3 Hours 15 Student Max Level: Beginner to Expert Price: $15
Hands-on skills workshops with topics changing all the time. These monthly labs give you the chance to work on outdoor skills outside, with expert guidance. We mix it up every other Saturday, in a “guided workshop” setting. We introduce topic details and cover the skill set needed, then practice as well as try tips, tricks, and hacks that can’t be beat. All needed gear and resources are provided, but you are welcome to bring your own gear to work with as well.
These workshops take place inside and outside, utilizing our inside classroom AND our outside natural facility, “Tweeker Creek." Small group size to facilitate Q&A.
Bring your own gear or use ours.
Backpacking – Water, Tents & Stoves – Set up, use, safety, and tips, tricks & hacks for treating water, cooking, and tents/shelters. Backpacking meals tasting may be involved.
Rim To Rim Essentials—What you need to know about long distance and multi-summit challenges in extreme conditions. This “unrecommended” excursion is presented in detail from logistics & planning to lightweight essentials & safe protocols by someone who’s done it multiple times.
Emergency & Tarp Shelters—Simple shelters and tarp setups with tips & tricks on easy knots you already know and use. Then we dive into debris survival shelter basics for AZ. There’s almost no better skill for unplanned overnights.
Bushcraft Basics—Woodworking, Knife Use & Safety. We practice the useful skills with the number one tool and try some basic woodworking and processing tasks every backcountry traveler should know.
How to Havasu Falls—Backpacking Havasupai logistics, essentials,
sights and tips & tricks.
Camp Cooking (and Tasting) Come learn simple recipes for backpacking and the tips & tricks that make it easy, try some food, and get the gear hacks that make it lightweight. If you’re here early, you catch campfire essentials at 9am as we get the cowboy coffee going.
We will be indoors AND OUTSIDE for the Lab. Bring water, coffee/tea, snacks, and of course, whatever gear you have that you normally use for the topic being covered.
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO SIGN A WAIVER: Our Standard Events Waiver will be attached in your reminder email for you to read and sign. You will need to have it or sign one upon arrival. In some workshops we are working with sharp tools and inherently dangerous activities. You will be required to adhere to strict safety standards while participating but it is impossible to make these completely safe and we encourage the use of personal protection and personal familiar equipment.
Jonathan Mincks is a Wilderness First Responder, Naturalist and instructor of wilderness self-reliance at AHS Rescue & The Arizona Hiking Shack. He teaches modern wilderness survival, outdoor recreation, and emergency preparedness to those who work or play in the backcountry. His educational programs have garnered him praise from new enthusiasts and seasoned professionals alike.
Holding multiple certifications and distinctions in industry standards; e.g., Wilderness First Responder, Community Emergency Response Team training, Outfitting and Nature studies, Mincks is also a boondocks scholar* who has been exploring the backcountry since he was in diapers. His practical approach & experience are only rivaled by his infectious passion, broad knowledge and witty perspective on self-reliance that confounds the important nature of the subject. He turns survival into "serious fun" for those who work or play in the backcountry because, "in the end, it is a positive attitude that will prevail."
Mincks is also a go-to consultant on national and regional TV, news and media concerning outdoor recreation and safety and is renowned for his dynamic presentations. He has worked in the outdoor industry for over 20 years on trail crews, as a guide, outfitter, medic, educator, and outreach specialist.
*Boondocks Scholar. adjective. Possessing an outlook of being on a perpetual field trip. A lifelong student of the outdoors. One who continuously studies and practices what it takes to thrive in the backcountry.
"You teach is PSAR, Preventative Search and Rescue"
Members of the Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association (CAMRA) Search and Rescue team after watching Mincks in action.
