Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS).
When the producers wanted a survival consult-
ant for Tom Hanks's tropical island scenes in
Castaway,
they contacted this school, which
is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and run out of Boulder, Utah. The idea for BOSS, as
it's customarily called, was raised in 1968 when Larry Dean Olen, author of the topic
Out-
door Survival Skills
was bemoaning the fact that our society had lost its edge. He decided
to design a wilderness school that would produce more adaptable and resourceful people.
BOSS's seven-day field course, its signature trip since 1968, costs $1,065 and is held May
through August. You'll travel in southern Utah's mountains, mesas, and canyon with nothing
but a blanket, poncho, compass, knife, and a water bottle or two. The company's motto is
“Know more, carry less.”
Boulder Outdoor Survival School,
P.O. Box 1590, Boulder, CO 80306, 303-444-9779,
www.boss-inc.com.
National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
NOLS's leave-no-trace philosophy and
leadership training have set the standard in outdoor education since 1965. Its catalog has
more than 50 courses, including a 30-day Wind River Wilderness Course where you trek up
to 10 miles a day, set up minimum-impact camps, and learn to navigate with GPS. NOLS, be-
fore you get any ideas, is not an adventure travel tour—your instructors are not going to cook,
carry your gear, or tell you what to do. However, they
will
teach you such wilderness skills
as how to catch and cook your own cutthroat trout and how to bake a pizza over campfire.
Tuition for these classes, many of them 30-day incarnations, costs roughly $2,500. Classes
are held June to September.
IF YOU'RE IN A PINCH
You'll carry water in a gourd, make shelters out of mud, and pick up the scent of
your evening meal. But if your stomach is growling in the meantime, here are five
ideas for hors d'oeuvres:
1.
Queen Anne's lace.
The carrots you buy in the grocery store were originally
cultivated from a cousin of this plant. Although you'll want to avoid the
leaves, its taproot is basically a carrot.
2.
Indian cucumbers.
This plant can be found in open woods and forests of the
eastern United States. Its edible roots taste like cucumbers.
