This sea kayaking and alpine backpacking course begins in the San Juan Islands — a maze of islands sculpted by currents, and a world-renowned paddling destination.
Northwest Sea Kayaking & Backpacking is an expedition through two of Washington’s most beautiful and diverse ecosystems: the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountains. You don’t need to have previous sea kayaking or mountain travel experience. We’ll teach you skills for wilderness travel—how to pack and what to wear, how to paddle kayaks and backpack, and how to navigate using a map and compass. The course cultivates skills around leadership, character development, service to others, and interpersonal development. From getting up early to hiking or paddling all day, wilderness travel is demanding. You don’t need any previous experience. Arriving physically prepared and excited for personal development will enhance your experience and allow you to take full advantage of the expedition.
APPLY NOW This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW – Almost Full This means there are three or fewer currently available spots left on a course. To secure your spot click Apply Now to begin an application!
JOIN WAITLIST Once a course has reached capacity, three waitlist positions become available. To join a course’s waitlist, click “Join Waitlist” to begin the application process. A $500 deposit is required. This $500 deposit includes a $150 non-refundable application fee and a $350 tuition payment. The $350 tuition payment is refundable only if you cancel your waitlist application or if an open position does not become available. If a position does become available, the applicant will be applied to the open position and the Application and Cancellation Policies of the Regional Outward Bound School will be followed, including forfeiture of the $500 deposit if you cancel 90 days or less prior to the course start date.
Waitlist applicants are encouraged to complete all required admissions documents while awaiting an open position. Positions may become available up to two weeks prior to the course start date. Applicants may only apply to one course. We recommend applying to a course with open positions instead of a course that is accepting waitlist applications. If you have questions, please call 866-467-7651 to speak with one of our Admissions Advisors.
CALL TO APPLY This means a course is very close to its start date. Although it is unlikely to secure a spot this late, you can call the National Admissions office at 866-467-7651 to discuss your options.
COURSE IS FULL When a course has reached maximum capacity, meaning all spots and the three waitlist spots are occupied, a course will read “Course Is Full.” This means applications are no longer being accepted.
CLOSED As a course nears its start date, the availability status may read “Closed.” In this event, a course roster has been finalized and applications are no longer being accepted or processed.
Sample Itinerary
The following is an example of what your course itinerary might look like. Your actual course plan will vary according to weather, student skills and abilities, and instructor preferences.
15-Day Courses
DAY1
Course start
DAY2
Intro to team building skills and sea kayaking skills such as wet exits and basic paddling techniques
DAY3-6
Sea kayaking and navigation skills; continued kayak and camp craft skills
DAY7
Switchover
DAY8
Intro to backpacking skill and navigation skills
DAY9-12
Backpacking
DAY13
Finals expedition
DAY14
Finals challenge event and service project
DAY15
Course end and transportation home
22-Day Courses
DAY1
Course start
DAY2
Intro to sea kayaking, camp craft, and team building skills
DAY3-9
Sea Kayaking
DAY10
Switchover
DAY11
Introduction to backpacking
DAY14-15
Solo
DAY19-20
Finals expedition
DAY21
Final challenge event and service project
DAY22
Course end and transportation home
I will always remember hiking in the mountains of the Northwest Cascades and kayaking in the beautiful seas of the San Juan Islands, both because of the breathtaking views and the wonderful people I met. The Instructors taught me various skills from making a good camping tarp to widening my leadership and teamwork abilities.
It’s time to make your own adventure. Outward Bound’s Classic expeditions for middle and high school students are built with you in mind. Make new friends, sleep under the stars, and learn skills like backcountry navigation and how to cook a delicious meal no matter where you are. You’ve got this! Whether you’re in a raft or on a mountainside, you’ll learn what you’re made of – and you’ll see first-hand how far teamwork can take you. Join us for an unforgettable challenge and discover a whole new way to get outside.
Build skills, form connections: Learn and practice wilderness, teamwork and leadership skills. Find connections with your crewmates based on support and respect (and fun too!), and in the thick of challenges, discover there is more in you than you know.
Value strengths and strengthen values: Uncover your unique character strengths, develop your leadership abilities and learn how to let compassion in to everyday life by pushing your own limits and working alongside your peers.
Demonstrate mastery: As you gain confidence in new skills, take on more decision-making responsibilities. Work together to achieve team goals, solve problems and succeed both as individuals and as a group.
What you’ll learn: Your connections matter – working together to navigate challenges will quickly turn your crewmates into friends. Together, you’ll find opportunities to carry more weight (literally and figuratively) and make impactful decisions with accompanying consequences. It’s all about confidence, communication, and independence.
