Program Directors & Summer Camp Instructors

Patrick Wiley, M.S., Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Overnight Camps & Adult Programs, Lead Staff Trainer & Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Eugene, OR; Olympia, WA
Approximate Age: 30
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2004
First Leadership Year: 2008

Patrick Wiley first came to Wolf Camp as a camp participant in 2004, he completed our Naturalist Mentoring CIT course in 2006, and our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2007.  In 2008, he served as an assistant camp instructor and became our youngest-ever lead instructor in 2009.

Patrick holds a variety of accolades including certification in Outdoor Leadership from Whitman College; Permaculture Design Certification from Oregon State University; Wilderness First Responder medical training from WMI; Storytelling and Presentation Mastery from NLP Pacific; and he achieved Level III Track & Sign Certification from Cybertracker, Int’l at his evaluation in October, 2017.  Patrick received a B.S. in Religious Studies from the University of Oregon.

Most recently, Patrick received his M.S. in Conflict and Dispute Resolution from the University of Oregon School of Law.  As part of his studies, he completed coursework and certification in mediation, facilitation, negotiation, and collaborative governance.  His graduate thesis focused on blending Social Psychology and Wildlife Management to write more effective wildlife policies.  For a personal note from Patrick, check out our Apprenticeship Testimonials and scroll down to 2008.

Hannah Hynes-Petty, B.A., Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Herbal Specialist, Lead Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Eugene, OR; Olympia, WA
Approximate Age: 30
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2013
First Leadership Year: 2014

Hannah began our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship at the Wolf School of Natural Science in 2013 and graduated as a lead herbal instructor in 2014. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2014 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Languages, and has continued expanding her herbal education ever since. Hannah studied herbalism at the International Integrative Educational Institute (IIEI), the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism (NAIMH), the East West School of Planetary Herbology, as well as personal studies from herbalists such as Matthew Wood, Jim Mcdonald, Michael Moore, Rosemary Gladstar, and beyond. Hannah was also Product Coordinator for Mountain Rose Herbs from 2016-18. As an outdoorswoman and an Oregon native, Hannah loves exploring the beautiful wild places of the Pacific Northwest.  In her free time, she can be found in the outdoors, knitting, gardening, and learning about plants.

Charlie Borrowman, Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Senior Instructor, Wilderness Chef, Fishing Specialist
Hometown: Alemeda, CA;
Approximate Age: 30
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2006
First Leadership Year: 2009

Charlie first came to camp in 2006 after having attending Hawk Circle in Cherry Valley, NY, and has since completed all of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker. He completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course in 2007 and our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2009. Charlie is the most amazing lead guitarist and story teller. He re-invented our Epic Fishing Camp in 2010 for which he is now our perennial lead instructor, and has lead and co-taught most of our other camps including Wilderness Survival and the Stone Age Artisan. Charlie graduated from the French Culinary Institute in San Jose, CA in 2011 and his skills as a chef have transformed our meals at Wolf Camp into gourmet fair. Charlie also developed our Backcountry Gourmet Cooking Class which launched in the spring of 2013. He is also co-developer of the Wilderness Wannabies Comedy Tour, and most recently, he earned a Level I Track & Sign Certification from Cybertracker, Int’l in 2013. For a personal note from Charlie, check out our Apprenticeship Testimonials and scroll down to 2009.

Megan Damofle, Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor, Herbalist
Hometown(s): Seattle & Vashon Island, WA;
Approximate Age: 36
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2006
First Leadership Year: 2008

Megan completed the bulk of our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2006 and returned to complete her training and lead instruct Wild Chefs & Herbal Medics in the summer of 2008. She has studied permaculture with Dave Boehnlein, Toby Hemenway and at the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Edmonds Community College.  She has pursued herbal education for over 10 years on her own and with various teachers.  Most recently she completed her 1st year of the Professional Herbalist course at IIEI with KP Kalsa in 2014 and is currently pursuing the Professional Herb Course with East West School of Planetary Herbalogy. She also completed the Hunter Gatherer Immersion Course with Raven’s Roots in 2015 where she learned bow making and wild food harvesting all over Washington State.

