Instructor

Experience:

From a young age, Erik has had an affinity for the outdoors. At the ripe old age of seven, he began training at the Riekes Center Nature Awareness department, and he eagerly attended every summer camp and school camping trip he could (he attended public school, and thus couldn’t engage in homeschool programs). These experiences formed the kindling for his blazing love of nature.

As he grew up, Erik learned fire by friction, arrowhead knapping, basketry, bowry, primitive pottery, tracking, bird language, edible and medicinal plants, and so much more.

At age thirteen, Erik had already been through almost every program available to him, so he began teaching. First, he assisted lead instructors, until he was of age to facilitate nature exploration classes for 20+ kids. He has since taught many classes in the Western United States.
 
But ever the student, he was still itching to learn more about how humans can connect with the land, so he enrolled at the University of Utah, achieving a Bachelor's in Parks, Recreation and Tourism, with an emphasis in Adventure and Outdoor Programs. Finally, Erik interned at EarthWalk Northwest, assisting with classes and eagerly soaking up skills knowledge.

Erik keeps his Wilderness First Responder Certificate up to date and continues to educate himself in the ancestral arts.

Interests:

When Erik is not teaching, his first commitment is to his young daughter. He enjoys spending time with all of his animals and creating a permaculture paradise on his property.

Favorite Outdoor Skills:

Tracking, Bird language, Basketry and Flint knapping

Why He Teaches:

Erik’s passion for reconnecting people with nature has bubbled over, incentivizing him to build a community of people in Utah who learn how to make healthy tracks for future generations.

Experience

James is a long time practitioner and trainer within the emergency preparedness and outdoor adventure communities.
He currently runs Adaptive Response Solutions, and the Adaptive Preparedness Project, which focus on helping people and communities become prepared for whatever environment they find themselves in, whether outdoor recreation & adventure, or disaster & emergency preparedness events.

James is an outdoor adventure junkie, a backcountry guide, and a passionate knowledge transfer specialist. He develops and leads his courses from a background in learning architecture and instructional design, and believes that when knowledge and information is presented in an adaptable manner, it empowers learning uptake and mastery. “There are no two students alike, why should learning curriculum be static and unyielding?"

Interests

James instructs across a range of topics, from outdoor skillsets, to emergency preparedness/response, including personal medical training, firearms, and personal defense.

Favorite Outdoor Skills

Some of his most beloved topics are survival skills and bushcraft knowledge, wildcrafting, and wilderness survival.

Why He Teaches

James is currently relaunching his training company focused on experiential learning, and he is producing content through the Adaptive Preparedness Project. Through partnership with Making Tracks, he hopes to bring his certifications to a wider audience.

Experience:

Dave’s life is driven by a powerful belief that “Life is for Living”, or, in other words, that we must squeeze everything we can from our time on earth.

For 15 years, Dave lived without the convenience of a traditional home. He spent 6 years living in a cave, before transitioning to 2 wickiups, a pithouse, a stone shelter, and finally a Kazakhstan-style felted yurt. Dave once even survived 44 days living with the land in the mid-winter deserts of Utah. Needless to say, he is no stranger to the world outside his comfort zone.

Dave has been a survival and wilderness guide for 20 years, 8 of which he spent instructing for Boulder Outdoor Survival School. He regularly teaches at Primitive Skills Gatherings such as Wintercount and Rabbitstick Rendezvous, sharing his boundless knowledge of skills like bow making, primitive pottery, flint knapping, hide tanning, archery, sling craft, navigation, astronomy, edible and medicinal plants of North America, wood crafting, and primitive and modern fire starting techniques.

You may even recognize Dave from two seasons of “Alone” on the History Channel, where he survived 36 days in Mongolia, and 73 days in Patagonia. He has also acted as a consultant for Discovery Channel’s “Bushcraft Build”.

Interests:

Dave loves outdoor sports, including skiing, climbing, archery, bow-making, and fly fishing. His adventures have taken him across the country by bicycle and seen him crossing the Pacific Northwest in a kayak of his own making.

Why He teaches:

Dave’s passion for learning has now evolved into a desire to teach and share the joys of the knowledge he acquired.

Experience:

As a child, Ember spent many nights camping and fishing with her family. She loves being outdoors, a love that was fostered by family backpacking trips in the Uintas. As a previous student of Making Tracks, she has gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of nature.

Ember was the first student in Utah to produce her own friction fire in Making Tracks. She is proud and excited to continue along her journey as a Specialist with Making Tracks.

Interests:

Storytelling, watching movies, spending time with family, camping, playing board and card games, and embarassing her children by talking to anyone she meets.

Favorite Outdoor Skills:

Fire, stealth, wandering, bird language, storytelling, knife skills, first aid, and sensory awareness.