After you come home, many of the character, leadership and service traits you uncovered on your expedition stay with you, helping you navigate your daily life with more resilience and success.
Participants paddle from island to island and get acquainted with the fascinating natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest coast. Instructors teach students the technical skills, teamwork, and communication skills necessary to travel as a group in a working waterway. Students may also do a service project with a local land agency, hike to an island vista, or spend time combing the beach.
Students work together to explore the high mountain landscape of the North Cascades where they will learn the essentials of backcountry travel necessary to carry them into remote meadows and high mountain vistas. Activities include leadership and communication skill seminars, navigation with map and compass, Recreate Responsibly ethics, first aid, and backcountry cooking.
Depending on the group and the conditions, students will make an attempt to summit one of the many rugged alpine peaks in the course area. The peaks we attempt are often day-long ventures. They are challenging and beautiful, and often require scrambling skills, taught by our experienced Instructors. On backpacking courses we do not climb peaks that require technical gear or ropes.
Since its inception, Outward Bound has both taught an ethic of service on courses and sent students into our local communities for service projects. Students may do impromptu trail service or campsite service in the Okanogan National Forest or Pasayten Wilderness. This might include breaking apart illegal fire rings or covering up social trails. Lastly and perhaps the most important of all, students learn that by offering compassion to each other and supporting the crew through their daily chores of putting up tarps and cooking and cleaning, service can be given freely and daily in small acts of kindness. Students see the impact of their actions firsthand, and develop an appreciation of service and desire to serve their communities back home.
In order for profound learning to take place, students spend time reflecting on their experience, and Solo is that opportunity. The Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. With sufficient food and equipment, students will set up camp at sites of their own, using the wilderness skills learned during the first portions of the course. The amount of time students spend on Solo is based on course length, weather, student condition, age and Instructor preference. Solo campsites are chosen to offer as much solitude as possible (yet be within emergency whistle-signaling distance of other group members). Most students spend their Solo time journaling, drawing, reflecting, thinking and resting as they process lessons of the course to focus on their goals for the future. Instructors check on each participant at regular intervals, as safety is always a top priority.
Outward Bound believes that an appropriate amount of independence is a powerful educational tool. During the travel sections of this course, Outward Bound Instructors purposefully and gradually transfer certain leadership responsibilities to the students culminating with our “final expedition.” Near the end of course—if the group has demonstrated the necessary leadership, team problem solving and wilderness living skills—students may have the opportunity to travel without instructors immediately present. Many of our students feel this phase of the course is the most rewarding, as the group learns to work as a team, problem solve, and accomplish a goal independently, while utilizing all the skills they have acquired.
Courses typically end with a Personal Challenge Event—an individual physical push. This typically takes the form of an endurance run or triathlon-style challenge
Outward Bound promotes character development, leadership and service in the most engaging classroom possible, the wilderness. In real time, students experience the effects of their decisions on themselves and the other members of their group as they work to complete difficult tasks necessary for wilderness travel. Instructors challenge students to try new things and step outside their comfort zones. They also provide feedback that students implement on course and when they return to their communities.
Nestled between Vancouver Island and the North Cascades, the San Juan Islands are a unique coastal cruising ground of sparkling water and mountain scenery. You'll encounter sandy and rocky beaches, shallow and deep harbors, placid and reef-studded bays. Sightings of harbor seals, porpoise and eagles are common as well as the rare glimpse of an Orca whale. The islands get less average rainfall than the surrounding area due to the rain-shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains. Summertime high temperatures are around 70 degrees Fahrenheit while lows could be in the 40s. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi), Klallam, Samish, Tulalip, W̱SÁNEĆ, Lekwungen/Songhees and Coast Salish nations.
The North Cascades, Washington
Known as the “American Alps,” the North Cascades offer glaciated mountains, alpine lakes and high alpine meadows for endless exploration. The North Cascades host the greatest concentration of glaciers outside of Alaska, and are full of high mountain meadows peppered with wildflowers. The Outward Bound course area hosts some of the most stunning alpine climbing and backpacking routes in the United States. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Syilx tmixʷ (Okanagan), Yakama, Nłeʔkepmx Tmíxʷ (Nlaka'pamux), Methow, np̓əšqʷáw̓səxʷ (Wenatchi), Coast Salish, Skagit, Tulalip, Entiat, Chelan, Skykomish and Nuxwsa'7aq (Nooksack) nations.
Course Stories
Widening my leadership and teamwork abilities
I will always remember hiking in the mountains of the Northwest Cascades and kayaking in the beautiful seas of the San Juan Islands, both because of the breathtaking views and the wonderful people I met. The Instructors taught me various skills from making a good camping tarp to widening my leadership and teamwork abilities.
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.