Ghillies 3 Day Immersion
​Awareness - Proficiency - Creativity
Blounts Creek, NC $450 September 26-28
Remember when you dreamed of living wild and free?​
Before screens and schedules, you dreamed of living by your wits in the wild. If Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain were your childhood favorites, it's time to live those dreams for real.​
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Ghillies is where childhood dreams meet adult capability.
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The Ancient Art of the Ghillie
In the misty Scottish Highlands the ghillies were wilderness masters—skilled outdoorsmen who could stalk deer through morning fog, read the language of tracks in mud, and disappear into landscape so completely they seemed to become part of it.
They were the first to wear what we now call the "ghillie suit," but for them it wasn't costume—it was camouflage born of necessity, woven from the very land they knew like their own heartbeat.
These weren't just guides. They were keepers of ancient knowledge, holders of skills that meant the difference between feast and famine, between safety and exposure, between knowing the wild and being lost within it.​
Where Childhood Dreams meet Adult Mastery
For three days, you'll shed civilization's comfortable lies and step into their lineage. Deep in secluded forest, you'll reconnect with the primal skills that once meant survival and still mean freedom.
This isn't a camping trip with survival skills sprinkled on top. This is full immersion—where every fire you coax from friction warms your coffee, every shelter you build becomes your home, every skill you learn makes your wild life more comfortable, more capable, more real.
Build shelters with your hands. Coax fire from friction. Track animals through morning mist. Forage food from the forest floor. Move through landscape like you belong there.
Because you do.
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Skills that Set You Free
While you're having the time of your life mucking about in the woods, you'll master the fundamental skills that could save your life—and more importantly, that reconnect you to the wild competence your ancestors took for granted.
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Knots and lashings - The foundation of everything you'll build
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Shelter craft - Your home away from civilization
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Fire mastery - From spark to flame to cooking fire
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Water procurement - Finding and purifying life's most essential element
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Cordage making - Creating the tools to make other tools
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Foraging wisdom - Reading the forest's edible secrets (season dependent)
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Tracking arts - Learning to read the stories animals write in earth
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Stealthcraft - Moving through wilderness like you belong there
This immersion adapts to you. Our instructors read the group's energy and interests, tailoring the experience to match your curiosity and challenge your growing competence.
The fun
​Here's what most survival courses get wrong: they're too serious, too rigid, too much like work.
But the forest doesn't teach through lectures—it teaches through play.
Watch wolf pups learn to hunt, bear cubs learn to climb, young hawks learn to soar. They're not grimly practicing skills—they're playing with life-and-death competencies until those competencies become as natural as breathing.
The science is clear: It takes around 300 repetitions to master a new skill through traditional practice, but only 25-30 repetitions when learned through play. This is why children play constantly, and why every young wild thing learns what it needs to survive through games that look like pure joy.
We'll honor this ancient wisdom. Expect epic games of hide-and-seek that teach true camouflage. Capture the flag missions that hone your tracking skills. Stalking games that make you invisible. Fire challenges that turn friction-lighting into friendly competition.
We'll probably invent new games while we're out there, because when adults remember how to play, magic happens.
Bring your sense of wonder, your wildest humor, and your appetite for adventure. Face paint and functional costumes aren't just encouraged—they're part of the transformation.
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Gear You'll Need
We'll send you a detailed packing list when you register, plus a Zoom call a month before to answer all your questions. But here's what you need to know:
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The Essentials:
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A pack you can carry comfortably for half a mile through uneven terrain
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A smaller daypack for forest adventures once base camp is established
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Sleeping pad, bag, and bug net (you'll build your own shelter—we provide rain tarps)
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Layers that regulate body temperature (never cotton in the woods!)
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Rain gear that lets you stay comfortable when the sky opens
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Your favorite knife and any survival gear you want to test in real conditions
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The Fun Stuff - Functional Costumes
What's a functional costume? Clothes and accessories that make you feel wild, badass, and most importantly, authentically you—while still being made of fabric that dries quickly, regulates temperature, and lets you move efficiently through forest.
Think woodland warrior meets practical wilderness dweller. Like Robin Hood or Aragorn meets modern materials. Think: "If I lived wild and free, what would I want to wear?"
For more on functional costumes, check out our blog post here here
Your Invitation Back to Wildness
This is more than skill-building. This is remembering.
Remembering that you're descended from people who lived by their wits and thrived in wild places. Remembering that competence in nature feels different than competence in civilization—wilder, more alive, more essentially you.
Remembering that the wild child you once were is still in there, waiting.