Trackers Earth BlogWhy we travel
It’s ironic; Trackers is a wilderness skills program, yet for many of our camps we get on buses and drive places. Many are near, within 15 minutes, some are far, taking a little over 45 minutes to get there. Yet there’s a very good reason for this method; sometimes you just have to get away [...]
SnapShotSkills: The Evolution of Fire
The ability to light a fire with one-match in any weather is an important survival skill. Once upon a time, our Jr Rangers Apprentices gathered wire-thin twigs from a very special tree (can burn even in wet conditions). This tree is the Western Hemlock Tree (no real relation to the bane of Socrates—that was a [...]
Rangers Rites of Passage
Rangers consider their shelter the stars, moon, and mountains. -From Scáth: The Dairies and Wanderings of an Early Ranger “Rangers Revive the Village,” that’s what I told my group of Rangers Apprentices last weekend before they headed out to sleep in their survival shelters for the night—without sleeping bags. Someone might say, “What’s the big [...]
Core Study: Tracking
Tracking is the art and science of Paying Attention to the details, both large and small, and using this awareness to find hidden aspects of the world most people miss. Good Trackers can find a set of prints, human or animal, and follow them over any ground. Great Trackers can tell you what this means [...]
The Value of Blacksmithing
The basics of blacksmithing began with learning safety. Safety in the shop, safety with tools, in safety by fire. The flow of the shop in working with your colleagues teaches more than just blacksmithing. Learning to use tools focused intact, channeling all your capable strength, his skill applied not only by your hands but also [...]
Why Trackers?
By Travis Neumeyer, new Hand/COO of Trackers Earth I’ve been sending my kids to Trackers since they were old enough to go. I’ve had to participate vicariously through them for the last four years. Somewhere along the line, Tony (the founder of Trackers) and I started talking. We talked about staffing, parents, and kids. Dune, [...]