The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide: The Classic Handbook, Revised and Updated

Since 1965, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) has been teaching its students how to climb, kayak, and navigate; how to camp without leaving a trace; how to stay warm and dry in the wilderness; how to cope with a backcountry emergency; and how to effectively lead others through such experiences. There are many reasons for spending time in the remote outdoors. Awe-inspiring scenery, peacefulness, wildlife viewing, and exercise are all good reasons. Another is that such experiences build character: "The wildlands teach us to be smart, practical, resourceful, and observant. To hike ten hours through scabrous terrain, cross a brawny river, stay warm in a snowstorm, and navigate your way out of tangled woods tests and builds your best faculties." While no single book can prepare one for spending time in the wilderness--much less impart all the skills necessary to survive in the elements--the NOLS Guide is an eminently useful place to start. Chapters include primers on equipment (fitting boots and packs, choosing a tent, the "Five Commandments for Equipment Care"); appropriate dress for a variety of climates; and ways of traveling in the backcountry, from crossing scree fields to fording rivers. It's not a substitute for in-depth instruction in, say, snow camping, or reading a map and compass. But with a solid grounding in the basics, one can take that first boot-step into what Joseph Wood Krutch called "the great reservoir of energy, of confidence, of endless hope."