Backpacking is defined as hiking into the Wilderness carrying one’s belongings in a backpack, and staying at least one night. At its core it is quite simple yet many people are afraid to attempt it. The objective of this course is to break down the barriers stopping people from going backpacking by providing knowledge on how to plan and execute a backpacking trip safely. By the end of this course, each student should be able to safely plan and lead a 2-3 night backpacking trip with a small group of friends or family.

This course consist of 9 in class lectures and 2 out of class trips. Please try to make as many of the out of class activities as possible. If you cannot make an out of class trip, you can always make it up! We will have 6 short assignments in this class that all have to do with creating a comprehensive trip plan.At the beginning of the class each student will select a backpacking trip they would like to go on. Each assignment will be another part of the trip plan, and by the end of the semester all of the assignments put together will make up a complete trip plan and present the plan to the class. Each student will also go on the trip that they planned at some point during the semester.

Grading is as follows:
Lecture Attendance 27% (3% per class)
Assignments 21% (3% per class)
Did you go for a hike this semester? (26%)
Did you go for a backpacking trip this semester? (26%)
****The passing threshhold for this class is 80%*****

Students wishing to enroll in this course MUST come to our info session on Wednesday February 6th at 5pm in Dwinelle 87. Unfortunately, If more then 30 people attend we will distribute an application to decide who gets to enroll. We will pick people based on enthusiasm to learn and not based on prior experience.