Enrollment coming soon!
June 5-7 (Three-day): Wilderness First Aid (WFA)
9am – 6pm, Adult, grades 8 – 12 welcome
Details coming soon!! This will be a class that certifies students in Wilderness First-Aid–for the first time ever, taught by our very own Jen! This also completes a step of the Medic Track.
Instructor: Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: Coming Soon!
June 8-9 (Two-day): Wildcrafting and Gardening
5pm – 6:45pm, All ages welcome!
Students will either meet at Jen’s house to work on the medicine garden or in local areas where we can harvest wild plants. We will do plant walks, gardening info, talk about the most abundant plants for medicine, and how to harvest/dry/store plants for use in an herbal apothecary. These classes are optional, but highly recommended! Two of these classes are one way to meet the gardening requirement for Herbalist II and/or the Provider track.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: Free
June 8 – 11 (Half-day): Campside Cooking
9am – 12pm, grades 6 – 12, prior fire experience required
This class builds on the fire-building skills learned in Advanced Fire. Campers will build on their fire expertise and learn how to turn a campfire into a cookfire. This class will not only teach the methods to build a cookfire, but also how to use it and what to cook on it. Students will learn how to make delicious recipes to use on their next campout!
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $105
June 8 – 11 (Half-day): Mountain SOL Songwriting
1pm – 4pm, grades 6 – 12
In this class, we will take a break from wild woods adventures and relax with music! Students will learn the basic skills of writing songs, including an introduction to music theory, lyric-writing, chord progressions, and putting it all together into a fantastic-sounding song. Whether you’ve never touched an instrument or have already written some songs, this class will have something to teach everyone!
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $105
June 8-11 (Half-day): Woods Conditioning and Competition
1pm – 4pm, grades 6 – 12
If you are interested in achieving the peak physical you, this class will help you get started and help you start or continue your athletic journey. Using the Mountain SOL campus as a natural gym, we will run, sprint, do body weight exercises, and lift nature’s weights. Prepare to join our adventure getting muddy and in shape all around the Mountain SOL backyard. This class will be run by wrestling state qualifier and Spartan Elite Elijah Wellings-Osha. This class will most definitely get you in better shape for whatever physical obstacles you have put in front of you. We will definitely emphasize cardio but we will do many other exercises that cover the rest of the body. (This class is appropriate for before highschool, in it, or fresh out.)
Instructor: Elijah Wellings-Osha
Cost: $105
June 9 (One-day): Intro to Sumo Wrestling
4:30 – 6pm, Adult, grades 8 – 12 welcome
Sumo wrestling is not only the most distinct of Japan’s various martial arts, it is also the oldest. In this course, you will learn the fundamentals, exercises, rituals, and rules of the sport. In addition, one of the rudimentary aspects of Sumo wrestling is mastery of one’s emotions. Rikishi are expected to control their demeanor and persona in and out of the ring. Students will learn to win and lose without dramatics.
Students will be wrestling (Sumo) in this course.
Instructor: John Mouser
Cost: $20, or $50 for all 3 Sumo Wrestling, Jeet Kune Do, and Filipino Martial Arts
June 11 (One-day): Memory Bags Workshop
4:30pm – 6pm, grades 6 – 12
Have you ever found something cool while hiking and wish you had someplace unique to store it? In this class we will create leather memory bags with fringed decoration. This includes cutting, dying, and sewing the leather to create a unique keepsake for each student.
This class is open to all Jaguares and students moving into the Jaguares level. Knife safety is not required. This class will count towards the Provider Path specialization in Leatherworking.
Instructor: Jason Ruehl
Cost: $35
June 13 (One-day): Intro to Outdoor Adventures
10am – 6pm, Adult
Have you been signing up your kid for Mountain SOL classes, watching as they learn how to do so many cool wilderness tricks and wishing you could keep up? Then this is the class for you! This one-day workshop will give you all the basic tools you need to keep up with your woods-running child, including safe hiking protocols, hamping (hammock-camping!), and intro to fire and campside cooking.
