|  Wilderness is not always a carpet of flowers. Wilderness also includes gray rainy days, animal-fouled water, dark, perilous forests, and deathly dangers. For example, our culture constantly avoids mud and rain; vacation ads depict white, clean beaches and sunny skies. When it rains, everyone scampers about crouched over as though water will dissolve them like Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West. Metaphorically, our willingness to be in the mud and rain can reflect our willingness to be in our internal mud and rain. To put oneself in mud and rain is more than a matter of tolerance; it is active participation in our own “raininess” or “muddiness.” True contact with wilderness requires more than resignation to muddy times; it requires nothing less than attentiveness to all there is around us if we desire to know its secrets. This is not to advocate taking vacations in rainy places, although at times that may not be a bad idea. I do advocate a willingness to be with and at times to become our dark, sometimes muddy, sometimes painful wild nature.
—Steven Harper Of course a book can’t teach anyone to be an outdoor leader. But if you are interested in leading people into the wilderness, especially for therapeutic or educational purposes, or are running a wilderness program, or even have always dreamed of running a wilderness program, the books listed below can help you get a handle on just what is involved.
 Ross Cloutier, The Business of Adventure: Developing a Business in Adventure Tourism (Kamloops BC: Bhudak Consultants, 1998), ISBN 0-06824-740-0. So you want to be a professional guide with your own business? Well, get real. We’re talking business plans, long-term financing, budgets, financial analysis, pricing strategy, profit margins, business risk, taxes, depression, and death. Well, maybe not depression and death. Still interested? Then get this book.
 Jack Drury, et al., The Backcountry Classroom: Lesson Plans for Teaching In the Wilderness (Old Saybrook CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1992), ISBN 0-93480-218-1. This book is designed to help instructors and students master and teach the curriculum of the Wilderness Education Association or WEA. For example, there are lesson plans for teaching – and teaching how to teach – such outdoor skills as clothing selection, packing and pack adjustments, campsite selection, site preparation and fire building, latrine construction and use, and bathing and washing in the wilderness; and, for new outdoor leaders, such topics as decision making, nutrition and rations planning, group processing and development, and styles of leadership. If you are trying to teach your group the basics of a safe, enjoyable, and environmentally sound expedition, this book is definitely your best friend. It is formatted into self-contained lesson plans which describe the overall goal, the specific objectives, the body of knowledge, and the materials necessary for teaching about each topic within the WEA curriculum.
 Phyllis Ford, et al., Leadership and Administration of Outdoor Pursuits (State College PA: Venture Publishing, 1993), ISBN 0-91025-160-6. This 429-page textbook, primarily intended for college students studying outdoor recreation, is a comprehensive collection of articles on organizing, leading, and administering an effective outdoor program. It covers everything from structuring the program to creating gear lists to identifying leadership styles, with chapters on marketing, transportation, and strategic and tactical planning.
 Michael Gass, Administrative Practices of Accredited Adventure Programs (Needham Heights MA: Simon & Schuster, 1998), ISBN 0-536-00928-7. This is not so much a book as it is a compendium of documents used by programs which have been accredited by the Council of Accreditation of the Association for Experiential Education, including such programs as the University of New Hampshire, the Worldwide Outfitter and Guide Association, the National Outdoor Leadership School, and the Pacific Crest Outward Bound Schools. The documents reproduced include risk management plans, staffing certifications and requirements, emergency procedures, and required technical skills for teaching bouldering, rappelling, caving, and so on. Of course, you cannot simply copy someone else’s plans; but, if you run a program, you need this book.
 John Graham, Outdoor Leadership; Technique, Common Sense, and Self Confidence (Seattle WA: The Mountaineers, 1997), ISBN 0-89886-502-6. This is probably the best book on outdoor leadership available. It covers the skills, attitudes, and intuition necessary for leading in an outdoor setting – forming a personal style, making decisions, communicating effectively, team building, and coping with stress. It is written with warmth and good humor; it is clearly the result not only of considerable experience but also of careful reflection on the lessons of experience.
 Simon Priest, et al., Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming (Champaign IL: Human Kinetics, 1999), ISBN 0-87322-637-2. This book provides an in-depth discussion of the key elements of effective outdoor leadership. It examines the historical and philosophical foundations of adventure programming, reviews technical competencies that outdoor leaders should possess, and provides general safety and environmental guidelines. It takes a detailed look at the organizational, instructional, and facilitation skills of outdoor leadership. It concludes with a discussion of key future trends and issues associated with adventure programming and outdoor leadership. The book is, frankly, pretty dry reading, and it is clearly designed to be used as a course textbook. But it is the best available resource for current academic thinking on the nature of outdoor leadership.
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