All My Good Friends Call Me Wilderness

The Galiuro Wilderness

This past week the e-tour tromped, trekked, and tracked through the Galiuro Wilderness on our Leave No Trace Master Educator Course with NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School). This ecosystem, a "sky island" in Southern Arizona, moves from desert to alpine vegetation as it increase in elevation up to and above 7,000 feet. The Wilderness Area was designated in 1964, right after the passage of the Wilderness Act -- and it truly is wild. The trails are intense and off-trail travel is even wilder. The Master Educator Course is a truly incredible experience to learn both about the finer points of Leave No Trace as well as how to message them to others. After going through one, Master Educators form a cadre of Leave No Trace experts who can run Trainer Courses as well as practice and share techniques whenever in the outdoors.

While there, we spent a lot of time really breaking down the finer points of Leave No Trace. The awesome group we were with provided exceptional teaching including a highlight student-led presentation on Leave What You Find, where all the participants played a version of the game "Clue" where only half of us had enough clues to actually solve the mystery. It drove home the importance of preserving heritage sites so that archeologists can study and unlock the secrets of our past. We think everyone learned a ton on this course, led by some superknowledgable instructors! We're stoked to see the outreach and training from all the Leave No Trace all-stars in our crew.

Dancing through the manzanita,

Quinn & Frank