Vantage Walking
Tracking Course

Vantage Area Walking Course

Sept 12th

Vantage Sept 13th & 14th Standard Evaluation is Full Please email me to be on Waitlist

One - Day Walking Evaluation Description - This is a different kind of course, designed for those with significant tracking experience but who would like to push their current skill set, and the way in which they perceive and locate sign. The format will be loosely based on a typical Track and Sign Certification, but with some key differences. First, rather than exploring specifically-chosen questions from one small area, we’ll continuously move across the landscape while interpreting a wide variety of wildlife sign we encounter on-the-fly.

Secondly, participants will be asked to make rapid assessments of everything we find. By intensively limiting the time allotted to “come up with an answer,” participants will have the unique opportunity to clearly examine their own internal process in a new light, and expand the edges of their experience and interpretive ability. Question debriefs will still cover details of the sign at hand, but we’ll also spend time exploring where we as individuals felt comfortable or “fluent,” where we got hung up or encountered mental blocks, and why. 

This day-long course aims to explore the heart of holistic tracking skill, push current boundaries and limitations, and come away with new eyes and abilities.

Middle Rio Grande Bosque Ecosystem

This environment is an oasis of the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Chihuahua Desert providing critical habitat it includes riparian forests that provide an oasis of valuable resources for animals and plants living in an otherwise arid Southwest habitat. In these evaluations will can cover both river and mountain ecosystems which offer very different habitats for plants and animals hence a diverse broad range of questions for wildlife tracking study.

Your instructor Marcus has had an affinity for the living world since childhood. He is a naturalist, educator, and photographer. He has worked in wilderness education, outdoor leadership, and conservation for numerous organizations and communities across North America. He is engaged in telling stories that bring to light and life, the complexity of humans living in the 21st century. Originally from Louisville, Marcus currently lives in the Snoqualmie Valley in Washington State, just east of Seattle, where he is the Lead Instructor for an internationally renowned environmental leadership immersion program for adults at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA.Through this experience, you will grow a skillset in exploring the vast world of wildlife tracking. While we will certainly cover some of key fundamental themes, every tracking experience is unique, and we will go where the tracks take us. Topics that will likely be explored:

• Basic wildlife foot physiology and morphology
• The Natural History of Landscapes
• Clear print identification
• Concepts in behavior and wildlife sign interpretation
• How wildlife interacts with landscapes
• Thinking about how to age tracks and sign on the landscape Whether an experienced or beginning tracker and naturalist, participants will leave this experience looking at the ground in a completely different way with new tools to continue to develop themselves as naturalists

Whether beginner or advanced, every participant will walk away with a lot more knowledge and “search images” for the subtle patterns left behind by life on the landscape, ultimately feeling a stronger connection to the natural world.

This unique evaluation is 100% field-based and is sure to be engaging for all. This is a rigorous tracking experience designed to give honest reflection and feedback around each person’s unique skillset.

Full Refunds minus $50 processing fee given before 30 days of program after that I will honor a credit If I can fill your spot!

Full Refunds minus $50 processing fee given before 30 days of program after that I will honor a credit If I can fill your spot!