"Now I see the secret of making the best person. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."
--Walt Whitman
Wilderness is a teacher. It is a living classroom in which knowledge about ourselves and our surroundings are waiting to be learned. The best way to learn about the Wilderness is to go there. First-hand experiences are far more powerful than second-hand classroom experiences. The time spent in the Wilderness will lead students to an appreciation of the Wilderness giving them a desire to act as good stewards of it.
The Backpacking Course at Cook Inlet Academy has been developed to help
Our backpacking program allows students to earn a half credit in physical education, practical art, a life skill, or as an elective.
The primary focus is to teach students basic backpacking, leave no trace camping skills, wilderness survival and first aid skills, as well as gear selection and use to better enjoy the Alaskan Wilderness safely.
The Instructors:
Gary and Jill Leiter have been hiking and camping in Alaska since 1981. Gary is a certified High School Teacher and teaches at Cook Inlet Academy in Soldotna, Alaska. Jill has a degree in counseling and has worked at several camps over the years. Gary and Jill have taken teen groups on backpack trips as well as canoe trips for more than twenty years. They have owned and operated a backpack guiding buisiness and have contracted backpacking trips for a local air charter as well as area Bed and Breakfasts. Gary and Jill have worked at, and managed lodges on the west side of Cook Inlet specializing in bear viewing and ecotourism and have designed and led Outdoor Education courses during the school year and summers for teens in the area. Gary has also been trained to teach cold water safety and survival, small boat safety, and land safety and survival by Alaska Marine Safety Education Association out of Sitka, Alaska.
students learn to appreciate and enjoy the Alaskan Wilderness. The philosophy of the program is based on conservation. We believe that the Wilderness can be used and enjoyed without harming it. We teach students these principles so the Wilderness will be available to others and future generations.
June 27--July 2
As I continue to teach, it has become evident to me that many of the basic fundamentals of life are not being learned by our students. Success in college and in the world is based on the understanding and use of common sense and learned behavior. Jill and I have developed a summer school program that gets students away from the distractions of home and focuses on building the important life skills students will need to be successful in high school and beyond as well as the skills necessary to remain safe while enjoying Alaska's Wilderness.
Learning map reading and compass use are necessary when hiking in Alaska's wilderness
