Outdoors Skills Classes
Sure Foot’s guides can provide various classes for your group. Our classes are hands-on, interactive, and FUN! We do not currently have any classes scheduled for the general public, but we regularly teach classes for groups and families.
To schedule a class for your group, please contact us.
Classes for all ages
- Appalachian Trail Hiking
- An introduction into the history and culture of Appalachian Trail hiking, including gear, logistics, and physical training tutorials.
- Camping 101
- The basics of camping & backpacking, including gear, knots & shelters, choosing routes, cooking, animal encounters, etc.
- Mapping & Orienteering
- Have you ever wanted to know how to use a compass? Can you look at terrain and draw a map? Do you love exploring nature? This class will teach participants how to think visually and translate land to map and vice versa.
- Raising City Chickens
- A primer for chicken-lovers and anyone interested in starting a small (25-bird or fewer) backyard chicken coop.
- Backcountry Cooking
- Sure Foot’s signature workshop - a fully interactive experience learning to cook multiple gourmet trail meals that need no refrigeration, are easy to prepare and take no unusual ingredients and keep pack weight low.
- Urban Geocaching
- On this 4-6 mile urban walk, participants learn the basics of orienteering, map reading, compass skills, GPS technology while participating in the international treasure-hunting game of geocaching. We learn the history of Atlanta while walking the Grant Park neighborhood or Stone Mountain park seeking 6-8 geocaches.
- Knots & Shelters
- Participants learn hands-on a set of all-purpose knots, taught in order of difficulty, including square, half hitch, slippery hitch, trucker’s hitch, taut-line hitch, bow-line, slip figure-eight, and prusik. After a good deal of practice, we use each of our knots to build an effective tarp shelter.
Classes & Presentations for Adults
- “Nature and Oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)”
- A first-hand account of the flora and fauna of the Arctic Refuge based on Jonah McDonald’s 30-day traverse of the Refuge and an overview of the political, cultural, and economic issues surrounding the oil-drilling controversy.
- “Hiking as Personal Pilgrimage”
- An exploration of the metaphorical and spiritual aspects of hiking, following Jonah McDonald’s “Universal Aspects of Pilgrimage.”
- “A Journey on the Camino de Santiago in Spain”
- The story of Jonah McDonald and Dana Goldman’s two-week bicycle trek on the medieval pilgrimage route across northern Spain.
- “Ultra-light Backpacking”
- Backpacking does not have to hurt! We show you many techniques to reduce gear and food weight without losing comfort or “breaking the bank.” Based on many ideas by Ray Jardine and tested over many years.
