Field Courses

Since 1968, BOSS Field courses have set the standard for low technology camping and desert and mountain hiking techniques. Give us a few days on the trail and we'll teach you the ancient skills of the Ancestral Puebloan cultures of Southern Utah. In just 28, 14, or 7 days, a BOSS Field course can change your life forever.

How do we do it? Imagine yourself in a foreign land, where the days are hot, the nights are cold, and you have limited clothing and gear to support your existence there. Food is absent, save for the local flora and fauna, and water is more a puddle of moisture, barely drinkable. But you do drink it, since you know that your day is far from over.

Welcome to Impact, the first phase on a BOSS Field course. Our goal is to take you from a world of convenience and comfort and put you in a situation where you must go "just a little bit farther" — past those false limits your mind has set for your body. During this phase, you will carry no food and only minimal water, collecting what you find along the way.

After Impact, you are given the following items to continue your journey: a blanket, a poncho, a knife, a compass, and some additional clothing. Watches, flashlights, tents, stoves, sleeping bags, and backpacks are not permitted.

Your destination on a BOSS Field course is not a physical place; it can't be plotted on a topo map. Somewhere along the many miles of mountain forests, sagebrush flats, red rock canyons, and mesa tops of Southern Utah — somewhere between the thirst, the hunger, the exhaustion, and the sweat — you'll discover the real destination: yourself.

We encourage you to consider joining us at BOSS for a Field course. Because of the intensity of the challenge, Field courses are not for everybody. But those who do decide to join us on the trail will discover areas of the wilderness and aspects of themselves they had never known before.

For more information about Field course offerings, please click on the "Learn More" buttons to the right.