About the Course
4 DAYS/3 NIGHTS
Beginner/Moderate Level
Join us for this 4-day course that will increase your confidence, safety, and resilience in the wild through focused training in the fundamentals of wilderness survival.
In this women-run course you’ll learn to meet your needs by listening to and connecting with the landscape.
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Learn how to take care of your medical needs in an emergency situation
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Learn how to properly use a knife and saw to avoid injury
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Signaling for rescue with the use of your kit and modern tools such as a Personal Locator Beacon
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Make fire with various ignitions from modern to primitive using your ferro rod, magnifying lens, and bow-drill
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Learn how to positively identify plants and trees that aid in fire and tool construction as we go on a woodland walk and collect resources
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Turn your poncho into an emergency shelter or substitute pack
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Learn how to make cordage and rope with jute twine
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With the use of a compass, we will learn basic navigation skills and together we will run a small orienteering course through the woods
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Discussion on how to maintain good hygiene in a wilderness setting
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Learn self-defense techniques as a last resort should a predatory situation arise
With the exception of our expedition programs, most of our courses are hosted within a 30 mile radius of Charlottesville, VA. The diverse nature of our programs is best served by a constellation of sites that includes both public and private land. To protect the safety and privacy of our host site partners as well as the safety of our participants, we do not disclose the addresses or coordinates of our sites online. Upon registering for a course — or no later than 2 weeks prior to its start date — all participants will receive details and directions to the public, pre-course meetup location, from which we will caravan to the host site.
Instructor(s)
After first building a career as a full-time film editor, Jacks Genega’s passion for helping people discover and deepen their own resilience and connection to the wild has led her in recent years to make the dramatic shift of becoming a full-time wilderness guide and instructor. Several experiences with unpredictable and life threatening scenarios in Europe’s backcountry were instrumental in helping her see the importance of traditional skills, situational awareness, and a holistic preparedness mentality. As a result, she’s rooted her work in a commitment to weaving an adaptive and trauma-informed approach to wilderness survival, ecological literacy, and the pursuit of a life marked by adventure and aliveness. She’s had the privilege of training under and working alongside some of the foremost experts and elders in the bushcraft community, and now teaches extensively across North America through her company, Wildcard Wilderness, which offers multiple programs and wilderness expeditions, including programs specifically tailored to women. Convinced that the technical aspects of wilderness skills cannot be separated from the personal stories that bring us to them, Jacks strives to offer high quality skills training that draws on her own experience and invites others to explore how wild landscapes and traditional skills can help us heal, making us not only more competent with our hands, but transforming head and heart as well.
Jacks Genega
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