20 years a Snake River native, now teaching hands-on wilderness survival, camping & hiking in Idaho. Fire, shelter, navigation — real backcountry skills for thriving off the land.
Launch preview: this site is getting ready for the first season. Every price, date, season and policy shown is a sample placeholder — final rates are set once licensing and permits are in place.
Every trip is a class first and a hike second. You won't just be shown — you'll do it yourself, with a guide looking over your shoulder, until it sticks.
Ferro rod, bow drill, and fire lays that work in wind and wet — plus how to put one out properly.
Tarp rigs, debris huts and snow shelters — staying warm and dry with what the land gives you.
Map and compass the old way — bearings, triangulation, route plans — with GPS as backup, not a crutch.
Finding, filtering and purifying water, backcountry cooking, and bear-safe food storage.
Camp setup, knife and saw safety, first aid basics, and Leave No Trace on every trip.
Six sample trips built around survival and the backcountry. Filter by what you want to learn, when you can go, and how hard you want to work. Found one? Send it straight to the trip planner below.
No trips match those filters.
Try widening the season or difficulty — or ask about a custom trip in the planner below.
Build your trip and get an instant estimate, then copy a ready-to-send booking request. Sample prices — every rate here is a placeholder for launch planning, not a quote.
Groups of 6 or more save 10% on the base rate in this sample pricing. A sample 25% deposit would hold a date once booking opens. Final pricing, deposits and policies are set at launch.
Copy the request and keep it somewhere handy — once Snake River Fieldcraft's email and booking channels go live at launch, you can paste and send it as-is.
The exact kit we teach with — nothing here is a sponsorship pick. This is what students handle in our courses, what our guides carry, and what rides with the group on every trip.
Affiliate disclosure: As an affiliate, Snake River Fieldcraft earns from qualifying purchases — it costs you nothing extra and supports the school.
Handed to every student on course — identical, durable, and affordable enough to equip a whole class. This is the kit our lessons are built around.
Why we recommend it: Thick carbon-steel blade that carves, batons, and sharpens easily in the field. Tough enough for beginners learning hard, and affordable enough to keep a full class set.
Why we recommend it: Three ways to make fire in one kit — a ferrocerium rod with striker for real practice, a Bic for day one, and petroleum-jelly cotton balls that catch a spark and burn long, even when things are damp.
Why we recommend it: Big enough for a proper shelter, light enough for a daypack, and covered in tie-out points. Every shelter lesson we teach starts with this square of fabric — or one very much like it.
Why we recommend it: Real seven-strand, 550-lb cord for ridgelines, lashings, and repairs — and the inner strands pull out for tinder, thread, or fishing line when you need them.
Why we recommend it: Single-wall steel means you can boil water right in the bottle — purification and cooking with no plastic to melt and no extra pot to pack. The cup nests over the bottom so it takes up no extra room.
Why we recommend it: Simple, bright, and easy on batteries — no complicated modes to fumble with when a student needs light in the middle of the night. Either model earns its place in the loaner kits.
Why we recommend it: The always-carry trio: a bivvy for emergency warmth, a whistle that carries far farther than a shout, and a button compass as a simple backup to keep you oriented.
What the guide carries — a step up in steel, optics, and reliability, because this gear works every course, all season.
Why we recommend it: Full-tang, hard-use blades built for professional work — batoning, shelter building, and camp tasks day after day without babying the edge. Pick the size that fits your hand and your country.
Why we recommend it: The guide saw we reach for first — cuts fast on both push and pull, folds safely into a pack, and processes shelter wood with a fraction of the effort (and risk) of swinging tools.
Why we recommend it: Mirror sighting for accurate bearings, adjustable declination, and a needle that settles fast. It's the compass we teach navigation with — and the standard students graduate to.
Why we recommend it: Higher output for route-finding after dark, a red-light mode that saves night vision around camp, and reliable runtime through a full multi-day course.
Shared safety and support gear the guide carries so the whole group is covered — first aid, water, and communication where Idaho has no cell signal.
Why we recommend it: A real backcountry medical kit — not a bargain pouch — organized for trauma and common field injuries, paired with a moldable SAM splint that handles sprains and fractures until you reach care.
Why we recommend it: Fast, light filtration for the whole group, with purification tablets as the backup for when a filter clogs, freezes, or the water source is questionable. Two methods, no single point of failure.
Why we recommend it: Two-way satellite texting and an SOS button that work where phones don't — across canyon country and the high desert. When you're responsible for a group, this is non-negotiable.
Building your own kit? Start with the Student Field Kit — it's the same progression we teach: cutting tool, fire, shelter, cordage, water, light, and emergency backup. Add the guide-tier pieces as your skills and range grow.
“Twenty years on this river. I didn't learn fieldcraft from videos — I learned it out there, season after season.”
Snake River Fieldcraft exists for one reason: the skills that keep you comfortable — and alive — in the backcountry are learnable, and they're best learned by doing. We keep groups small, teach at a pace where questions are welcome, and practice everything hands-on: you light the fire, you build the shelter, you shoot the bearing that gets the group home.
Trips run across Idaho's Snake River country — canyon rims, high desert, and pine forest — the same ground our guide has called home for two decades.
The launch-phase honest version. Anything marked Sample is placeholder wording until final policies are set.
Yes — that's who the beginner trips are built for. Survival Fundamentals, Backcountry Camping Skills and the Canyon Skills Hike all assume zero experience. You'll be taught each skill step by step and practice it the same day, and group sizes stay small so nobody gets left behind.
Sample
Boots you've already broken in, weather-appropriate layers, a headlamp, and a daypack or backpack depending on the trip. Every booking gets a full gear list, and the loaner gear kit add-on in the planner covers the big items — shelter, sleep system, pack — if you'd rather not buy gear before your first trip.
Groups are capped small — 6 to 14 people depending on the trip, listed on each card — so instruction stays hands-on. Family Fieldcraft Day is designed for kids and parents together; other trips are generally aimed at adults and older teens. Ask in your booking request if you're unsure.
Sample policy
Lightning, dangerous wind, or unsafe snow conditions mean we reschedule or reroute — safety calls belong to the guide, full stop. Ordinary rain or cold is part of the lesson: several skills are specifically about staying comfortable when conditions aren't. Final weather and cancellation terms will be published with real booking at launch.
Snake River Fieldcraft is in its launch phase right now. Before the first paying trip goes out, the business is confirming its Idaho outfitter licensing requirements with the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board and arranging land-use permits for the areas it operates in. That's also why every price on this page is labeled a sample. When you send a booking request, ask where things stand — you'll get a straight answer.
No — Snake River Fieldcraft teaches wilderness survival, camping and hiking skills. Fire, shelter, navigation and campcraft are the whole focus. (The badge's crossed hatchets are a nod to the tools of the fieldcraft trade.)
Yes — pick "Private trip, just your group" in the planner for a sample estimate, or describe what you have in mind (a scout troop, a work crew, a family reunion) in the notes field of your booking request and we'll shape a day or a weekend around it.
Booking opens with the launch season. Until then, the fastest way in is the trip planner: build your trip, copy the booking request it writes for you, and hold onto it — the moment our email and booking channels go live, you'll be first in line.