As a third-generation North Cascadian and Upper Skagit River resident who spent over 40 years working with the North Cascades National Park, my life has been driven …
Read More of Gerry Cook: Why I Named North Cascades Institute in my Will
Do you know people where it would be a much shorter conversation to ask them “what don’t they do” because they do so much for so many? …
Read More of Board Profiles: Meet Nan McKay and Michael Liang
Guest post by Mountain School instructor Al Kahn reflecting on their first week of teaching with North Cascades Institute Excited. Nervous. Fresh faced and wide awake. Terrified, …
Read More of Mountain School Reflections: “Teaching is a Two-way Street”
Our Youth Leadership Adventures trail group of seven students and two instructors lay down on the Big Beaver dock on Ross Lake. We were closing our Daily …
Read More of The Power of Diversity in Youth Leadership Adventures
How are you connected to the North Cascades? By MK Kirkpatrick-Waite In September 2022, North Cascades Institute will be opening our doors again to local 5th- and …
Read More of Welcome Back Overnight Mountain School!
I grew up in La Conner, Washington, at the mouth of the Skagit River, and on the traditional homelands of the Swinomish, Samish, Upper Skagit, and Kikialis …
Read More of Eric Buher’s Mountain School Journey
North Cascade Institute’s Youth Leadership Adventures (YLA) programs are about many things: outdoor adventure, climate action, leadership opportunity, stewardship, and, most importantly, building community. In early July, …
Read More of Building Community in Youth Leadership Adventures
With eight students and two instructors packed in the Institute van at the start of a Youth Leadership Adventures trip, we drove up the bumpy forest road …
Read More of On the trail with Youth Leadership Adventures
As soon as you step into a forest, you step into a different space. Depending on the type of forest, the trees may be growing together so …
Read More of “Total Immersion” from Forest Walking
