About
WilderSkills is a youth outdoor education program where campers practice wilderness skills such as knife safety, first-aid, water and food skills, shelter-building, storytelling, and games. Program activities include Wilderness First Aid & Survival Techniques, Outdoor Cooking & Wild Foods, Plant Identification & Uses, Back-country Navigation, Animal Sign, Tracking, & Behavior, Outdoor Games, Knife & Outdoor Tool Safety + Care, and techniques for making tools and blending into the woods. Some sessions also cover constructing hunter-gatherer travel kits, wilderness first-aid, advanced animal sign and tracking, land navigation, advanced shelter making, traditional hunting and small-game traps, pottery, advanced stone tools, fire-by-friction, traditional navigation, ancient crafts, and how to track a fox, navigate by the stars, breathe fire to life, and make tools from only natural materials.
• Ages: 7–13 years old
• Schedule: Main camp programs run Monday–Friday from 9am to 3pm.
WilderSkills offers advanced sessions for campers who have completed at least one basic session, with campers sub-divided into age-appropriate groups (roughly 7–9 and 10–13), and session content customized for each age group. The program includes a Junior Trail Guides option focused on outdoor guiding skills in a roving summer camp environment and offers year-round wilderness adventures for kids and teens, as well as custom and private adventures for families and community events. Programs are organized around three aspects—Ancient Skills, Wild Adventure, and Deep Connection—and tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to ecology and science curriculum for K–12. Campers are asked to bring lunch, snacks, and plenty of water (3 bottles), and to come dressed for spending all day outdoors with shoes, pants, shirt, and a sweater.
WilderSkills is a youth outdoor education program founded in 2013 as a branch of California Survival School by Dan Baird and Laura Stein. The mission of WilderSkills 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. WilderSkills has been described since 2013 as “California’s #1 outdoor summer camp program for helping youth learn skills that prepare them for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences.” WilderSkills is led by Head Instructor and co-founder Dan Baird, co-founder and instructor Laura Stein, and instructor Nicole (Nikki) Sterman. Dan Baird is described as one of the world’s leading Back-country Primitive Survival Experts and Guides, 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. Laura Stein is a Wilderness EMT and holds degrees in Tourism & Hospitality Management and Environmental Studies from Temple University. Nikki Sterman is a licensed primitive skills instructor and back-country guide and works as an Herbalist in Long Beach, CA.
Testimonials from parents and professionals describe WilderSkills as providing access to the natural world and nurturing many fundamental aspects for children in a rapidly shifting modern environment, and report that children enjoyed learning survival techniques such as making a spoon by burning out an indentation on a tree branch. Parents note that their children rated WilderSkills highly compared to other camps, practiced skills at home, and had shared experiences with a real connection to nature. One parent describes a child learning to make a friction fire kit (bow drill, spindle, wood plank, and hand hold) and using it to make a coal and then a fire, as well as using clay for camouflage. Another testimonial describes 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 June 18, 2026.
• Ages: 7–13 years old
• Schedule: Main camp programs run Monday–Friday from 9am to 3pm.
WilderSkills offers advanced sessions for campers who have completed at least one basic session, with campers sub-divided into age-appropriate groups (roughly 7–9 and 10–13), and session content customized for each age group. The program includes a Junior Trail Guides option focused on outdoor guiding skills in a roving summer camp environment and offers year-round wilderness adventures for kids and teens, as well as custom and private adventures for families and community events. Programs are organized around three aspects—Ancient Skills, Wild Adventure, and Deep Connection—and tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to ecology and science curriculum for K–12. Campers are asked to bring lunch, snacks, and plenty of water (3 bottles), and to come dressed for spending all day outdoors with shoes, pants, shirt, and a sweater.
WilderSkills is a youth outdoor education program founded in 2013 as a branch of California Survival School by Dan Baird and Laura Stein. The mission of WilderSkills 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. WilderSkills has been described since 2013 as “California’s #1 outdoor summer camp program for helping youth learn skills that prepare them for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences.” WilderSkills is led by Head Instructor and co-founder Dan Baird, co-founder and instructor Laura Stein, and instructor Nicole (Nikki) Sterman. Dan Baird is described as one of the world’s leading Back-country Primitive Survival Experts and Guides, 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. Laura Stein is a Wilderness EMT and holds degrees in Tourism & Hospitality Management and Environmental Studies from Temple University. Nikki Sterman is a licensed primitive skills instructor and back-country guide and works as an Herbalist in Long Beach, CA.
Testimonials from parents and professionals describe WilderSkills as providing access to the natural world and nurturing many fundamental aspects for children in a rapidly shifting modern environment, and report that children enjoyed learning survival techniques such as making a spoon by burning out an indentation on a tree branch. Parents note that their children rated WilderSkills highly compared to other camps, practiced skills at home, and had shared experiences with a real connection to nature. One parent describes a child learning to make a friction fire kit (bow drill, spindle, wood plank, and hand hold) and using it to make a coal and then a fire, as well as using clay for camouflage. Another testimonial describes 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 June 18, 2026.
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