Coyote Regional Outdoor Adventures, a.k.a. Coyote Road School, has been teaching kids wilderness skills for 10 years! It is amazing to think about all the different things we’ve done since then and all the different places we’ve visited and explored – ALL those animal tracks, feathers, flowers, poison oak leaves (!), carcasses, bones (including Mt. Lion remains), and glimpses of mice, rats, rabbits, possums, weasels, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, deer, owls, hawks, ferocious water bugs, tarantula hawks, frogs, newts, … and so much more.

It all started with a small, popular summer nature camp at the San Luis Adult School in 1997 – a 10-day, two-week morning or afternoon day camp for kids aged 7-12. In that program Dave developed a comprehensive student journal and taught kids nature awareness, firemaking, cordage making, shelter building and did a lot of fun exploring around the Adult School. Students ate plums from trees saved from a long abandoned orchard near the high school, observed the owl in the Eucalyptus Grove east of the school, explored the Anise Forest, and collected Yucca leaves from the hills to make into cordage. The environment around the Adult School has been improved much since the beginning, and, unfortunately, they no longer offer summer camps at all.

That one program alone spawned so much: it got Dave invited to develop a program for a homeschool group and also enabled Dave to be the Resident Naturalist at a local school for 8 weeks. Since then, Coyote Regional Outdoor Adventures and Dave has worked with Girl and Boy Scouts, public and private schools, other homeschool groups, individuals, organizations, and has written curriculum with coyote mentoring in mind. We’ve sponsored speakers like Jon Young of the Wilderness Awareness School and Eugene Blackbear (Northern Cheyenne elder and actor); offered community programs like the Tracking Club, the Family Tracking Adventure and the BBQ Skills days. Dave, Coyote Regional Outdoor Adventures and its programs were instrumental and foundational in getting the Central Coast Village Center up and running.

Our summer day camps continue to be as popular as ever. Each year we learn a little bit more about what works for parents and kids. This year alone we offered 13 individual programs and had students as young as 4 and as old as 13. This past summer also saw Coyote Regional Outdoor Adventures offer its first teen backpacking trip. The kids hiked 3.5 miles to Weaver Lake in Sequoia National Forest. We fished, swam, played poker, and thoroughly enjoyed the Sierra Mountain environment.

The future of Coyote Road sees plans for rites of passage programs for boys and girls, wilderness expeditions (backpacking) and adventure programs (cycling, kayaking, canoeing, family camping), and skills programs like rock climbing and fishing for all ages, and all with the Coyote Mentoring philosophy/culture in place.

Coyote Road or Coyote Road School, as many parents and kids know it, is a family-run business owned and operated by J David Wilson and his wife, Jennifer Rennick. Our goals and objectives are multifaceted: The primary purpose of creating an organization like this was to provide a single vehicle for Dave to share his love and knowledge of nature with children. Additionally, and in keeping with the True Work or Right Livelihood ideas, Coyote Road fulfills Dave’s need to make a living and in an area he is passionate about in a way that is congruent with his and Jennifer’s ideals, values and philosophy. We are committed to providing high-quality nature-based experiential education programs for all ages. Our mission is to teach lifelong skills in nature awareness and outdoor living and to provide experiences that create a positive and lasting connection with the earth.

We are always looking for new ideas for programs and program site locations. If you love nature based adventure and have an idea for a program we’d love to talk to you. Contact us at info@CoyoteRoadSchool.com

Coyote Road School History