Why She Teaches:

Ember loves being around people.  Ember loves looking into the eyes of someone who has just had an 'ah ha' moment. Nature is the greatest teacher, and she loves facilitating the joy that comes from discovery and connection with nature.

Experience:

Dakota did not grow up with the outdoors in his life. Everything he has learned has stemmed from his insatiable love he found in nature as a young adult. Dakota is a proud father, and in his spare time he enjoys power lifting, mountain man rendezvous, and re-enactment events. He is a massive history buff, especially American frontier history.

Dakota began teaching survival skills professionally in 2011, teaching at various camps and private organizations. In 2013 he moved from Missouri to Utah to become a Wilderness Therapy Guide where he worked for many years living with students out on the trail. Dakota enjoys teaching classes at various primitive and outdoor gatherings as well as co-hosting on a wilderness podcast.

Interests:

Power Lifting, Re-enactments, History, Family Time

Favorite Outdoor Skills:

Capotes, Mountain Man Skills, Trekking in the old ways, Archery

Why He Teaches:

Dakota chooses to teach wilderness skills because he feels these skills are our way to connect with the natural world around us. We should all enjoy the knowledge of how to provide for ourselves from our own environment. For him, learning bushcraft skills grounds him and allows him to come to terms with life’s hardships and heal from them. Dakota believes that his knowledge allows him to convey historical rhyme and reason to certain aspects of life that our forebearers experienced.

Experience:

Shelley Mehr is a nature devotee. Since a young girl her family would go to national parks, camp, and hike a lot! Throughout high school, Moab was a common go to for weekend adventures. She has always been fasinated with the people who have been here before modern civilization, how they lived in nature, there daily lives, tools and things they've left behind. She started attending primitive skill gatherings to learn more about these skills. This lead her to a wonderful community in Boulder, Utah. Living off grid, connecting with the ancient past and gathering wild edibles and plant medicines.

She has a rich 13-year background in holistic wellness. She started studying the physiology of the body as a massage therapist, that piqued her interest and curiosity about the breath. Since as young as she can remember the cold waters have always called to her to jump in or at least dip her head. Trying to get others to join her in how good it felt, how good it was to be alive! During a deep meditation experience in Japan she received the intuition to teach the Wim Hof Method. Now a distinguished Level 2 instructor, the last 5 years she has guided many people into the cold waters to a more empowered version of themselves. One of Shelley's philosophy revolves around nature as the ultimate teacher. Guiding individuals towards their ability to lean into challenges, connect deeper to themselves through the transformative power of breath, cold exposure, and mindset techniques. 

Interests:

When not in Bountiful, Utah she loves to work with the land in her Boulder, Utah sanctuary. Dancing, singing (with no "skills" to sing), playing the harp, hiking, hot springing, sunbathing in the wilderness.

Favorite Outdoor Skills:

Cold adaptation, collecting wild edbiles, plant medicines and forging for mushrooms, hide tanning.

Why She Teaches:

Shelley bubbles over with enthusiam anytime she get's to connect with community, in communion with nature and the elements.

Experience:

Grant Hawkes is a maker, wanderer, handtool addict, with a healthy dose of wool and herbal tea thrown in the mix. Born and raised exploring the woods and coastlines of Maine, he has always been fascinated with the outdoors and using his hands to make things. As a curious 10 year old, he began learning wilderness living skills from Chris and Ashirah Knapp of the Maine Local Living School, eventually outgrowing their homeschool programs and completing an immersive apprenticeship with them at the age of 15. At the age of 16 he embarked on a 5 month wilderness semester program traversing sections of Canada and the length of Vermont by ski, canoe, rowboat, and bicycle. Since then he has continued to learn from master guides and craftsfolk, furthering his passion for simple living and fostering playful wildness in others. Grant was homeschooled and then went on to earn a degree in Recreation Resource Management and Folklore Studies through Utah State University.

While the majority of his formal training occurred in the rambling woods and coastlines of New England and Eastern Canada, his wanderings have taken him to the UK, and western United States, where he currently lives with is wife in northen Utah.

He has worked for a variety of organizations as a canoe and dogsledding guide and ancestral skills instructor including the Maine Local Living School, Mahoosuc Guide Service, and Kroka Expeditions.

Grant maintains a current Wilderness First Responder certification through Wilderness Medical Associates.

Interests:

Woodcarving, hide tanning, canoeing, traditional handtool woodworking, contra dancing, singing, telemark skiing, shelter building, reading & writing.

Favorite Outdoor Skills:

Fire, axe & knife skills, shelter building, backcountry navigation, stealth & stalking, outdoor cooking

Why He Teaches:

Grant chooses to teach wilderness and handcraft skills because he strongly believes that awareness and relationships between humans and the wild non-human world deeply empowers us to become more conscious and grounded individuals. He has seen this relationship transform him from an early age, and hopes to encourage others to find their own way of developing connection to the landscape.