Megan has worked with kids for over 10 years as a caregiver for all ages.  She also had the opportunity to volunteer at her daughter’s Waldorf Preschool for 2 years where she found her love for Waldorf education.  Her interests include cooking, hiking, foraging, and having adventures with her family.  She lives on Vashon Island with her partner Gavin and their 5 year old daughter, Runa, a seasoned Wolf Camper. For a personal note from Megan, check out our Apprenticeship Testimonials and scroll down to 2006.

Heather Carmichael, B.A., Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor
Hometown(s): Sammamish WA
Approximate Age: 23
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2014
First Leadership Year: 2015

Heather started at Wolf Camp when she was 15 years old, attending the Backcountry Leadership training course. She has loved the outdoors her whole life, and has been going camping and backpacking since she was a small child. Heather recently graduated from Cornell College, majoring in biology. She’s a black belt in Shudokan Karate, which she has been doing since she age six. Heather completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2016 and is one of our most organized and inspirational camp instructors, leading everything from morning workouts to wildlife tracking forays.

Wren Schmid, Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor
Hometown(s): Seattle, WA
Approximate Age: 23
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2015
First Leadership Year: 2016

As a kid, Wren discovered a love of the outdoors from hiking with her dad. She grew up kayaking in Puget Sound and exploring the woods around her family’s cabin on Anderson Island every summer. She participated in her middle school’s outdoor program for three years on annual camping and backpacking trips, as well as snowshoeing. Wren was born and raised in Seattle, and her favorite places to be are in mountains and old growth forests. Wren graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship and began instructing camps in 2016. Born into an artistic family, she loves spending her time drawing wildlife. She’s currently attending the Evergreen State College, and her dream is to learn how to live an environmentally sustainable life.

Ella Ashford, Lead Instructor

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor
Hometown(s): Port Townsend, WA
Approximate Age: 21
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2012
First Leadership Year: 2015

Enough cannot be said about Ella. We’ve said since she completed our IIT Progrma at age 14 and then our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship at age 16 that she’s an old soul. Ella has tons of family outdoor experience in Port Townsend, including several sailing trips to/from Hawai’i, she has won scholarships for studying (and teaching) abroad in Europe, she has won top national honors in Robotics competitions, and the list goes on. Her acumen teaching youth and adults is incredible, with excellent group discipline and risk awareness which arises from homeschooling experience with parents who were ocean lifeguards, who encouraged herbal knowledge, wildlife tracking ability, traditional craftwork, and so much more. Ella is currently a Heather Dempsey Environmental Science Scholar and Willamette University STEM Fellow.

Leila “Lily” Lavender, Camp Instructor

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor, Farm & Admin Wizard
Hometown(s): Joshua Tree, CA
Approximate Age: 25
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2018
First Leadership Year: 2019

Lily is student body president at Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree, working towards her Associates in psychology. Lily found Wolf Camp by reaching out to work at Blue Skye Farm in 2018. Shortly after arriving, she added our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship on top of her Blue Skye Farm Internship responsibilities. Lily also brings previous experience teaching kids Jiujitsu and working at farmers markets over the past few years. She graduated from our apprenticeship in 2019 and works for us in the off-season as well as summer.

Sarah Inskeep, B.A.

Roles/Work: Wildlife Conservation & Herbal Instructor
Hometown(s): Manhattan, KS
Approximate Age: 26
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2015
First Leadership Year: 2016

Sarah was born and raised in Kansas, went to Maine for college, and studied in the Himalayas before coming to the Wolf School of Natural Science, working 24/7 at Wolf Camp and Blue Skye Farm in the summer of 2016 to complete both our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship and Blue Skye Farm Internship simultaneously. She subsequently returned to Kansas State University to finish her undergraduate degree.

