Explore the Park
Coyote Trails School of Nature

Contact Coyote Trails: http://www.coyotetrails.org/

Coyote Trails is a family-focused, experiential wilderness skills school.  It is in teaching others that we learn and grow ourselves.  Coyote Trails has created a full range of programs that expose children and teens to the wilderness through primitive living skills, tracking, awareness, nature study, story telling and performance.

Coyote Trails is dedicated to supporting families to learn not only how to understand and appreciate the world we live in, but also strengthen their bond with nature through learning.

The school is also dedicated to creating an environment in which it can provide ongoing education courses for community organizations and local schools as well as a developed offering of courses for youth at risk and children with serious illness.

Coyote Trails campers learn to understand and appreciate the wilderness through training in the following areas:

Nature Observation: Participants are shown how to observe nature on a deeper level and learn the basic philosophy that was taught to Tom Brown.

Skills include:
Stalking, the means of camouflage, and the methods to become one with surroundings.  Campers learn how to immerse themselves in the natural world.

Tracking:  Campers learn the basics of tracking, including track identification and analysis, pressure releases, animal markings, sign tracking, scat identification, and how to follow a trail.

Wilderness Living:  The following wilderness skills will be covered: starting with the 4 elements of the "Sacred Order " to keep safe in the woods.

1. Shelter: Techniques for constructing the debris hut, wicki-up, thatching, mud hut, cave dwelling, and pit dwelling.

2. Water: Finding water using a solar still, sink hole, plants, and various other water-gathering methods.

3. Fire: Making a fire using primitive methods including the bow drill, hand drill, as well as how to build a proper fire.

4. Food: Finding food from both plants and animals found in North America ranging from desert to mountain terrain.  Harvesting, preparation, and cooking of food will be covered, though in the interest of conservation only a sampling of such food will be prepared.