Instructors: Katie Zucker, Benjamin Tower, Bella Zucker
Cost: $60
June 15-16 (Two-day): Wildcrafting and Gardening
5pm – 6:45pm, All ages welcome!
Students will either meet at Jen’s house to work on the medicine garden or in local areas where we can harvest wild plants. We will do plant walks, gardening info, talk about the most abundant plants for medicine, and how to harvest/dry/store plants for use in an herbal apothecary. These classes are optional, but highly recommended! Two of these classes are one way to meet the gardening requirement for Herbalist II and/or the Provider track.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: Free
June 15-18 (Half-day): Forts, Forts, Forts!
9am – 12pm, grades 3 – 12
This multi-age workshop is all about having fun in the woods! One of our favorite things to do here at Mountain SOL is build forts and debris huts. In this workshop we’ll use our imagination and create forts big and small across the property, learn how to use different natural materials to make structures, and experiment with the different resources available in the area.
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Bethany Boback
Cost: $105
June 15-18 (Half-day): Computers in the Woods!
1pm-4pm, grades 6 – 12
In this class, you will be introduced to computer coding (no prior experience necessary!). Who says you can’t have your electronics when you’re in the wilderness? In this camp, we will learn how computers can work with the woods to make the woods more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. We will design our own database and set up a web page where we can view it. This class is also a sneak peek at a new afterschool program that will start next year, our own Mountain Dev Team!
Instructor: Katie Zucker
Cost: $105
June 15-18 (Half-day): Stealth and Camo
1pm-4pm, grades 6 – 12
More advanced aspects of stealth and camo, play a couple of stealth and camo games, and we will most definitely get dirty! We want everyone who would like to learn as well as everyone who already knows. Even if you think you are already good at camouflage, there is always more to learn. There will be two different groups so that no matter what level you are at, you will leave feeling accomplished and sneaky!
Do not bring nice clothes. Elijah will not let you use a ghillie suit so piece together your own woodsy colored raggedy clothing. You will get covered in mud.
Instructor: Elijah Wellings-Osha
Cost: $105
June 16 (One-day): Intro to Jeet Kune Do
4:30 – 6pm, Adult, grades 8 – 12 welcome
Jeet Kune Do, “The way of the intercepting fist” is a mixed martial arts philosophy developed by the personal experiences Bruce Lee. Lee officially founded this formless system on July 9, 1967. This class will focus on a contemporary methodology geared towards self-defense or combative situations. The class is largely based on skills & drills taught & used by the world’s foremost JKD instructors.
Instructor: John Mouser
Cost: $20, or $50 for all 3 Sumo Wrestling, Jeet Kune Do, and Filipino Martial Arts
June 20 – 21 (Saturday-Sunday Overnight): Mountain SOLstice celebration!
10am-10am, All ages welcome!
Join us for a Mountain SOL summer solstice campout party! This is a chance to hang out with our older Mountain SOL alumni as we gather our Mountain SOL community to celebrate our natural world on the longest day of the year.
Cost: Free
June 22 – 25 (Full-day): Navigation Levels 2-4
9am – 4pm, grades 6 – 12
In this workshop, held at Coopers Rock State Forest, campers will be separated into three groups according to their current level of navigation and map-reading skills: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Students will hike through the forest exploring the land and improving their knowledge on map and compass navigation. These classes can also be used as credits for the mapping and navigation requirements in Mountain SOL afterschool programs.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Bella Zucker
Cost: $175
June 22 – 25 (Half-day): Insect Camp
1pm – 4pm, grades 3 – 5
Join us in discovering the crawling-wiggling-flying-weaving and burrowing insects that live among us. We will be looking under logs and rocks and in the trees or under leaves. We will be using tools to safely capture and observe insects just like entomologists. We will be identifying and discussing the “awesome-ness” of each specimen and the important role they play in our ecosystem. Lastly, we will create our very own insects!
