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 consists of 9 lectures and 2 out of class trips. Please try to make as many of the out of class activities as possible. 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.