For the Tomahawk Leader
RHINELANDER – Those interested in exploring the outdoors and learning new skills are invited to attend any of the dozens of offerings in the upcoming Outdoor Adventure program at Nicolet College.
“The Outdoor Adventure program is all about creating that pathway for people to get outside, enjoy new experiences and learn new skills,” said Terry Rutlin, Outdoor Adventure Coordinator at Nicolet College. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an increasing number of people in classes and it’s exciting to see so many new faces and see the enjoyment they experience on any number of adventures.”
As is customary, the upcoming slate of classes will feature several new offerings as well as traditional, longtime favorites, according to Nicolet.
New classes include Dragon Boat Paddling; Folk Art Chainsaw Carving; Kun de Kun Falls: U.P. Outdoor Photography Hike; Wild Mushroom Foray: How to Turn Your Haul into Culinary Delights; and Permaculture in Action Tour, among others.
Longtime favorites include a variety of fly fishing classes; Wild Game Cooking; Beginning Kayak and Canoe classes; Beginning and Up-A-Notch Mountain Biking; Beginning Stand Up Paddleboarding; and outdoor photography classes.
Nicolet said growing trend in recent years has been the popularity of foraging-oriented classes, particularly those involving wild mushrooms.
“We’ve offered two Wild Mushroom Hunting classes for a number of years now, and they’ve always filled to their maximum number of students,” Rutlin said. “We’re expanding on that popularity with the new class, Wild Mushroom Foray: How to Turn Your Haul into Culinary Delights, which focuses on how to prepare and store the bounty collected in the woods.”
The class will be taught by Nicolet College Culinary Arts Instructor Mitch Below, who is also a wild mushroom enthusiast as well as a professional chef.
“Building further on that popularity, the college is also offering a class that teaches individuals how to grow their own shiitake and oyster mushrooms,” Nicolet stated.
Other related offerings include Foraging in the Northwoods, which provides broad-based instruction on general foraging, and Fall Wild Cranberry Foraging, where students learn about wild cranberries and also visit an area sphagnum bog to collect a bounty of berries.
Outdoor photography classes include a special trip and easy hike to the picturesque O Kun de Kun Falls just north of Bruce Crossing in the U.P. This offering will be taught and led by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Kristin Ojaniemi, who is also producer and host of the U.P.’s popular Discovering TV show.
Other photography classes include one geared towards those new to capturing outdoor images, as well as another that focuses specifically on fall photography.
To view the full list of classes, the details of each and to register, visit www.nicoletcollege.edu/outdooradventure.
To receive a paper catalog, call the college at 715-365-4544.