Instructor: Chris Schwinghamer
Cost: $105
June 23 (One-day): Intro to Filipino Martial Arts
4:30 – 6pm, Adult, grades 8 – 12 welcome
FWD is the culmination of John Mouser’s years of training and experience, and is developed from Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino martial arts of Kali. The program focuses on weapon familiarization, teaching the student the essentials for using actual weapons (sticks), as well as improvised weapons such as branches, bottles, pipes, or anything that may become a life-saving asset in a threatening situation. Students learn essential reaction techniques to transform themselves from a victim mindset to a survivor mindset. They progress through training in reaction drills, countering & close-quarter drills. Students also train in the worst case scenario, what to do when you are unarmed and faced with a weapon.
Instructor: John Mouser
Cost: $20, or $50 for all 3 Sumo Wrestling, Jeet Kune Do, and Filipino Martial Arts
June 27 (One-day): Apocalypse Survival
10am – 4pm, Adult, grades 8 – 12 welcome
In this class, you can learn how to plan to survive the apocalypse! You will learn strategies such as what to pack and how to pack it, and you will learn skills like building alarm systems and camouflage. You will leave this class with a worst-case plan and your own specialized 20-minute packing list!
Instructors: Jason Ruehl, Katie Zucker, Benjamin Tower
Cost: $60
July 6 – 9 (Half-day): Fire-Building 101/Advanced
9am – 12pm, grades 3 – 12
In this class, Paula teaches Fire 101 while Benjamin teaches Advanced Fire.
Fire 101: Ages 9 – 12
This workshop introduces campers to the basics of fire-building: site preparation, fire components (fuel, heat, oxygen), fuel gathering and tinder/kindling construction, fire maintenance, and fire safety and responsibility. Campers will take home their own basic fire starting kit!
Advanced Fire: Ages 12 and up OR currently in Mtn Zorros
Campers’ focus will be on making fires under wet conditions, making scout fires for safety and warmth, and continual development of campers’ fire-making kits. Campers also will learn more about native plants to use for fires. This class does not teach bow drill or hand drill fire-making but rather teaches to use skills under more demanding situations. While we take kids as young as 12, the subject matter is appropriate for high school students.
Instructors: Benjamin Tower, Paula Taylor
Cost: $105
July 6 – 9 (Half-day): Woodscraft and Wildery
9am – 12pm, grades K – 2
Calling all young explorers and nature-lovers! This workshop will acclimate our youngest scouts to being in the woods and observing the natural world more closely. Students will be led on guided hikes and exploration missions and will learn basic trail etiquette, plant identification skills, and the foundation of early outdoor leadership and self-responsibility will be highlighted, with plenty of safe, fun nature-time to enjoy.
Instructors: Bethany Boback, Bella Zucker
Cost: $105
July 6 – 9 (Half-day): Intro to Sur-thrival
1pm – 4pm, grades 3 – 8
This class will build on the basic woods skills learned in Woodscraft and Wildery or Mountain Mallards. Students will learn knot-tying, basic tarp shelter building, and campsite set-up. They will also participate in scenarios to practice their skills!
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Bethany Boback
Cost: $105
July 6 – 9 (Half-day): Intro to Mountain Mallards
1pm – 4pm, grades K – 2
Join us this week for a fun introduction to the Mountain Mallards! This class gives you a taste of our first after-school program. Our instructor Benjamin Tower is one of our first Mountain SOL graduates of both the Scout Track and the Medic Track (see a description of our tracks here), and he currently teaches Mountain Mallards. If you have just reached the age where you can join Mallards, come with us to see what it’s all about! Benjamin will take you adventuring in the woods, to learn about our world through discovery and fun.
Instructor: Benjamin Tower
Cost: $105
July 9 (One-day): Knife Safety I
4:30pm – 5:30pm, grades 6 – 12
Learn the basic safety protocols for using lock-blade knives and hatchets. What are the parts of a knife called? What is the safest way to split a twig? How do you keep your edges sharp? This class will teach you all of this and certify you to carry a lock-blade knife at Mtn. SOL!
