URBAN BASED, WILDERNESS EQUIPPED
THE CHESAPEAKE REGION HAS SOME OF THE WILDEST COURSE AREA FOR OUR STUDENTS
Baltimore might be in our name, but our students explore wilderness areas all over the Chesapeake Region: from West Virginia, to Pennsylvania, and all over the state of Maryland. Each and every year, our team scours the remote sections of map within a few hundred miles from our campus in search of the most challenging learning environments for our students.
In 2017, we spent a collective 5,182 days of adventure in the field. During that time, students were pushed out of their comfort zones in ways they didn’t even know were possible. They had the opportunity to realize how much they could accomplish when given the chance to challenge themselves.
We’re sure it helped that the backdrops to these moments were epic vistas, colorful sunsets, or mornings of solitude during a paddle on the river.
1. NANTICOKE RIVER / CHESAPEAKE BAY, MD
The Nanticoke River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It rises in southern Kent County, Delaware, flows through Sussex County, Delaware, and forms the boundary between Dorchester County, Maryland and Wicomico County, Maryland. The tidal river course proceeds southwest into the Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay. The river is 64.3 miles (103.5 km) long. A 26-mile ecotourism water trail running along the River was set aside in July 2011 by Delaware state and federal officials, contiguous with a 37-mile water-trail extending through Maryland to the Chesapeake Bay.
2. DOLLY SODS WILDERNESS, WV
The 17,371 acre Dolly Sods Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is located in Grant, Randolph and Tucker Counties, West Virginia. The Dolly Sods Wilderness contains much of the Red Creek drainage and contains bog and heath eco-types, more commonly typical to southern Canada. Elevations range from 2,500 to over 4,700 feet.
3. POTOMAC RIVER, MD / WV
The Potomac River is located along the mid-Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States and flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river (main stem and North Branch) is approximately 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 km²). In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the 21st largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed.
4. MICHAUX STATE FOREST, PA
The Appalachian Trail in Maryland follows a 41-mile route along the backbone of South Mountain, a north-south ridge that extends from Pennsylvania to the Potomac River. The AT varies in elevation across the state from 230’ to 1860’ and extends to the north into Southern Pennsylvania’s Michaux State Forest where Outward Bound students in this area will rock climb at one of three sites: Annapolis Rocks, Shaffer Rocks or Pole Steeple in the nearby Pine Grove Furnace State Park.