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New Interns Storm the Cottonwood Institute

Several new sets of helping-hands have joined the Cottonwood Institute as interns.  In the future, you will be seeing their work around this blog and beyond.  Our new Cottonwood Institute Blog interns, Cailin and Misra, will be contributing steady updates about Cottonwood Institute courses, news and other juicy bits. It is their hope to offer… Read more »

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CalWood Overnight

We spent the weekend at CalWood Education Center, hiking, camping, and practicing wilderness survival skills.  Students hiked 2 miles in to the campsite, set up a wide range of shelters (tarp shelter, tent, schwag), and, after some lunch we hit the trail again to do some wildfire mitigation. Students braved a cold night, using hot… Read more »

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Cottonwood Institute

OVERVIEW:The Cottonwood Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado that inspires students to change the world through an exciting blend of adventure and environmental service. We teach students the essential camping and wilderness survival skills necessary to comfortably and competently explore the outdoors, while providing them with the tools and resources to… Read more »

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Survival Priorities: Shelter is Key!

When you head to the hills for a weekend backpacking excursion, you are not typically thinking about what you would do if you were in the middle of nowhere and your pack accidentally sailed off a cliff. This happened to one poor student that took a survival course with an organization I used to work… Read more »

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Anyone can be Caught in a Real Survival Situation

With reality shows like Survivor, Man Vs. Wild, and Survivorman, survival has become a buzzword synonymous with crazy people willing to risk their lives on national television for the sake of entertainment. But with survival stories of missing families stuck in their cars and the climbers on Mt. Hood dominating the national headlines last November,… Read more »

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CAP Final Reflection, by Charlie McGuire

This class has been a great experience for me in many ways. The overnight trips were very fun and educational, especially the second one. I learned what burns well, how to start fires, how to find firewood, how to make quinzes (sp?) and much more. The action project was also a valuable experience, from learning… Read more »

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Outdoor Calendar

Conference on World Affairs – The Conference On World Affairs has a variety of lectures this week from Monday, April 10th 2006 – Friday, April 14, 2006 at the University of Colorado – Boulder. Feel free to attend a lecture that pertains to this class in terms of environmental issues or sustainability. For more information… Read more »

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Class Syllabus, 4th Quarter 2006

Teacher: Ford Church, M. A., Founder and Executive DirectorCottonwood Institute303.447.1076 (w)ford at cottonwoodinstitute.org Course Dates and Times: Seminar Intensive for 1.0 credits: Tuesdays: 11:05am – 12:05pm, Wednesdays: 8:45am – 3:05pm (including Breaks, Advisory, and Lunch), and Fridays: 11:05am – 12:05pm, plus 2 weekend overnight camping trips. Course Description:The Community Adventure Program (CAP) is all about… Read more »

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Trip Log (TLOG) for February 18 – 19, 2006

The Community Adventure Program Trip Log (TLOG) is a tool that we use to document each trip. Students can use this as a reference and template for coordinating their own trips outside of this class and future CAP classes will use this information as a reference for future trips. This is also a reflective tool… Read more »

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Student Journal Entry, by Misra Cohen-MacGill

This past weekend we set off on our second overnight camping trip. After an entire week of nothing but each other we had one day to ourselves to recuperate before we all got back together again bright and early Saturday morning. We hiked down the trail only a short, lame mile before we found the… Read more »