community events

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firemaking

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Two individuals camping outdoors; one kneeling on the ground, the other sitting, working together to carve a wooden stick for a fire-starting tool, with tents and trees in the background.
Two young men assembling a wooden tent stake on dirt ground in a forest campsite, with tents and trees in the background.


December 6, 2025 / Berkeley, CA

Learn one of humanity’s oldest and most essential skills. Together we’ll explore everything you need to know to build and tend a fire using only found natural materials.

Guides will teach the basic components and processes of firemaking without lighters or matches, with plenty of time for hands-on practice. You’ll walk away with real-world survival skills, environmental awareness, and a greater appreciation for the patience, focus, and respect required to work with fire.

register for 12/06
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People running outdoors at sunset with trees in the background and dirt kicked up by their movement.

nature days

People running and playing outdoors during sunset in a wooded area with trees and dust in the air.

Coming Soon

For teens, ages 13-18

Join Back to Earth guides for a day of fun and connection out on the land. We will play, craft, and learn, as well as revisit many of Back to Earth’s core gratitude and awareness practices. All teens are welcome, whether they are alumni of prior Back to Earth programs or brand new to the organization. They’ll come home tired, refreshed, and a little more at home on the earth.

More coming soon
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A group of six people, including a man with a backpack and a cap, a man in a brown shirt, two girls and two boys, standing in a wooded outdoor setting, seemingly engaging in a discussion or listening to the man with the backpack.

community hikes

A group of six people, including a man with a backpack and a cap, are standing on a trail in a forested area, listening to another man who appears to be explaining something to them.

November 27th (Special Thanksgiving walk and gratitude circle)/Berkeley, CA

Everyone is welcome! Youth, families, educators, supporters - come together and spend a few hour outdoors hiking with the Back to Earth crew.

Guides will lead the group through the landscape. We’ll walk and get to know each other, stopping occasionally to learn about the environment and to speak our gratitude.

rsvp for Thanksgiving

Keep exPloring

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field notes:
what we’re reading and writing

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Our version of a blog - original thoughts and reposted content, on reconnecting to what is sacred and wild in ourselves and our world.

explore more
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Group of people sitting in a circle outdoors on dry grass, some holding fishing rods, in a sunny natural setting.

expanding equity & access in wilderness education

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The WILD Scholars Program is a wraparound mentoring and scholarship program for Bay Area high school students from communities who have been historically underrepresented in wilderness education.

learn more
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Two men smiling and taking a selfie outdoors, surrounded by trees with red and green leaves, wearing sleeveless black tank tops and colorful beaded necklaces.

meet the back to earth guide and mentor community

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We are mentors, climbers, builders, farmers, writers, poets, singers, dancers, medics, leaders, teachers, healers, learners, lovers of earth and sky …

read stories