Wilderness Survival Apprenticeship Bay Area, CA

Legend of the Rangers Guild

The Rangers are hunters and scouts for the village. They are versed in the arts of wilderness survival, tracking and awareness. In their listening they find a silence, one that compels them to protect what is Wild.

Flow is the Way of the Ranger. They follow the trail of the cougar, deer and other animals. With finely honed senses they become the eyes and ears of the village, living completely with the land and tending to it as if an invisible ghost.

The Remembering is here. There was a time you forgot who you were, how it feels to release an arrow, the music of the bowstring resonating, the route of your blood, the path of those who came before.

You felt you were asleep for a long while. The world engined on. And then, one day, you woke up.

While addressing and completing every one of these skills is not possible in a short-term day or week camp, any Rangers Guild program can be part of a student's journey to attaining Pathfinder or Rangers Level 1.

Beginning, intermediate and advanced students can learn together. Our experienced instructors collaborate with campers to teach and develop the skills they are most passionate about.

Pathfinder Youth

Foundational skills that find the path towards the Rangers Level 1.

☐ make a Digger Bopper by demonstrating woodcarving knife safety
☐ use a bow drill
☐ get a bow drill fire
☐ make a bow drill from any wood
☐ demonstrate consistent competency of 5-minute fire in a group with proper "Rangers Fading"
☐ build a debris hut in a group with proper "Rangers Fading"
☐ demonstrate proper from in stringing a bow
☐ identify 3 poisonous plants
☐ make 1-foot of cordage reverse wrapped from invasive blackberry
☐ demonstrate knowledge of camouflage techniques: dull, dapple, fuzz
☐ 15 minutes of stillness blending in shadows
☐ catch a crawdad, cook and eat it
☐ demonstrate 4 major animal gaits
☐ draw a deer, coyote, domestic dog and domestic cat
☐ find South via the sun
☐ explain Magnetic North vs True North

Rangers Level 1 Youth

75 skills fundamental to becoming a full Ranger.

Wilderness Survival Basics Youth

Completing the Survival Basics means completing 25 different primitive skills based experiences.

☐ demonstration of Trackers knife safety and competency skills
☐ ability to navigate by compass cross country .5 miles
☐ working knowledge of topographical maps
☐ by the sun and a watch, pinpoint and walk a straight line South for 500 feet through brush
☐ 6-feet of cordage harvested from natural fibers capable of suspending 5 lbs
☐ sleeping two-nights in an all natural debris shelter with no sleeping bag (fall overnight)
☐ one liter of water harvested from dew or solar still
☐ one spring followed all the way to source
☐ one page journal and three water borne illnesses and prevention
☐ boiling 1-liter of water with rocks
☐ lighting one fire with one match in 5-minutes in severely wet conditions
☐ bow-drill coals from each of these materials
-two softwoods (one domestic, one wild harvested)
-two hardwoods (both wild harvested)
☐ one hand-drill coal
☐ arrowheads made from each of these materials
-glass bottle bottom, flakes across all surfaces
-bone or obsidian, only stone tools are used
☐ completion of three quickie survival bows made from different woods (make them pretty)
☐ making a wood eating bowl by coal burning
☐ skinning one small animal (domestic rabbit, we provide) Not typically in beginner day camps
☐ tanning the hide of one small animal (bark tan) Not typically in beginner day camps
☐ hitting an 8-inch target 25-feet away with a rabbitstick ten times in a row
☐ hitting an 8-inch target 50-feet away with a bow and arrow set three times in a row
☐ making one simple basket that can hold 1 pound of grass or grain seeds

Animal Tracking Basics Youth

Completing the Tracking Basics means doing 21 lens journals and 4 week-long home based studies in different soil substrates in Track Aging Profiles.

☐ 18 lens journals for clear tracks of different wild mammals
☐ 1 lens journals for clear track of a small domestic dog
☐ 1 lens journals for clear track of a large domestic dog
☐ 1 lens journals for clear track of a domestic cat
☐ 1 week-long Trailing Profile Study in sand or dirt
☐ 1 week-long Trailing Profile Study in leaf debris
☐ 1 week-long Trailing Profile Study in debris of choice
☐ 1 week-long Trailing Profile Study in lawn or meadow

The Curriculum of Shadows Youth

Completing The Curriculum of Shadows Basics means 25 different invisibility and awareness projects

☐ sit one full day alone sun-up to sun-down in one wild area
☐ camouflage on well-used game trail in minimal clothing for 4-hours
☐ one full day blind-folded (get assistance, don't die or get hurt)
☐ one full day silent
☐ give up sugar and processed foods for one week
☐ move one full day at half speed
☐ move one morning: sunrise to noon at quarter speed
☐ balance on one foot for 20-minutes (both)
☐ successfully evade trained Rangers (Level 1) trailing your guided team within a defined area for 1/2 day
☐ one page journal and 10-different localized song birds
☐ ability to mimic 3-bird calls impeccably
☐ develop and teach to instructors 5-different stealth scenario relevant hand signals (keep 'em secret, keep 'em safe)
☐ find and lens journal one set of large predator (over 25 lbs) tracks by bird alarms
☐ feed wild birds eating out of your hand