Jack Mountain Bushcraft School

Long-Term Wilderness Immersion Programs, Outdoor Survival Courses,
Professional Guide Training, Wilderness Journeys And Traditional Crafts
Since 1999

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We're a full-time bushcraft and wilderness survival school and a traditional Maine guide service located on the banks of Aroostook River in Masardis, Maine. We run field-based, college-level semester and yearlong immersion programs in bushcraft and wilderness guide training, as well as shorter courses on tradtional north woods crafts, sustainable living and wilderness survival. We also offer guided canoe, snowshoe and fishing trips. Unlike the corporate wilderness education companies, our focus isn't on traveling through the backcountry as a tourist using high-tech gear as an umbilical cord back to town. Instead we teach traditional bushcraft skills and nature lore through which you learn that you're an active part of the natural world, not an observer. Most schools that teach bushcraft or survival and run wilderness trips are part-time hobby businesses. Among the few that are full-time professionals, our experience is unrivaled. As of winter, 2010, we've run 14 college-level semester courses and guided wilderness trips in Maine, New Hampshire, Quebec, New Brunswick, Alaska and the Florida Everglades. Our field school, home to our long-term programs, has little in the way of modern conveniences. Simplicity and do-it-yourself are a lifestyle here, not a slogan. Our curriculum is organized around intensive outdoor living experiences with an emphasis on traditional bushcraft skills, nature knowledge and the wilderness living and traveling skills of professional Maine guides. In addition to the curriculum, there are many lessons learned as a result of being outdoors that just can't be learned any other way except by living them for an extended period. The focus is to make you better, more knowledgeable, more confident, and more at home in the forest. So while other schools teach skills as an end, for us they're the means to facilitate a powerful experience through simple self-reliance in the bush. For specifics on our programs, click on the Programs tab or go to our Site Map. To keep up with what we're doing, read our blog or check out our social media hub If you have any questions about us or what we can do for you, we'd love to hear from you. You can contact us anytime. Tim Smith, M.Ed. Founder And Master Maine Guide

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7 Elements Of Jack Mountain Bushcraft Programs

Skill - Journey - Craft - Nature - Culture - Sustainability - Self

Drawing on the philosophies of bushcraft we've developed over a decade of field courses, the traditions of Maine Guides that go back generations, the Cree concept of miyupimaatisiium (translated as "being alive well") and the Scandinavian idea of friluftsliv (translated as "open air life"), the following seven elements comprise the components of our semester and yearlong programs.

1. Skill - Learn by doing. Too much of modern education is theoretical, abstract and sedentary, where the head is engaged but the hands are not. We depart from that norm with a tangible, hands-on approach that emphasizes being an active participant in the natural world and in life. Our 21-point curriculum focuses on the skills you need for a life outdoors. Rounded out with electives such as hunting, fishing and trapping, it gives complete instruction for the professional outdoors person.

2. Journey - Travel through the north woods, experiencing directly what you're learning. Travel with, and learn alongside experienced professional guides. Other schools focus on wilderness skills. We live in the bush for extended lengths of time where the focus isn't just skills, but living the life. Become a professional outdoor leader while learning lessons that cannot be experienced anywhere except by traveling in the bush and living them.

3. Craft - Build useful items from materials gathered on the landscape. Man needs tools to live. Making these necessary items from materials gathered from the landscape bonds you to the land and makes you self-sufficient.

4. Nature - Immerse yourself in the natural rhythms and learn the language of the world around you. Study the weather, edible/medicinal plants, fungi, mammals and their tracks, birds, fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, rocks, minerals, soil, water, ice, celestial bodies and ecology.

5. Culture - Experience the culture of the north woods of Maine and the traditions and history of the people who live there. Bushcraft and wilderness skills do not exist independent of culture and they're not simply how-to. They're part of a culture that includes a strong sense of community and a connection to the land. Experience that culture by living it.

6. Sustainability - Organic farming, homesteading, composting, and wise use of materials. Learn the techniques of living a simple life with minimal inputs. Grow food, care for soil and the land, compost everything, and leave the landscape healthier for having been there for those who will come after. It moves us away from the selfish idea of the individual at the center of the universe and puts us into a community of earth, air, water, and life.

7. Self - You learn a lot about yourself when the distractions of the modern world are removed. One of the benefits of a life outdoors is that it is not a life in front of the television. You're actively doing things, not just watching others do them, and the result is that you become confident and capable, while at the same time getting to know yourself on a much deeper level.

Read more about our educational philosophy.

Not Just A Wilderness Survival School

There is much more to living an outdoor life than survival skills. Basic wilderness survival skills refer to the skills and knowledge necessary for making it a week in the forest. This basic level of knowledge is taught in our programs, but it's just the beginning.

Our curriculum also includes how to live there comfortably, how to make it home, and how to interact with the land in a deep and meaningful way. We created the genre of semester-length bushcraft and guide training programs, and have run more of them than any other school. So if you're just interested in learning just the basics, any school will do. But if you want to learn bushcraft on a deeper, more visceral level, to learn by doing, and to do it in country where moose and bears outnumber the people, read through our site and get in touch with us.

There are new bushcraft and wilderness survival schools popping up every month, but be advised that there are no certifications with regard to licensing them. Anyone can simply declare themselves an expert, put up a web site advertising themselves as such, and a new school is born. But while there are hundreds of schools and courses advertised, there are very few full-time professionals.

We've been a full-time school and guide service since 1999. In that time we've run 15 (as of summer, 2010) college-level semester programs. We've also guided numerous wilderness canoe, snowshoe and fishing trips, taught numerous short courses and consulted on several national media projects. Our experience, curriculum, professionalism and commitment to excellence put us among the top bushcraft and wilderness survival schools in North America.

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