Guiding a Trip for the First Time There are some outdoor enthusiasts who on occasion will provide their knowledge of a particular area to others by hiring themselves out as a guide. Typically in most states a person has to be registered and certified by some governmental group or agency before they can guide others into the outdoors but even for these first time guides who are newly certified there are still a few items of business that should be taken care of first. Before an amateur or begging professional guide ventures out into the outdoors with a group of people who are paying that guide for their service there are a couple things that should be secured. One of these items is a working knowledge of the area that you will be guiding people through.
Knowledge of the area Usually, an outdoor person will know what dangers or potential hazards are present in an area that they frequent. However, there are also the situations that arise when a group of people know that a certain person is an outdoor adventurer and then wrongly assume that that person knows all there is to know about another, completely different area or geography. For example, if a group of friends want to hire a guide to take them through the desert country of southwestern America and know of an outdoor enthusiast who spends most of their time in the various mountain ranges of the American west, that outdoor amateur guide may not be familiar with the skills and techniques required to successfully navigate the party through a terrain that is vastly different than the one he or she is accustomed to. For this type of situation it is still possible for the outdoor enthusiast to offer their guide service to the group of friends as long as that potential guide does the required research into local hazards. This is possible because of the continuity of survival skills and outdoorsmen-ship that exist in all environments that exist.
Outdoor skills So while each area or landscape provides separate and individual challenges, there are also generalized continuities to outdoor skills that exist in any environment. In other words or when seen in practicality,
the ability to provide the necessities of life, food, water and shelter, exist in all outdoor environments however the ways in which these needs are accomplished may vary from environment to environment.Therefore, if an armature guide or outdoor enthusiasts is offered the job of guiding a group through unfamiliar environments, the very first act for this individual should be to conduct sufficient research into the practices and techniques of survival in the new geographical area. Another important aspect to consider before guiding others outdoors for the first time is the legal and liability feature included in taking others under your protection. This will include precautions that can be implemented through the drafting and submission of legal weavers as well as completing a form of compliance training. Compliance training will ensure that you will have legal protection against liabilities that may arise during or after your trip. By having a firm action plan in place and by taking care of the legal aspects of guiding a group of others outdoors, a beginning or amateur guide can successfully be prepared to lead other’s outdoor adventures. Photo credit: Cole007, Lara68