Course Description: Backpacking 101: Start Your Adventure

Spend more time outside! Bridge the gap between day trips and experiencing the wilderness overnight in time for the peak local backpacking months of June through September. Learn all you need to be skilled, safe and successful on overnight to multi-day backcountry trips in the Pacific Northwest. You will learn about planning, gear, nutrition, tips and tricks to help make overnights comfortable in the wilderness. Students will bring to the first class equipment they currently have and are considering using for backpacking.

Course Details: (seats remaining)

Schedule:

Every week on Monday and Wednesday, starting on 06/22/26 and ending on 06/24/26

Times:

06:00pm-07:30pm PDT

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Price:

Class Price : $89.00

Additional Course Information

Students will bring to the first class the equipment they currently have and are considering using for backpacking. The instructor will provide details in the first class regarding equipment to bring to the second class.

Optional. Great reads regarding backpacking:

Wilderness Basics, 4th Edition. Get the Most from Your Hiking, Backpacking, and Camping Adventures

by San Diego Chapter Of The Sierra Club. Edited by Kristi Anderson

Publisher: Mountaineers Books

ISBN: 978-1-59485-821-5

How to Suffer Outside: A Beginner's Guide to Hiking and Backpacking

by Diana Helmuth

Publisher: Mountaineers Books

ISBN: 978-1-68051-311-0

Mountaineering First Aid. A Guide to Accident Response and First Aid Care, 5th Edition

by Martha Lentz, R.N., Ph.D., Steve MacDonald, M.P.H., Ph.D., and Jan Carline, Ph.D

Publisher: Mountaineers Books

ISBN: 978-0-89886-878-4

Instructors

Name

Additional Resources

Gabrielle Orsi

Biography: Originally from southern California, Gabrielle Orsi studied as an undergraduate at the Universit� di Bologna and in Florence while earning her BA in comparative literature at Brown University. She has also lived in Milan, Rome, Munich, and New Zealand. She earned her PhD in Italian at the Department of Italian of Columbia University in New York in 2008. She has taught Italian language at CUNY, Columbia University, the University of Kentucky, and the World Languages Institute of Bellevue College, WA. She also taught Italian literature and history at the University of Denver. Gabrielle is also passionate about the outdoors and is a certified Leave No Trace trainer and Wilderness First Responder. She enjoys backpacking, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, and trail running. She currently works in higher education administration at COCC.

Facility Detail

COCC Health Careers Center

HCC 0140

2600 NW College Way

Bend, OR 97703

Cancellation Policy

Students must cancel by contacting our office via phone: (541) 383-7270 or email: ceinfo@cocc.edu. Cancellations received 5 days prior to the start of the class will receive a full refund. Full refunds are also issued for classes cancelled by COCC. Refunds will be issued back to your card or in the form of a check and mailed within two weeks of the cancellation date if paid by check or cash. Failure to participate in a course or program does not result in a refund. Exceptions to the general refund policy are noted in the course descriptions on our website and in the printed schedule. If you have any questions, please call us at (541) 383-7270.