WOLF Backpacking Camp
Camp Monte Toyon, 220 Cloister Lane, Aptos, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA 95003
About
WOLF Backpacking Camp offers backpacking and hiking treks that include survival and safety skills, camp cooking, and outdoor science activities. Participants take part in lessons on watersheds and ecology, use mapping and GPS, and join team building and Outdoor Science School programs as part of the experience.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
• Schedule: Backpack Camp generally takes place in July of each year; Beginner’s Backpacking Trek is a 3 day, 2 night adventure, and Advanced Backpacking Trek is a 4 day, 3 night adventure.
• Price: $TBD per camper Beginner (3day/2night); $TBD per camper Advanced (4day/3night); for Food, Shared Gear, Site Fees, and Experienced Naturalist Guides.
The camp offers a Beginner’s Backpacking Trek that includes a multi-day backpacking trip hiking around 2–5 miles per day, and an Advanced Backpacking Trek with hiking around 5–10 miles per day. Both treks are guided Bay Area backpacking experiences with a multi-day hike through changing environments from mountain forests to the Pacific Ocean. A personal backpacking guide is available for a family or group, and the program notes that very limited space is available. Scholarships are available.
Participants are asked to bring a backpacking backpack, sleeping bag and bed roll, tent, clothes, a headlamp or flashlight, and optional items from a packing list that is sent out, with the option to share or borrow gear if arranged in advance. The program states that bringing this gear is not a requirement and that WOLF School can work to locate, ask around, or coordinate renting if notified well in advance.
WOLF Backpacking Camp is part of WOLF School, which is a mission-driven and student-focused non-profit organization whose mission is to build respect, appreciation, and stewardship within the web of life. Since 1989, WOLF School has been dedicated to providing engaging and impactful educational outdoor experiences for California’s K–12th grade students. WOLF School is the educational component of United Camps, Conferences and Retreats (UCCR), a nonprofit property management organization dedicated to “creating partnerships to provide positive life-changing experiences.” WOLF School works with schools and organizations to connect youth with nature, empower individuals, and strengthen communities, and acknowledges support from Save the Redwoods League. Programs are California state standards-based and NGSS-supportive, and rules for acceptance and participation in programs at UCCR are the same for everyone without regard to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.
Naturalist Guides at WOLF Backpacking Camp hold college degrees and are professionals in environmental education, with backgrounds in science, history, community-building, education, and working with youth. These Naturalist Guides are Wilderness First Aid Certified. The leadership team includes Heather Butler, Director; Desiree Gant, Associate Director; Sergio Typhoon, Program Coordinator; and Marie Kraemer Wegrich, Naturalist.
Testimonials about WOLF School describe naturalists as passionate and using multiple modalities to reach every student, and note that they remember to include joy in the scientific process while instilling appreciation for close observation and understanding of global issues. One student journal entry describes an experience that “took my breath away, so perfect and vivid that you ask yourself is this real.” A naturalist from Web of Life Field School in Santa Cruz describes working in the redwoods with kids and the effect of having a group stand in a perfect circle and look up at the circle formed by the redwood grove.
Last updated March 12, 2026.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
• Schedule: Backpack Camp generally takes place in July of each year; Beginner’s Backpacking Trek is a 3 day, 2 night adventure, and Advanced Backpacking Trek is a 4 day, 3 night adventure.
• Price: $TBD per camper Beginner (3day/2night); $TBD per camper Advanced (4day/3night); for Food, Shared Gear, Site Fees, and Experienced Naturalist Guides.
The camp offers a Beginner’s Backpacking Trek that includes a multi-day backpacking trip hiking around 2–5 miles per day, and an Advanced Backpacking Trek with hiking around 5–10 miles per day. Both treks are guided Bay Area backpacking experiences with a multi-day hike through changing environments from mountain forests to the Pacific Ocean. A personal backpacking guide is available for a family or group, and the program notes that very limited space is available. Scholarships are available.
Participants are asked to bring a backpacking backpack, sleeping bag and bed roll, tent, clothes, a headlamp or flashlight, and optional items from a packing list that is sent out, with the option to share or borrow gear if arranged in advance. The program states that bringing this gear is not a requirement and that WOLF School can work to locate, ask around, or coordinate renting if notified well in advance.
WOLF Backpacking Camp is part of WOLF School, which is a mission-driven and student-focused non-profit organization whose mission is to build respect, appreciation, and stewardship within the web of life. Since 1989, WOLF School has been dedicated to providing engaging and impactful educational outdoor experiences for California’s K–12th grade students. WOLF School is the educational component of United Camps, Conferences and Retreats (UCCR), a nonprofit property management organization dedicated to “creating partnerships to provide positive life-changing experiences.” WOLF School works with schools and organizations to connect youth with nature, empower individuals, and strengthen communities, and acknowledges support from Save the Redwoods League. Programs are California state standards-based and NGSS-supportive, and rules for acceptance and participation in programs at UCCR are the same for everyone without regard to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.
Naturalist Guides at WOLF Backpacking Camp hold college degrees and are professionals in environmental education, with backgrounds in science, history, community-building, education, and working with youth. These Naturalist Guides are Wilderness First Aid Certified. The leadership team includes Heather Butler, Director; Desiree Gant, Associate Director; Sergio Typhoon, Program Coordinator; and Marie Kraemer Wegrich, Naturalist.
Testimonials about WOLF School describe naturalists as passionate and using multiple modalities to reach every student, and note that they remember to include joy in the scientific process while instilling appreciation for close observation and understanding of global issues. One student journal entry describes an experience that “took my breath away, so perfect and vivid that you ask yourself is this real.” A naturalist from Web of Life Field School in Santa Cruz describes working in the redwoods with kids and the effect of having a group stand in a perfect circle and look up at the circle formed by the redwood grove.
Last updated March 12, 2026.
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