Backpacking Building Blocks (B3) Course

• Two required “Building Blocks Basics” lectures:  two evening lectures on March 23 at Bellevue Library and March 30 at the Seattle Program Center

• A hands-on  demonstration day on Saturday April 2nd at Eastgate Elementary School, with all the basics plus ideas to go beyond.  

• Optional in-depth seminars offered through the spring and early summer for free or at a significant discount to B3 students.  These include Lightweight Gear, Lightweight Food Planning and Preparation, "Staying Found"Basic Navigation, and Trail Emergency Preparedness.    If you wish to attend one of these seminars for free or discounted as part of the course, you need to register from the B3 course page.  {If you are not a B3 student, sessions will be opened on the main course page for a modest fee beginning a week after they are available for B3 students.} 

The course fee gets you the required Building Blocks Basics classes, free or heavily discounted entry into the optional seminars, and advance notice of all the B3 backpack trips through the summer.  Backpack trips sponsored through the B3 course include extra emphasis on coaching and demonstration of gear and trail/camp skills.

To graduate, students must complete the Basics classes, 3 backpack trips of which at least one is two nights or more, and at least one trail maintenance trip of at least a day.  One of the three backpack trips can be a private trip as long as the student does the primary planning, supplies and carries their own gear, sets up their own camp and plans-carries-prepares their own trail food; the other two can be any Mountaineers-led backpack.  Trail maintenance trip options will be made available early in the season and signups coordinated to make it easy for students to get involved. 

Backpack trips typically post on the Backpack Activity listing (www.mountaineers.org/explore/activities#b_start=0&c4=Backpacking) 6 weeks or more in advance to allow people to take the time off work, so bookmark this page and check it often!  However, cancellations are a big problem for your hardworking leaders and fellow participants so PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER FOR A TRIP UNLESS YOU ARE FULLY INTENDING TO GO ALONG!  Multiple late cancellations or any no-shows could impact your ability to get on future trips and even to graduate from the course!!

To advance the goal of maintaining and growing our backpacking community in the club and spreading the skills and joy of backpacking as broadly as possible, all B3 backpacks are open to any Mountaineers member over 18 who meets the qualifications for the trip.  

We hope you will join us!!  If you love to backpack and have a passion for teaching, consider joining us as a backpack leader.  Contact cascadehiker@earthlink.net if you think you might be interested!