Field trip: Wilderness Skills
Wilderness Skills Field Day - Olympia Friends Meeting House
This field day includes in-person lectures, activities, demonstrations, and an experience hike to demonstrate Mountaineers hiking procedures.
Contacts
- Sat, Jan 31, 2026
- Olympia Wilderness Skills Committee
- Day Hiking
- Adults
- Easy
- Easy
- 46 (60 capacity)
- 8 (16 capacity)
- Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
- Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM
- Cancellation & Refund Policy
- iCal Google
All day Wilderness Skills workshop that begins with several morning lectures and activities, and ends with an experience hike that demonstrates Mountaineers hiking procedures and realistic scenarios for what can go wrong on the trail.
Olympia Friends Meeting House near Squaxin Park
Required Equipment
In preparation for the field day students should assemble a day pack with the Ten Essentials, including:
- Navigation: compass; we will provide maps. We will provide some loaner compasses for students to share if you do not already own one. See the guidance document under “Course Materials” for information on selecting a compass.
- Headlamp: plus extra batteries
- Sun protection: sunglasses, sun-protective clothes, and sunscreen
- First aid: including foot care and insect repellent (if required)
- Knife: plus repair kit
- Fire: matches, lighter and tinder, or stove as appropriate
- Shelter: carried at all times (can be a lightweight emergency bivy)
- Extra food: beyond minimum expectation
- Extra water: beyond minimum expectation, or the means to purify
- Extra clothes: sufficient to survive an emergency overnight
Students should try to assemble this kit with items they already own and are not required to buy extensive new gear; the course will teach them how to improve or tailor gear to their needs and planned activities.
Students should also be prepared for rainy winter weather on the field day, with appropriate rain gear and insulation layers.