Apprenticeships in Bushcraft and Primitive Skills

Apprenticeship Program
Program Outline ~ Download Application

Our apprenticeship program is an 8-month immersion program designed to provide hands-on training in the skills of bushcraft, survival, and primitive living along with time spent amongst native elders and visits to prominent archeological sites of the Southwest.

Our Classroom Is The Southwest
There are few programs like the Ancient Pathways Apprenticeship. For one thing, our location is unparalleled- we are near the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, numerous Native cultures, Sedona, and have a wealth of prehistoric ruins dotting the landscape in every direction. The Apprenticeship Program is designed to immerse students in this incredible classroom while providing exposure to a wealth of traditional and modern survival skills along with the finer skills of bushcraft. Students accomplish this by constantly working with their hands out on the land and by learning the time-tested skills used for thousands of years by indigenous peoples of the Southwest.

Some days of study focus on skills such as braintanning, tracking, or bowmaking while other days are spent learning about the cultural perspective by spending time with elders at Hopi studying traditional culture and language. In addition, there are weekly lectures held in Flagstaff by leading archeologists, geologists, and native teachers so there is no shortage of things to do with your free time. While most students undertake our programs for personal interest, college credit is available. Contact us for details.

What students can expect to accomplish during the program:

~	Create their own comprehensive survival kits and learn the basic skills of survival. Once a month, students will head out with the instructors on a Knife-Only outing in the desert, mountains, canyons, and forest to apply their skills.

~	Identify, harvest, and use a variety of edible and medicinal plants and how to incorporate them into meals, healing, and daily living.

~	Fashion their own buckskin shirt by learning the art of braintanning. There are few things as satisfying as making your own clothing from in the old way using deerhides. Along the way, you will also learn how to process sinew, create bone tools, and make jerky.

~	Construct a finely-crafted wooden bow, arrows, and throwing stick. Flintknapping arrowheads will also be covered in-depth.

~	Learn how to fish and hunt using modern and primitive methods. Food procurement is a key area of study at Ancient Pathways and we spend considerable time devoted to mammal tracking, hunting & gathering, and the lost art of feeding yourself from nature’s kitchen.

~	Visit the ancient villages at Hopi and spend time learning about the culture and traditional skills of the people who have inhabited the Southwest for over 100 generations.

~	Delve into Southwest archeology by touring the prehistoric cliff-dwellings at Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and other prominent settlements in northern Arizona.

~	Join in on the weeklong Winter Count Rendezvous near Phoenix learning from dozens of the country’s finest teachers in primitive skills and survival.

~	Participate in the final weeklong Bushcraft course in August where they can put together all of the skills learned during the Apprenticeship.

Dates/Schedule
The first week of January marks the start of the 2009 Apprenticeship Program and it finishes the second week of August, with a break for major holidays and March spring break. Class is held from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday and Tuesdays along with one weekend Knife-Only Survival or Walkabout each month.

Requirements & Eligibility for the Program
There are no prerequisites. Due to the hands-on nature of our teaching, the Apprenticeship Program accepts up to ten students each year. Students must be 18 years of age to participate.

Cost
Tuition for the Apprenticeship is $4800 for the entire 8 month program from January to August. This includes instruction, teaching materials, field trips, tribal permits, and inclusion in the WinterCount Rendezvous in February. The best part, is that students may also participate, at no extra charge, in any of our regularly scheduled fieldcourses for the public that coincide with the Apprenticeship dates. Meals and lodging are not included in the cost and are left up to each student. Upon registering, a complete Student Manual is sent out which contains information lodging, gear list, directions, and health forms.

Program Structure
Class is held from 9-5, Monday and Tuesday, totaling 16 hours per week with occasional weekends available when we are running our other courses for the general public. We are experiential educators so instruction is largely hands-on with some overnight trips involved to apply our skills with a minimum of modern gear. Students are encouraged to take advantage of Ancient Pathways large library and instructional video collection. As noted, there will be a Knife-Only Survival Outing or Walkabout each month where you can apply your skills on the trail. Click here for an outline of our Apprenticeship program.

Instructors
Tony Nester is the primary instructor for the program. Students will also have exposure during the program to a revolving cast of talented naturalists, native elders, archeologists, and primitive technologists.

Meals & Lodging
Students need to provide for their own meals and lodging. Being a university town, Flagstaff has plenty of housing ranging from small cabins to apartments and shared housing. You may also obtain information on housing and employment by searching through the Arizona Daily Sun News website at http://www.azdailysun.com.

Finding a Job
Flagstaff is a tourism-based town of 65,000 people and the gateway to the Grand Canyon and home to Northern Arizona University. Many students find employment in some of the following areas: outdoor recreation, at the ski resort, shuttle driver, restaurant work, or in construction. With two days of instruction for the Apprenticeship program, that leaves the rest of the time open for those seeking work.

Your Classroom
Classes are held at various locations in Flagstaff. Depending on the weather. Some classes such as hidetanning, primitive pottery, and bowmaking will be held at our home-office nestled out in the woods. At other times, we may simply work out under the open sky in the national forest. We have the luxury of having the mountains, canyons, and desert all within a 30 minute drive of Flagstaff so each week will offer experience in a new environment.

Applying to the Program
Please fill out the online application and mail it along with a letter explaining what you want to accomplish by attending the Apprenticeship program. Send to: Ancient Pathways, LLC, PO Box 2068, Flagstaff, Arizona 86003. Once you are accepted in the program, you will need to provide a deposit of $1000 to hold your space with the remaining tuition due by November 1, 2008.

For further information or to contact us directly, call Tony Nester at 928-526-2552, email anester@apathways.com.

Program Outline ~ Download Application