Instructors: Jason Ruehl
Cost: $20
July 10-19 (Cheat Mountain Campus, Overnights): Cheat Mountain
Invite only.
Skills Week: 12th-16th
At least the first two years of your Cheat Mountain adventures are Skills I and Skills II, where our Cheat Mountain teachers and Scout guides show you how to sur-thrive in the true wilderness. You will learn skills such as fire-building, shelter construction, how to purify water and find wild food, navigation, basic medicking, and how to pack to stay dry. You will be tested at the end of the week with a scenario.
Cost: $360
Practicum: 10th-16th
After you have acquired sufficient skills, you are invited to complete the Practicum. This is an intensive, real-life test of your skills, where you will be sleeping in your own camp, collecting your own wild edible food, building your own fires, and figuring out how to stay dry. All the practicum students will work as a team to create a good camp where they can enjoy their own corner of the wilderness!
Cost: $300
Scout Week: 16th-19th
After becoming proficient at the base set of skills and honing your personal and team responsibilities, you will be invited to Scout Weekend. In this more flexible environment, you will learn specialized skills and go on longer, more demanding hikes. You will have a challenging scenario at the end of camp.
Cost: $300
July 13 – 16 (Half-day): Green Thumbs in the Garden
9am – 12pm, grades K – 5
Join Ms. T for some gardening fun! We will use our senses to learn about the plants in our garden. Our senses of smell, taste, touch, and sight will be used to get to know our plant friends in the garden.
Instructors: Paula Taylor
Cost: $105
July 15 – 16 (Two-day): Butterflies, Moths, and Gardens
9am – 12pm, grades K – 5
In this workshop, we will not only safely capture, identify and observe the most delicate of our flying insects, we will spend time planting and tending to the gardens that encourage our flying friends to return each year. This workshop includes identifying native host plants and discussing various life cycles involved in this relationship. Each participant will leave with their own “starter pollinator garden.”
Instructor: Bethany Boback
Cost: $50
July 20 – 23 (Half-day): Woods-Walking
9am – 12pm, grades K – 5
In this workshop, we will be exploring the woods to learn about the big plants and animals, like trees and deer, as well as the smallest plants and animals, like moss and tardigrades. All of these living things work and live together in our woods! We’ll become super detectives and zoom in closely to the living world around us.
Instructors: Paula Taylor
Cost: $105
July 20 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
Learn what internal preparation herbalism is! Also learn what precautions we need to take when we prepare herbs to go in our bodies. We will go over our Materia Medica along with information about which plants we have in our garden and what plants we can use.
Instructors: Lauren Martin, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
July 21 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
We will learn how to make a variety of basic teas and tinctures! We will use herbs such as nettle, boneset, alfafa, echinacea, chamomile, lemon balm, poke, astragalus, white sage, and cleavers to create concoctions that support the immune system.
Instructors: Lauren Martin, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
July 22 – 25 (Full-day, Fri-Sat Overnight): Hamping for Happiness!
9am – 4pm, grades 6 – 12
Discover the latest craze in outdoor adventure – “Hamping” – or camping with hammocks! Campers will learn where best to set up hammocks, how to tie sturdy knots and how to hang tarps to sleep comfortably, warmly and safely outdoors all night. Includes an overnight on the MLA campus on Friday evening and hamping certification. Both beginning and advanced students will learn more hamping skills in this workshop.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Elijah Wellings-Osha
Cost: $175
July 23 (One-day): Knife Safety II
4:30pm – 6pm, grades 6 – 12, Knife Safety I completed
Focusing primarily on fixed blade knives (not folding knives), axes, and hatchets this class goes beyond the basics and teaches specific techniques for the care and use of these tools. After taking this class, students will be allowed to carry fixed blade knives and hatchets at Mountain SOL functions.
Instructors: Jason Ruehl
Cost: $20
July 27 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
Monday we will focus on digestion. We will learn about balanced vs. imbalanced digestion, and how daily life can affect healthy digestion. Today we will learn about herbs including ginger, dandelion, and cranberry.
