Camp Cooking Learn to churn out gourmet-on-the-go feasts, like breakfast quiche and Cornish game hen, from a Dutch oven and an open flame. Royal Tine guide & Packer School, Philipsburg, Montana; 800-400-1375, www.royaltine.com
Boat Building Wield a spokeshave to hew graceful curves in your very own northern white cedar kayak, skiff, dinghy, or canoe. If you're good, your creation might even float. Wooden Boat School, Booklin, Maine; 207-359-4651, www.woodenboat.com
Wilderness Photography Join nature photographer Frans Lanting, who has eight acclaimed books to his name, to shoot the pastel wildflowers and jagged mountainscapes of the eastern Sierra. Mountain Light Photography, Bishop, California; 760-873-7700, www.mountainlight.com Green Architecture Help build a snug, eco-friendly structure using hand tools, mud, straw, and recovered forest timber—and start planning your dream home. Lama Foundation, San Cristobal, New Mexico; 505-586-1269, www.lamafoundation.org
Backcountry First Aid A Wilderness First Responder course in injury prevention, assessment, and treatment might save your life or that of a teammate someday. Wilderness Medical Associates, Bryant Pond, Maine; 888-945-3633, www.wildmed.com
Landscape Design Study permaculture (permanent agriculture) and create sustainable, organic gardens with water-catchment and gravity-fed irrigation systems. Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Occidental, California; 707-874-1557, www.oaec.org
Escuela de Español Practicing Spanish while surrounded by the 500-year-old colonial churches, frescoes, and open-air markets of central Mexico will make you feel like you're already fluent. Habla Hispaña Spanish Language School, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; 011-52-415-152-1535, www.mexicospanish.com
Star Trekking Experience weightlessness and learn to pilot your very own space shuttle . . . simulator. Space Camp, Huntsville, Alabama; 800-637-7223, www.spacecamp.com
Meditation Vipassana is all the rage in inner peace. Enjoy (or endure) seven silent hours a day of sitting and walking meditation. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, California; 415-488-0164, www.spiritrock.org
Fly-Rod Crafting Make your own bamboo rod just like Norman Maclean, then use it to pull trout from the fish-rich waters of Willowemoc Creek. The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum, Livingston Manor, New York; 845-439-4810, www.cffcm.org
