For Adults
Linne Doran: Duvall, WA
Early Bird Price: $4250
$4950 after 1/31/26
In-Person Sessions:
Weds at 9am – Sun at 4pm
4/15/26 – 4/19/26
7/15/26 – 7/19/26
10/14/26 – 10/18/26
Virtual Sessions:
Tuesdays at 5pm PT
April 28th
May 19th
June 9th
June 30th
August 4th
August 25th
September 22nd
November 3rd
A hybrid nature connection intensive for modern humans to reconnect with their ancestral roots.
If you feel the desire to step away from the hectic and demanding modern world and return to the slower rhythms of nature, The Wild Path is an invitation to reclaim a meaningful relationship with yourself and the earth.
This is a hybrid, seven-month intensive for people who are ready to practice, not just learn, ways to deeply connect to their ecosystem. You’ll be mentored in naturalist and survival skills, connective core routines, leadership, inner tracking, and place-based awareness with a strong, supportive structure, so what you learn becomes something you live.
From late spring to early fall, we’ll weave together three dynamic in-person sessions at our 60-acre campus in Duvall and eight virtual calls to deepen integration, sustain engagement, and strengthen each participant’s relationship with their own place.
The blend of in-person classes along with consistent virtual sessions will allow participants to fully engage with the many teachings of The Wild Path. This will help you to implement what you are learning at your home location, ultimately making these simple but transformational routines a part of your daily life.
In-Person Sessions
The Art of Nature Connection
April 15th-19th, 2026
During our opening week in the heart of spring, you will learn foundational core routines to deeply connect and feel more at home in nature. You’ll build awareness of nature and self through exercises, activities, and challenges, and begin to tend threads of connection with the natural world around you by observing the natural environment, listening and understanding birds and their language, and asking deep questions about your highest calling with a community of like-minded students.
Nature Skills Intensive
July 15th-19th, 2026
The summer gathering will be full of nature connection skills along with adventures in beautiful wilderness areas. All of our ancestors relied on traditional ecological knowledge to not only survive, but to thrive as human beings. Learn the foundations of wildlife tracking, outdoor survival skills, edible and medicinal plants, firemaking, and naturalist training. Relearning these skills are not only practical, they help illuminate our greater purpose as human beings living in a fractured time.
Walking the Wild Path
October 14th-18th, 2026
Our final week will offer a space for you to deepen your growth, find your edges, and set your gifts into motion in ways that reshape the path you walk moving forward. At the end of this session, you will feel empowered to continue integrating your new practices and tools at home. Be prepared for a final rite of passage to galvanize the many lessons gained from learning to walk the Wild Path. You will leave with a rich constellation of teachings and practices to draw upon for the rest of your life.
Virtual Sessions
Eight two-hour virtual gatherings will keep the pulse alive between in-person sessions, strengthening a connection with the natural world and with the community formed throughout the program. Each virtual call will be focused on one of eight shields that is designed to break up our core curriculum based on patterns found in the natural world. These lessons are broken down by the eight directions.
The Journey Between the Sessions
While our three in-person gatherings provide the spark, the true transformation of The Wild Path happens in the quiet moments between. This program is designed for those who don’t just want to visit nature, but want to live in relationship with it. We’ve designed our hybrid structure to help you build a bridge between the wilderness and your doorstep, ensuring that the skills you learn become a sustainable, lifelong practice.
Imagine yourself as a student who…
- Weaves nature into the rhythm of daily life: You dedicate 1–2 (or more) hours a week to intentional time outside at home. Guided by our rich home-study outlines and offerings, you’ll have clear direction and “handrails” to follow, so you always have options for how to engage deeply with your local landscape and at a level that is appropriate for where you’re at.
- Becomes attuned to your own local ecosystem: You develop a kinship with the wild places outdoors right where you live. By observing the same trees, creek beds, or parks change throughout the seasons, you begin to see the extraordinary stories unfolding in your home area. You can find nature even in the most unlikely places.
