OUR GUIDES & INSTRUCTORS

Todd Theoret is a wilderness guide and outdoor skills educator living along the south shore of Lake Superior near Marquette, Michigan. Todd grew up off-the-grid in the remote woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where he was homeschooled, but primarily self-taught through book study and trial-and-error experience to help his family become as self-sufficient as possible. Snowed-in during the winters, for nine years he skied nearly four miles one way to reach the nearest plowed road and ten miles round trip to a remote phone booth to contact relatives.

Todd has enjoyed sharing wilderness skills since the age of 19 when he led his first wild edible plant walk, and he is currently a certified Outing Leader with the Sierra Club. Todd has studied at The Tracker School, Tom Brown Jr’s Tracking, Nature, and Wilderness Survival School. During two back-to-back week-long classes, Todd constructed a debris hut which he lived in for nearly two weeks.

He has been an investigator with a long-term-missing and cold-case search team working the bush between the Upper Great Lakes and the Arctic Ocean in Canada since 2011 and has been on a first-response Search and Rescue team - Marquette County Search and Rescue - since 2021. His tripping partners appreciate his bush skills, including his ability to start a fire in foul weather, navigate through tangled bush, and gather wild foods at will - he can identify upwards of 100 edible wild plants.

Nick Gordon, Owner of NOW Outdoors, is an expedition guide and educator. He's a Wilderness EMT and teaches for AHA and the SOLO School of Wilderness Medicine helping novice and outdoor professionals live their best life working and playing in the backcountry. Nick is passionate about winter camping and runs the two largest winter camping events in Wisconsin including the Winter Workshop and Frozen Butt Hang which draws hammock camping enthusiasts from across the country every January. Nick leads international trips as well to Nepal, Peruvian Andes, the Amazon Jungle in Colombia, and the Arctic Ocean. He regularly presents at the Winter Camping Symposium, Canoecopia, and various outdoor related shows and podcasts.

Dawn Mackety is a licensed guide, teaches workshops, and manages trip registrations and logistics. She has over 30 years of teaching, programming, evaluation, and administration experience in outdoor and experiential learning settings including museums, zoos, 4-H, and Outward Bound. She has been an outdoor adventure volunteer for Girl Scouts for over 30 years and has guided wilderness expeditions for them in seven states, including their BWCA basecamp in Ely, MN. She enjoys challenging, high adventure outdoor activities in all seasons, is a canoe, kayak, and archery instructor, and a certified National Weather Service SKYWARN Weather Spotter, Master Naturalist, and Wilderness First Responder.

Steve Larson is an outdoor adventure leader and community builder with years of experience both formal and on the trail. He has been working as a BSA leader for 30 years and has planned and facilitated many large scale youth events. Steve also served in the military for 25 years and holds certifications in CPR, First Aid, and Wilderness First Aid. In addition, he hosts programs year round in SE Wisconsin aimed at helping outdoor enthusiasts connect through social events and related skill building workshops.