Sarah’s expertise with wildlife rehabilitation, knowledge of birds world-wide, and affinity for the wild edible and especially medicinal plants of the west astounded us from the beginning. Sarah taught both kids camps and adult classes in her first summer with us, and for a sense of what Sarah brings to students of all ages, here’s what she wrote in her original application:

“Nature has ever been at the forefront of my mind. Though as a child I was shy with people, I was eternally curious about the plants and animals around me, regardless of shape or size. This biophilia, as Edward O. Wilson called it, grew as I did. The more I learned, the more I loved. The more I loved, the more I wanted to protect these things.

“This desire led me to train and care for rescue dogs, and later to volunteer at a local nature center. Working with and learning from my mentor Vanessa, my perspectives were reshaped. I always sought to help by working with animals directly, but there, I was witness to the pivotal role of education in determining the fate of animals and their world. All too often people fear what they do not understand, and what people fear they will see no need to look after.

“After high school, when studying with Where There Be Dragons in Nepal, I came to an even sharper realization. Just as I saw the beauty of the land mirrored in the open-hearted ways of its people, and found my own heart opening in return, I also saw for the first time the stark reality of human suffering – of exploitation, pollution, and poverty. And I understood my own species is equally in need of love and healing as the animals I cared for.

“Upon these foundational ideas my subsequent education has unfolded. Though somewhat unconventional, my path has not been without aim. From study of politics at College of the Atlantic, to living at a Zen Buddhist monastery, to becoming a full-time student of Aikido, I have been crafting a yet-unnamed degree of my own.”

Thomas Fellows, B.S.

Roles/Work: Lead Instructor
Hometown(s): Puyallup WA
Approximate Age: 23
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2012
First Leadership Year: 2015

Thomas has always been an outstanding teacher and practitioner of outdoor skills, not only since attending our survival camps in 2012, but throughout his childhood participating in 4H Outdoor Adventures, volunteering with environmental restoration projects professionally engineered by his father, and completing our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship while still in high school.

“I always told my dad that I didn’t want a “boring desk job”. I guess that’s how I ended up as a wilderness survival instructor. It’s a perfect fit for me because I can combine my love of the outdoors with my knowledge and experience.” Thomas is diligent in his risk management, out in front of any need to be disciplinary, and very popular for kids to tackle. Even with his kind young face, campers always think he’s in his 30s. We also have a feeling that when he’s in his 30s, campers will think he’s in his 20s. Thomas lived on the Training Ship Golden Bear while attending college at the California Maritime Academy where he recently graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree.

Logan Nelson, B.A.

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor & Videographer
Hometown(s): Rio, Illinois; Bellingham WA
Approximate Age: 27
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2017
First Leadership Year: 2017

Definitely check out loganpatricknelson.com and prepare to be amazed by Logan’s professional work, fresh out of college. We hired Logan just days after he graduated from Greenville College with a B.A. in Digital media to become our camp videographer in 2017, but what especially amazed us was his natural teaching ability. Simultaneous to recording everything that was happening at camp, he completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship, and often “saved” even a couple of our experienced teaching staff when groups turned out to be a bit less disciplined than expected. He came out from behind his camera that first summer to become one of the most personable, supportive, humorous and skilled teachers we have ever seen.

Marco Garcia-Duarte, B.S.

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Seattle, WA
Approximate Age: 22
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2007
First Leadership Year: 2014

Marco started attending day camps as a wee 7 year old, completed our Naturalist Mentoring CIT training in 2014, and our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2015. He is a highly skilled survival instructor and a delight with youth at camp. Marco recently graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and and achieved his first engineering position.

Jordan Ewing, B.A.

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Seattle, WA
Approximate Age: 24
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2017
First Leadership Year: 2018

Andrew Bottcher

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Puyallup, WA
Approximate Age: 22
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2016
First Leadership Year: 2018

Dana Miller

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Sitka, AK
Approximate Age: 50
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2014
First Leadership Year: 2022

Kat Wilson

Roles/Work: Camp Instructor
Hometown(s): Seattle, WA
Approximate Age: 40
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2010
First Leadership Year: 2022.

Minami Seco

Roles/Work: Farm Intern, Apprentice
Hometown(s): Yokohama, Japan; Seattle, WA
Approximate Age: 23
Introduced to Wolf Camp: 2018
First Leadership Year: 2018