Instructors: Lauren Martin, Bella Zucker
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
July 28 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
Tuesday we will learn how to help out in a fall/winter herbal clinic! We will learn what to expect out of a clinic, and we will learn how to prepare herbs for it. We will make infused honey and vinegar today, and we will also make tinctures today.
Instructors: Lauren Martin, Bella Zucker
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
August 3 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
Medicine Prep I: Today you will get to put together your own tincture! We will offer different herbs to choose from. Some tinctures you might make include lymph mover tincture, sleep tincture, Lauren’s “feel-good” tincture, linden tincture, tummy tincture, and more!
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
August 3 – 6 (Half-day): Herbology 101
9am – 12pm, grades 3 – 8
For our younger students who love plants! This class gives an introduction to the identification and use of some of the plants on our property, even teaching some medicinal properties of the plants! Our students will learn how to safely identify and use the food and medicine growing right in their backyards!
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $105
August 3 – 6 (Half-day): Games
9am – 12pm, grades 6 – 12
Join Elijah and Jen in the last week of camp to play endless amounts of wilderness games. We will play old favorites as well as test out new games. Prepare to get dirty, play hard, and come home tired. Elijah says bring your competitive side and he will reward you with treats! Jen says there is space for those who aren’t all about the competition as well!
Instructors: Elijah Wellings-Osha, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $105
August 3 – 6 (Half-day): Medic
1pm – 4pm, grades 6 – 12
In this workshop we will work with students to improve their medic skills. We welcome students with no prior first aid experience to come learn the basics of primary survey, and we also welcome students who already have the basic skills to improve, practice, and learn even more! Students will participate in engaging scenarios that build their practical and teamwork skills and come away with increased self confidence in their first aid abilities.
Instructors: Bella Zucker, Benjamin Tower
Cost: $105
August 3 – 6 (Half-day): Tracking
1pm – 4pm, grades 3 – 12
This tracking class will be for the beginners among us. Campers will be able to learn the four ways animals move and tell-tale signs when tracking. By the end of this week, we’ll be able to follow a trail and determine what animal was walking through the property.
Instructors: Elijah Wellings-Osha, Jen-Osha Buysse
Cost: $105
August 4 (One-day): Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
Medicine Prep II: We will learn about methods of infusing honeys and ACVs, including heat vs no heat, storage of infusions, and oxymels. Students will again be able to make their own custom infusion!
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: $20, $100 for all 6 Internal Prep classes
August 8 (One-day): Spinning and Weaving
10am – 2pm, Adult, grades 6 – 12 welcome
Learn how to spin wool and weave it into cloth! In this workshop you will use a hand-held spinning tool called a drop spindle to turn wool into yarn. Then you will use that yarn to create fabric on a mini loom! We will have a picnic lunch of sandwiches, so please bring any other food you would like to eat (NOTE: Mountain SOL is a nut-free campus; please double check nothing you bring has peanuts!).
Instructor: Katie Zucker
Cost: $40
August 17-18 (Two-day): Wildcrafting and Gardening
5pm – 6:45pm, All ages welcome!
Students will either meet at Jen’s house to work on the medicine garden or in local areas where we can harvest wild plants. We will do plant walks, gardening info, talk about the most abundant plants for medicine, and how to harvest/dry/store plants for use in an herbal apothecary. These classes are optional, but highly recommended! Two of these classes are one way to meet the gardening requirement for Herbalist II and/or the Provider track.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: Free
August 24-25 (Two-day): Review and Test for Herbalist II: Internal Prep
5pm – 6:45pm, Adult, grades 6+ welcome
8/24- Wrapping up our class, we will do a seed/plant start swap, calculate volunteer hours, sort out independent study options, and review our Materia Medica.
8/25- Test: After a brief review and survey, we will take our Internal Prep test.
Instructors: Jen-Osha Buysse, Lauren Martin
Cost: $15