Instructor Bio: Bartle

Bartle is an extremely well-seasoned and weathered Wilderness Athlete that continually studies foot travel across various landscapes. She routinely sets out for walks and runs across the West and Southwest regions of the United States that last from 3-6 months at a time. 

Her trips include walking from Southern Arizona into Wyoming along a 2,000 mile route that she planned herself; an 80-day survival trip in Southern Utah where she lived in a primitive shelter (wikiup) that she built and running a 40-trap primitive trapline through the winter months; spent 24 days walking in Hells Canyon, Oregon eating only wild foods; and has completed several adventure runs traveling across various mountains ranges. Over the past few years, she has successfully walked thousands upon thousands of miles in the wilderness. 

She is a modern dancer that carries grace with her strength while relating with nature. Whether she is running a 30 mile day, going out with only a wool blanket and a knife, or building a rock wall for a wind barrier, she is always in her body making sure to activate whatever connections need to be made to get the job done. 

Bartle holds a deep relationship with various hand crafts: hide tanning, basketry, wet-felting, spinning and knitting, leather craft and clothing making to name a few.  She studied hide tanning with Red Louvish, spent a 6-month period learning tanning and buckskin sewing from Katie Russell, and was mentored through the art of weaving baskets by Margaret Mathewson.

She works seasonally as a skinner and meat cutter at a local game processor. This allows her to collect all the hides, bones, scrap meat, and fat that is discarded from the shop to put away for her years worth of materials. She has always been an advocate of scavenging what is often thrown away to breathe life back into it. She has led dozens of ethical animal slaughters guiding her students safely through the animal kill and teaching them how to use every part including the blood, internal organs, cleaned intestines, skin, fur, and meat.