The Yellowstone Expedition provides 16-18 year olds an opportunity to experience the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by both land and water for 21 days. As one of our longest expeditions, this course provides an excellent opportunity for students to fine tune both backcountry and leadership skills, and to build a strong expedition community.
The team will spend the first week backpacking in a remote mountain range and learning fundamental backpacking, camping, cooking, group travel & decision-making skills. During the second and third weeks of the expedition, students will hit the river to learn how to paddle both packrafts and expeditionary canoes, gaining exposure to basic swiftwater rescue techniques and technical paddling skills. Students will even have an opportunity to spend a day fly fishing with instruction from licensed guides on the Yellowstone River!
Across the course, participants will engage in lessons about place-based ecology, land history, land and water navigation, and leadership and communication styles. Each student will have several opportunities to lead the group as the Expedition Leader of the Day to gain experience with newly acquired leadership and backcountry skills. Expedition members will also obtain Leave No Trace® Awareness and Wilderness First Aid certifications to serve them in future wilderness travel.
Interested students can earn college credit for this experience through University of Montana Western. For more information about MWS core curriculum and expedition progression see Expedition Life.
