Overview
Position type: Full time, Seasonal
Season: April 1–October 17, 2025
Location: Outdoor School: Silver Falls State Park, Sublimity, Oregon/Expeditions: Wilderness Areas across Oregon
Compensation: $160/day; 8 days PTO
Perks: Meals provided for trainings and when students are on-site/Basic housing on site and/or staff housing in Salem area/Required certifications sponsored (WFR, lifeguard)
Programs: Opal Creek Outdoor School (spring/fall); Opal Creek Expeditions (summer/fall)
Work schedule: Outdoor School: Mondays-Fridays (no overnight), averaging 8 hrs/day/
Expeditions: alternating trip schedule with 4-Day & 7-Day trip lengths.
The Guide Opportunity
As an outdoor school guide, your classroom will be the forests, creeks, and waterfalls of Silver Falls State Park, Oregon’s most beloved and largest state park and the ancestral home of the Kalapuya and Molalla Tribes. Working with mainly 5th/6th graders over the course of 4-day, 3-night programs and day-only programs, you’ll teach inquiry-based lessons developed with guidance from Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, The Avarna Group equity consultants, and The BEETLES Project. By the end of their time with you, students will strengthen their relationships with nature, the land, and each other – understanding that these relationships exist within an interconnected system.
As an expeditions guide, you lead educational, fun, and safe backpacking trips via our Opal Creek Expeditions program. Small groups of youth ages 10-17 traverse miles of backcountry trail, summit ridgelines and peaks, and visit subalpine lakes and streams, all with you and one other guide as their leaders. As you teach the ins and outs of backpacking you’ll see each child’s confidence grow—in their skills and in themselves.
What We’re Looking For
We are less interested in the titles you’ve held and more interested in what you’ve actually done and who you are. A successful candidate will have experience with some combination of the following:
1+ seasons working with youth
1+ seasons backcountry guiding experience
1+ years experience as an educator
Strong group leadership and management
Clear and adaptable communication skills
Experience with a diversity of communities and cultural backgrounds
Outdoor enthusiast
Local ecological knowledge
Backpacking experience, personal or professional
Navigation skills (mapping systems/apps)
Backcountry medical experience
Backcountry cooking skills
Able to lead groups on hikes up to 10 miles with heavy packs
Able to pass a criminal background check
About Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center
Our mission is to provide transformative wilderness experiences that grow a community of environmental advocates. All of our work is based around one simple idea: people will protect what they care about, and they will care about what they know. Through our outdoor school and backpacking expedition programs, we bring youth and adults face-to-face with the outdoor places that make Oregon great—pristine mountain streams, uncut vistas, and old-growth forests.
