Ancient Skills
Track a fox, navigate by the stars, turn leaves into a home, and make tools from only natural materials. Students at WilderSkills develop a strong connection to outdoor spaces and the ability to meet basic living needs wherever they are through hands-on exposure primitive living technologies and nature awareness practices. Learning these skills prepares students for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences.
Wild Adventures
When creativity fueled know-how turns sticks and rocks into the functional basis for building anything, adventure chases boredom outside in a hurry! New awareness helps to completely transform sterile outdoor experiences into regular and meaningful family adventures. Our challenging courses push students to build confidence, trust, and to combat fear while experiencing the exciting wild unknown.
Deep Connection
Balance out modern tech-life overload with nature-based activities that positively impact mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Consistent, meaningful connection with wild outdoor spaces will not only spark creativity and imagination, it reduces symptoms of depression, ADHD, bullying, and obesity, and increases levels of self-confidence, cooperation, reasoning and observation skills, and overall fitness.
General Summer Camp Sessions
General Summer Camp Session Adventures: Our courses offer kids the chance to familiarize themselves with nature by learning different aspects of ancient survival and daily living. All of the sessions cover survival basics, like knife safety, first-aid, water, shelter-building, and food, as well as storytelling, ancient culture and philosophy, and games.
Session Details: Our main camp programs at WilderSkills run Monday – Friday from 9am to 3pm.
Age Groups: WilderSkills is designed for youth ages 7 to 13, with campers sub-divided into age appropriate groups (roughly 7-9, 10-13,). Session content is customized for each age group, with each age group focusing on wilderness lessons and activities on par with their maturity level and interests.
Location: Savannah Chanelle Vineyards, in Saratoga, California (Santa Cruz mountains). WilderSkills courses take place in our beautiful private redwood grove in Saratoga, CA, just outside Saratoga village. We are roughly 15 minutes drive from the 85 Freeway exit onto Saratoga Blvd.
What To Bring: Campers should come to camp with a lunch +snacks and plenty of water (3 bottles). Campers should also come dressed for spending all day outdoors (Shoes, pants, shirt, sweater).
Facilities Available:Bathroom and washroom facilities are available on-site for campers and their families. Parking access to our redwood grove activity site is only a short walk over level ground.
Cancellation Policy: WilderSkills incurs most program expenses while preparing for our classes, camps, and trips. Our cancellation and refund policies reflect the fact that it is impossible to recover these costs for late cancellations, no-shows, or withdrawals from ongoing courses. It is also almost impossible to re fill a space on a course if you cancel at the last minute. As such, Wilderskills current refund policy is as follows:
All Summer Camp Sessions – Refunds will be allowed prior to June 1st of the current year for camp sessions taking place that same calendar year. Camp session reschedules during the same calendar year will be allowed pending availability if the request is made at least 7 days in advance of the start of the camp session in which the camper is currently registered. Full refunds or reschedules free of charge will be allowed if WilderSkills is forced to cancel a program.
Advance Sessions! For campers who have completed at least one basic session with WilderSkills, advanced outdoor skills summer camp sessions are now available! See course calendar for more details.
Related Links
With summer programs taught by some of the best Outdoor Guides, Nature Specialists, and Primitive Survival Experts in the US, WilderSkills Summer Adventure Programs offer kids one of the most unique experiences out there for kids to learn how to be safe, capable, and connected to the outdoors for the rest of their lives.
Get your students out of the classroom and into the woods! We offer after-school and school-day programs and trips that tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to an ecology and science curriculum. The hands-on experience outdoors works wonders to bring abstract science concepts to life. 
Check out our upcoming events and register for summer classes. We also host private parties, family outings, and weekend adventure programs. Please contact us if you are interested in us designing a special outdoor wilderness skills event in the San Francisco Bay area to get your students outside