Click to skip to:
• This Year's NEWS
• HISTORY of Wolf Camp and the Wolf College

"I will always remember the first time flying to the Pacific Northwest. It was winter, the horizon filled thickly with tall trees, so lush and with rugged glaciated mountains, and seemingly hundreds of Puget Sound islands. That was 20 years ago, and I still feel awed by this beautiful place, so different from anywhere else I have ever been. 10 years ago, my two sons attended WOLF’s very first tracking class along with my husband and me. Chris Chisholm was my boys’ much loved Spanish instructor at their school, and we were duly impressed after experiencing nature in a new way with him. It was one of the most interesting classes I had ever taken. Your WOLF experience will add so much to your life. Locals will never take the Seattle-Vancouver area for granted again, and those coming from afar will surely be inspired by our land filled with gifts of unique geography and climate." - Valarie Gervais

Wolf Camp and the Wolf College - Cooperative Adventures in the field of Earth Skills Education invites you into a world where life thrives according to its original design. We provide you with a variety of unique experiences in the field of earth skills educuation, which draws from the traditions of natural science, outdoor adventure, wilderness survival, sustainable living, primitive technology, permaculture pioneering, herbal medicine and wildlife tracking. As students of nature, we’ll step peacefully into modern society with renewed strength from the natural world, equipped to live a healthy life, and striking a healthy balance between modern society and nature as it was originally created.

We attract good role models and support special needs at kids day camps, overnight youth camps, adult training camps, weekly classes and weekend workshops as we are serious about nurturing the growth and success of every student. We teach children and adults to seek their truth, develop self-sufficiency, respect hazards, strive for success, be emotionally sensitive, express art and music, improve physical health, honor their own religion or spirituality, be tolerant of differences between people, and recognize similarities amongst everyone on earth. The physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual health of students is our top priority, and we are able to achieve these priorities because all our instructors are seasoned teachers. We look forward to your participation in this wonderful experience, sharing new skills and stories with one another.

The Wolf Journey Earth Skills Training Course provides experienced guides to bring online and traditional correspondence students through skills of naturalist mentor, traditional herbalist, wildlife tracker, survival scout, honorable hunter, ancient artisan, sustainable pioneer, and outdoor educator. Each of the 8 volumes in the course consists of 20 field exercises which can be completed as a series, or repeated many times to gain expertise in one area of study. The online wordpress, traditional correspondence, and independent study print versions of the course also include inspirational youtube stories, myspace music, and original artwork from those who have experienced it.

The Max Davis Scholarship Fund strives to ensure that person is turned away from enrollment in any Wolf Camp program due to financial constraints. See our Scholarships & Giving page for more information.

Pictured here are Chris, Kim & Skye McKillip Chisholm. In Memoriam, Best Search Dog, Best Camp Dog, Best Friend, December 27, 1999 - May 2, 2012. Kim & Skye trained nearly every week with King County Search Dogs who were, in turn, called out almost weekly in search of lost children, hikers, the elderly, and those who came to unfortunate ends, even if it had been decades prior. Skye worked for a year with cancer, including her last search just the weekend before passing, and she was playing catch up until the last hour. At camp, Skye cured any homesickness, kept us safe and happy. She will be missed, but her spirit lives on!

Wolf Tracks News Update

October 1st, 2011 by Chris Chisholm, founder and co-owner.

We're gearing up for our 15th year bringing people together to practice earth skills in Western Washington, and we send out thanks for so many wonderful experiences in this beautiful region of mountains, waters, sagebrush canyons and temperate rainforests. We fondly remember those of you who have attended our camps and classes since over the years, and we would be very blessed to receive another vital year of support from you and from new friends who will attend in 2011.

As you may know, Kim and I were married on October 10th of last year, and we moved Wolf Camp and the Wolf College to Puyallup, her home town. It's a great place for Wolf Camp and the Wolf College, since it is in the geographic center of our market region, which spans from Bellingham, where I started in 1996, to Portland, from which several of our campers (of all ages) come from. It is also half-way between Seattle, where the majority of our clientele calls home, and Olympia, which is a hot-bed of apprentices hailing from Evergreen State College.

This summer was a fun year as we checked out some great new places to hold camps, and it's great having such close access to southwestern Washington, where I am very attracted to Mt. Rainier and the coast in particular. Puyallup is within a 90 minute drive of both, with some of the most studied state forests, protected estuaries, and wild rivers for easy tracking within 45 minutes. The attraction to the Pacific Coast is obvious, but the sand dune habitat is also wonderful for tracking. Mt. St. Helens is incredible for the study of geology, and it goes without saying that it will be exciting to live under the shadow of Mt. Rainier, with its glistening glaciers and blueberry meadows. Finally, we'll also be a 90 minute drive to the dry east slope of the Cascades, directly over which is my favorite canyon off the Yakima River.

Areas south and west of Puget Sound are also the last places left in the region which contain affordable property, so that's another attraction. Kim and I are buying a house in Puyallup which is surrounded by preserved wetland and attached to a huge, forested city park which is a great meeting place for weekend workshops, day camps, and other programs. We are currently working on permits to hold classes right there at the house as well.

History of Wolf Camp and the Wolf College

1991: Chris graduates from the University of Wisconsin where he studied the return of wolves in the Chequamegon National Forest and volunteered as a witness to the return of Indian Treaty Rights in the northern part of the state.

1992: Chris moves to Bellingham and picks up a a series of outdoor educational books and realized all he'd missed while growing up in the north woods of MN/WI and roaming the mountains of Europe during high school and South America in college.

1993: Chris embarks on wilderness quest (See Chapter 4 story in Wolf Journey) and begins practicing earth skills with friends in Bellingham.

