. The celebration will take place in Lander, Wyoming, the school’s home base. In attendance will be Liz Nichol, RMFI’s Office Manager, who completed her first NOLS course as a student in 1967

As part of the NOLS 50th Anniversary Celebration, the 10th Mountain Division is hosting a Living History Display featuring the uniforms and equipment that Paul Petzoldt, founder of NOLS, helped develop for the Army. The display includes mountaineering equipment, skis, sleeping bags, packs, climbing boots, and a display of military mountaineering medicine from that time.

A contract that a young man signed releasing a Wyoming-based wilderness training academy from liability before his death on a 2011 backpacking trip to India bars his survivors from suing for damages, a federal judge has ruled.

Andrew Altepeter fell in love with the outdoors at a young age after a transformational hike up to Knapsack Col in the Wind River Range. Pushed past his limits by his father, incredible views of the northwestern Wind River Range awed him. He was hooked. This passion stayed with him through four years at Whitman College, where he regularly participated in the school’s outdoor program. Next came work in the energy industry as a drill-site geologist, but still he managed to find time to adventure when not at work. However he soon moved on, taking an instructor course with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). There, he started to learn about lightweight hiking. “By summer of 2010 I had worked a few courses, and I was hooked,” he says. And five years later he shows no signs of slowing down. He says the chance to be an instructor has “provided an avenue to support transformational experiences for others” and helps him appreciate the importance of the wilderness. Plus it has given him the opportunity to hone his ultralight hiking skills and how he teaches these skills to others.

Molly Herber, Staff Writer at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) recommends a recipe that’ll knock the socks off any camper: backcountry pizza.

My life has been connected with the outdoors, as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School and now as the leader of a conservation organization.

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

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 has become a tradition for upcoming seniors at Lander Valley High School who elect to serve as 'Senior Mentors'.