"I love that survival mentality; the will to solve problems…It gives you the confidence to tackle so many things…You believe in your resourcefulness and those around you."

Jason Knight is the founder of Alderleaf Wilderness College, best-selling author of The Essential Skills of Wilderness Survival, a Kamana graduate, and has been teaching nature connection, tracking, and survival for more than 25 years.

In today's episode, we explore Jason's lifelong interest in survival, his unlikely path to meeting Jon, and how that led to being mentored by him and ultimately to Jason starting the first year-long nature connection immersion program for adults. We reflect on how much the influence of Jon and Jason's work has spread across the world over the past 25+ years and the hope that brings, while remembering how much there is still left to be done. We also reflect on the inspiring power of learning survival skills and the confidence we gain from them, and how our deepening connection to nature tends to lead us to be called to mentor others in these same teachings. We hope you enjoy!

Essential Wilderness Survival Skills - Online Course

What You Need to Know to Stay Alive in the Outdoors

Learn the core skills of survival - shelter, water, fire, and food - in a format that allows you to participate at home and at your own pace. Come away with practical life-saving skills, a deeper relationship with nature, greater confidence, and resources to share with your family & friends for fun and in emergencies.

In this course you will:

• Understand the survival mindset
• Learn how to build natural shelter
• Experience how to make fire from friction
• Learn how to find and purify water
• Understand how to safely forage for wild foods
• Know how to better prevent and prepare for emergencies

Jason is offering Tracking Connections Podcast listeners a special price, with Connection 1st as an affiliate partner.

The course normally sells for $397 but it's available for $97 if you sign up by March 4th. Your purchase will help support Jason's work and ours.

Learn More or Sign Up Here

About Jason Knight

Jason is passionate about helping people learn wilderness survival skills. Since 1997, he's taught thousands of people, including training hundreds of adults to become survival instructors. He has consulted as a local wilderness skills expert for the Discovery Channel and has been featured on NPR. He is a cofounder and instructor at Alderleaf Wilderness College, one of the leading outdoor schools in the United States offering courses on wilderness survival to the general public and a broad range of clients including the US Forest Service, the Seattle Mountaineers, and the cast of the award-winning film Captain Fantastic. Jason is also the author of the best-selling book, The Essential Skills of Wilderness Survival.

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Our next episode will release on Mar 12, 2025.

The transcript for this episode is available here.