Ranger tours are great in the national parks, but numerous institutes utilize the unique wildlife, inspiring scenery, and natural history of the national parks for a wide variety of courses of summer field workshops. Most occur over a 2-3 day long weekend and vary from bird watching on the Olympic Coast to women’s backpacking, yoga, and creative writing to mushroom studies to family-focused weekends. The guides are often local experts and the price is very budget friendly. An organized learning focus can be a great
way to explore a national park and it often offers better access into the area.
Here are some options:
Olympic Park Institute Field Seminars
yni.org/opi/seminars.html or 360/928-3720
Choose from Watercolor Painting, Marine Mammal Scouting, fly fishing and backpacking in one of the world's most biodiverse regions. The base camp on the shores of Lake Crescent (with adjacent Lake Crescent Lodge as an accommodation option) makes a weekend class here even more enticing.
Glacier Park Institute
glacierinstitute.org/2006/index.htm or 406/755-1211
Writing workshops, Flathead River ecology float trip, a seminar on grizzlies and black bears, photography, field sketching, and geology are some of the options from this fantastic non-profit.
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
haystack-mtn.org or 207/348-2306
Although it's not directly related to nearby Acadia National Park, we can't fail to mention the well-respected craft school tucked onto the edge of Little Deer Isle. The courses are
generally 1-2 weeks and focus on intensive crafts such as clay, wood, metal, and book arts.
North House Folk School
Northhouse.org or 218-387-9762
You may remember this school of crafts and nature studies from the wreath-making story in our December '05 issue. For summer, the school, based in Grand Marais (just down the road from the Isle Royale ferry in Grand Portage) offers courses in wildflowers, birding, North Woods paddling, and all the way to a Lake Superior full-moon sailing adventure.
Grand Canyon Institute
Grandcanyonassociation.org or 866/471-4435
No, we didn’t include the Grand Canyon in our round-up, but this institute provides some of the best park-based field seminars in the country. From photography and arts to women's only to wilderness studies, you can't go wrong with the expert instruction
offered here.
For more educational opportunities in national parks, Click on www.americanparknetwork.com
