WilderSkills Jr. Trail Guides Summer Camp
Quarry Park Wilderness Open Space, 22000 Congress Springs Road, Saratoga, CA 95070
About
WilderSkills Jr. Trail Guides Summer Camp focuses on hands-on wilderness skills such as Wilderness First Aid and Survival Techniques, Outdoor Cooking, and Back-country Navigation. Campers take part in activities like Plant Identification and Uses, Animal Sign Observation, Tracking and Behavior, and Outdoor Games. They also learn skills such as Knife and Outdoor Tool Safety and Care, Fire-by-friction, making improvised primitive emergency shelters and hiking packs, making tools from only natural materials, traditional outdoor tool construction, traditional navigation, tracking a fox, navigating by the stars, breathing fire to life, making a friction fire kit and using it to make fire, and camouflaging with clay.
• Ages: 7–13 years old
• Schedule: Week-long Monday–Friday sessions, with day programs generally running between morning and mid-afternoon, and phone reservations available Monday–Friday from 7am to 5pm Pacific Time
• Price: $525
WilderSkills Jr. Trail Guides Summer Camp is part of WilderSkills, a youth outdoor education program founded in 2013 as a branch of California Survival School. Since 2013, WilderSkills has been described as California’s #1 outdoor summer camp program for helping youth learn skills that prepare them for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences. The program’s mission is to help kids and teens connect with the wild and become outdoor adventure capable through developing both modern and traditional wilderness living and guiding skills. Programs are divided into three aspects: Ancient Skills, Wild Adventure, and Deep Connection, and session content is customized for age groups that are generally subdivided into ages 7–9 and 10–13.
The camp is taught by experienced back-country guides, nature specialists, and primitive survival skills experts. Head Instructor Dan Baird is described as one of the world’s leading back-country primitive survival experts and guides, is a certified Medical Wilderness First Responder, a FEMA/DHS trained National C.E.R.T. Instructor, and a member/trainer of Law Enforcement Search and Rescue teams across California. Instructor Laura Stein has been studying and instructing primitive wilderness survival for more than 15 years, is a Wilderness EMT, and holds degrees in Tourism & Hospitality Management and Environmental Studies from Temple University. Instructor Nicole (Nikki) Sterman is a licensed primitive skills instructor and back-country guide, has worked in the Tonto National Forest for the ANASAZI Foundation, attended the SouthWest Institute of Healing Arts for formal study in Western Herbalism, works as an Herbalist in Long Beach, and teaches primitive living skills for both WilderSkills Outdoor Adventure programs and California Survival School.
WilderSkills was founded in 2013 by Dan Baird and Laura Stein and offers year-round wilderness adventures for kids and teens, including the Junior Trail Guides Summer Camp, custom and private adventures, and K–12 school programs. The organization also offers after-school and school-day programs and trips that tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to an ecology and science curriculum. At present, the program does not offer early drop-off or extended care options, and some families choose to meet this need by arranging pickup and drop-off with other friends attending WilderSkills programs.
Parent and educator feedback includes comments such as an education counselor stating that WilderSkills provides access to the natural world and nurtures many fundamental aspects for children in a rapidly shifting modern environment. One parent reported that an 8-year-old child rated WilderSkills summer camp first out of eight different camps attended and described a spoon the child made by burning out an indentation on a tree branch. Another parent noted that staff were extremely patient with two boys, including one who was acting up, and planned to attend again. Other parents described their children coming home to write and illustrate what they learned in a camp journal, demonstrating skills in the backyard, and having shared experiences with a real connection to nature. One parent highlighted that their daughter learned to make a friction fire kit and use it to make fire, and enjoyed camouflaging with clay. Another parent stated that if they could only send their child to one camp in the summer, this would be the one, and described the camp as extremely well run by adults who believe in what they are teaching and are invested in the kids having a wonderful experience.
Last updated March 19, 2026.
• Ages: 7–13 years old
• Schedule: Week-long Monday–Friday sessions, with day programs generally running between morning and mid-afternoon, and phone reservations available Monday–Friday from 7am to 5pm Pacific Time
• Price: $525
WilderSkills Jr. Trail Guides Summer Camp is part of WilderSkills, a youth outdoor education program founded in 2013 as a branch of California Survival School. Since 2013, WilderSkills has been described as California’s #1 outdoor summer camp program for helping youth learn skills that prepare them for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences. The program’s mission is to help kids and teens connect with the wild and become outdoor adventure capable through developing both modern and traditional wilderness living and guiding skills. Programs are divided into three aspects: Ancient Skills, Wild Adventure, and Deep Connection, and session content is customized for age groups that are generally subdivided into ages 7–9 and 10–13.
The camp is taught by experienced back-country guides, nature specialists, and primitive survival skills experts. Head Instructor Dan Baird is described as one of the world’s leading back-country primitive survival experts and guides, is a certified Medical Wilderness First Responder, a FEMA/DHS trained National C.E.R.T. Instructor, and a member/trainer of Law Enforcement Search and Rescue teams across California. Instructor Laura Stein has been studying and instructing primitive wilderness survival for more than 15 years, is a Wilderness EMT, and holds degrees in Tourism & Hospitality Management and Environmental Studies from Temple University. Instructor Nicole (Nikki) Sterman is a licensed primitive skills instructor and back-country guide, has worked in the Tonto National Forest for the ANASAZI Foundation, attended the SouthWest Institute of Healing Arts for formal study in Western Herbalism, works as an Herbalist in Long Beach, and teaches primitive living skills for both WilderSkills Outdoor Adventure programs and California Survival School.
WilderSkills was founded in 2013 by Dan Baird and Laura Stein and offers year-round wilderness adventures for kids and teens, including the Junior Trail Guides Summer Camp, custom and private adventures, and K–12 school programs. The organization also offers after-school and school-day programs and trips that tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to an ecology and science curriculum. At present, the program does not offer early drop-off or extended care options, and some families choose to meet this need by arranging pickup and drop-off with other friends attending WilderSkills programs.
Parent and educator feedback includes comments such as an education counselor stating that WilderSkills provides access to the natural world and nurtures many fundamental aspects for children in a rapidly shifting modern environment. One parent reported that an 8-year-old child rated WilderSkills summer camp first out of eight different camps attended and described a spoon the child made by burning out an indentation on a tree branch. Another parent noted that staff were extremely patient with two boys, including one who was acting up, and planned to attend again. Other parents described their children coming home to write and illustrate what they learned in a camp journal, demonstrating skills in the backyard, and having shared experiences with a real connection to nature. One parent highlighted that their daughter learned to make a friction fire kit and use it to make fire, and enjoyed camouflaging with clay. Another parent stated that if they could only send their child to one camp in the summer, this would be the one, and described the camp as extremely well run by adults who believe in what they are teaching and are invested in the kids having a wonderful experience.
Last updated March 19, 2026.
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