- Curates a living legacy of your journey: You end the program with your own rich nature journal. It’s a vibrant, tactile record of your growth, filled with hand-drawn maps, plant and animal profiles, nature notes, and personal reflections.
- Belongs to a community of learners: Between our in-person sessions, you stay engaged and inspired by hearing the field notes and progress of your peers. You share your own discoveries, offer encouragement during the quiet weeks, and find that the path is much richer when you’re meeting your goals alongside others who are dedicated to the same practice.
- Has access to personalized mentorship: For a deeper dive, you have the option (for an additional fee) to book exclusive, one-hour coaching calls with your mentors. These sessions allow you to share your stories and track your unique learning journey—celebrating your successes while receiving direct support as you meet your personal growth “edges.”
Is The Wild Path right for you?
This program is a unique hybrid experience designed for those who want to integrate consistent and meaningful wilderness awareness into their actual lives. The Wild Path is an ideal fit if:
- You are looking for experiential learning and guidance, not a rigid classroom. You want expert guidance and proven outlines and you are excited to apply them to your own local landscape.
- You’re ready to trade “screen time” for “dirt time.” You can realistically carve out 1–2 (or more) hours a week to step outside, observe the world around you, and reflect on your own internal journey.
- You are ready to build a rhythm that lasts. You’re excited to take our tools and design your own routines and challenges—turning “nature connection” from a few occasional events into a sustainable, daily practice that fits your unique life.
- You’re looking for a focused cohort. You want to learn alongside other students who are as committed as you are to showing up, sharing progress, and doing the work.
- You’re ready to meet your “edges.” You are open to being challenged by your mentors and supported by your peers as you deepen your connection to the land and yourself.
By participating in The Wild Path, you will be supported on a meaningful journey toward deeper connection, clearer purpose, embodied leadership, and renewed vitality. You will join a community committed to remembering what it means to belong to the living world, together. You will leave with a lasting, lived relationship to the natural world in your own neighborhood, one that continues to deepen and guide you long after the program ends.
Ready to take the first step?
The Wild Path isn’t just a program—it’s a commitment to seeing the world through new eyes. If you’re ready to join a lineage of trackers, observers, and storytellers, we would love to have you join our circle.
Meet Your Core Instructors:
Richie Rivera-Booth
Richie grew up in the Cascade foothills of WA state, in the homelands of the Nisqually peoples near Mount Tahoma. He combines his love for nature with his gifts and talents as an experienced mentor and has been facilitating both individuals as well as groups in reconnecting with nature, community, and self for over 18 years.
Merilee Bradford
Born and raised in the wild beauty of the Pacific Northwest, Merilee’s childhood was shaped by the Puget Sound and deep forests, which sparked an early dream of building her own cabin and living off the land. With over 16 years of experience guiding and mentoring in the outdoors, she specializes in bushcraft, tracking, animal processing and hide tanning. Merilee is an avid hunter, birder, wildlife tracker and professional expedition cook.
Guest Instructors:
Laura Gunion
Laura believes that humans have tremendous potential, much of it hidden from our strategic and logical inquiries. As a mentor, guide, coach, and naturalist, it is both her privilege and responsibility to accompany others as they summon the courage to participate in these times from their true nature. Laura has spent over 20 years instructing at Wilderness Awareness School in various capacities.
Phoebe Reid
Growing up on the Olympic Peninsula to a family steeped in adventure, Phoebe found a sense of home amidst thimbleberries, salmon bones, wild rivers, and the smell of seaweed. Phoebe arrived at WAS in 2019 and discovered her love of crafting, archery, plants, wildlife tracking, friction fire, and being covered in mud.
Dan Corcoran
Dan Corcoran has worked with Wilderness Awareness School in many different roles over the years and he is currently our Program Director. He is a survival skills specialist; teaching a variety of wilderness survival and primitive living classes. His passions include wilderness survival, bowmaking, hunting, and raising his two sons.