1994: Friends in Bellingham start a tracking club, meeting weekly to practice earth skills, while Chris studies on Lummi Island.

1995: Wilderness Awareness School & Earthwalk Northwest move to Washington State, which excellerate the development of a future Wolf Camp.

1996: Chris embarks on a group wilderness quest with a guide in Bellingham, and the idea for Wolf Camp is born. Tracking Club runs first workshop near Bellingham, and Chris leads another on Lummi Island. Parents begin requesting that Chris teach after-school earth skills lessons.

1997: Chris officially founds Wolf Camp in January, runs the first day camp in July, and starts after-school and evening classes. Wolf Camp runs its first custom program, for the Lummi High School.

1998: Chris begins writing Wolf Journey. Carol Goulet comes on board as lead instructor for Wolf Camp which runs two full overnight youth camp weeks as well as four full summer day camp weeks. After school classes start filling up.

1999: Chris publishes Wolf Journey Book One - Trail of the Naturalist. Tracking club members depart Wolf Camp to form separate program with youth class students. Bill Baroch and Nikki van Schyndel come on board during evening classes.

2000: Chris writes Wolf Journey Book Two - Trail of the Tracker, and begins accepting correspondence students working through Wolf Journey. Nikki is first participant in the pilot Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship. Bill Baroch teaches camps along with Carol and Chris. A 40 acre property with cabin on Lummi Island becomes home for Wolf Camp. Aldin Huff attends day camp at age 7, and will go on to become our first day-camper-turned- instructor in 2009.

2001: Kate Hedges is first official graduate of the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship, and goes on to found the first earth skills educational institute in Scotland. Griz Chambers attends camp at age 14, and will go on to be our earliest overnight-camper-turned-instructor in later years. Judy Chaisson attends her first Wolf Camp workshop, and goes on to co-found the WOLF Foundation.

2002: Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship grows to 4 participants. Camps begin to increase in size upwards of 20 students. WOLF Foundation is co-founded by parent of a beloved Wolf Camp student Max Davis who contracted bacterial menengitis the previous winter, and we rename our scholarship fund in honor of him. Glen MacKay attends Wolf Camp for the first time, and goes on to be our first camp instructor under the age of 21. James Helms attends his first overnight camp at age 9, and will go on to become a camp instructor by 2009, with his younger brothers close in his footsteps, as well as father later joining the WOLF Foundation.

2003: Graduates of the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship increase to 6, including graduates Krista Rome, now an important advisor. Micah Fay pilots our Traditional Technologies apprenticeship and goes on to live primitively in the western wilderness over the following 2 years. Griz Chambers is first graduate of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program. Lummi Island Heritage Trust secures ownership of the 40 acre camp property, now to be designated as open space. Chris buys property for Wolf Camp on Woods Lake in Snohomish County.

2004: Lorien MacAuley and Scott Fanello, as well as Griz Chambers, complete the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship. Lorien and Scott pilot our Academic Year Apprenticeships. Chris buys additional 5 acres with camp house. Morgan Tidd and Patrick Wiley attend Wolf Camp, and will go on to become camp instructors, earth skills specialists, and logistical wizards in later years. Nicco Minutoli attends camp for the first time to become a camp counselor by 2011, and his father becomes WOLF Foundation president.

2005: Morgan Tidd becomes first youth to complete all portions of Wolf Journey Part One - Trail of the Naturalist, to certification level. Jason Patterson comes on board the staff, and Chris "Huck" Anderson completes the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship, then goes on to found Lost & Found Adventures back in his home of Phoenix, AZ. We also pilot our first Recreational Administrative Internship with our first graduate, and Jay Doyon pilots our Sustainable Pioneer apprenticeship as our first graduate of that apprenticeship program.

2006: Megan Damofle starts her Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship, and with much prior herbal medicine training, transforms over the next couple years into our lead Herbal Instructor. Lorien, leading our tracking camp this year, comes across a young male cougar who had just died of starvation, and for Chris, it was a sign to transform leadership of Wolf Camp toward into a less individualistic program.

2007: The Ethnobotany Herbal Apprenticeship is piloted, Andrew Twele completes his Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship and goes on to develop our Outdoor Living with Traditional Technologies program. Morgan & Indigo Tidd, Patrick Wiley, James Helms, Charlle Borrowman, Alexandra Bunker, Elise Santa Maria, Anna Flies, and others complete our Youth Mentoring CIT Program by this time, with many going on to become instructors.

2008: Chris offers Wolf Journey freely online. After another 5 years of injury-free earth skills programs, Chris sells camp house on 5 acres, and operates primitively on remaining 40 acres around Woods Lake, which he also sells at the end of the summer. Wolf Camp gets home office in Snohomish, and begins offering weekly classes again for the first time since departing Bellingham.

2009: Kim & Chris get married, run camps from Snohomish, and gear up to re-start Wolf Journey classes and weekend workshops throughout the Puget Sound region.

2010: Kim & Chris add the name "Wolf College" to reflect growing adult programs, and start Wolf Journey classes in Seattle, Snohomish, Bellingham, Puyallup and Olympia, as well as begin bimonthly weekend workshops. Summer camps grow 50% as we spread out locations out across Western Washington, including camps in conjuction with Wolf Haven, Int'l.

2011: Kim & Chris purchase Kim's grandparent's old homestead in Puyallup, and begin implementing a permaculture design for the house and property. Wolf Journey class locations expand to include Portland-Vancouver, Ellensburg, Silverdale, Bellevue & Sumas. Kim & Chris also co-found Wolf Trackers in response to wildly inconsistent wolf management policies taking place at federal and state levels, with hopes of helping to bring sanity back to the situation. Wolf Journey revisions begin with a name change to the Wolf Journey Earth Conservation Courses, music videos, and artwork by Joanna Colbert.