INQ-177 | Adventure into Nature

Topic Description:

This course is an adventure into nature examining the geology, plants and animals of the central Appalachians and their interactions with each other and their human inhabitants. These interactions will be experienced in a classroom setting as well as first hand through trips into the central Appalachians that will include many strenuous hikes, wilderness camping and snorkeling in rivers. This course will provide students with a background in natural history and experience with resources commonly used by amateur and professional field naturalists, planning and executing adventures into nature, maintaining trails, and interpreting those adventures within an academic context providing students with the tools necessary for a lifetime of adventuring into nature. Students must be proficient swimmers (will have to pass a swim test) and have at least a moderate level of cardio-vascular fitness for admission to class. Camping in unimproved campgrounds will be the only form of lodging available for the travel portion of the course and is essential for complete “immersion” into our topic. That means no hotels, no beds, no bathrooms, no showers, etc. So, if you don’t think you can bathe in a river, cook food on a camp stove, or “go” in the woods, this is not the class for you. One objective of this course is to prepare you for future adventures into nature, and using unimproved campgrounds will illustrate how economical adventure travel can be when hotel costs are not an expense.

Course Types Offered: Field Trip

Topic Approved: April 2010