TRACKER GATHERING CALENDAR

"Arrive when you can, depart when you wish."  

 Workshops and clinics are offered daily by experienced certified trackers.  Many of these experts will present free indoor tracking-related talks or "clinics" each evening at 6pm.  Other workshop leaders are master naturalists, primitive skills & survival training, trailing professionals and nature writers. 

The workshop leaders  determine their audience. Beginner? Intermediate? Experienced? Everybody?  The pricing is set by the workshop leader.  Most leaders accept their own reservations, deposits and tuition. 

Questions about making reservations for any workshop should be directed to the workshop leader whose email address will be found on the workshop page.   

Find links to all the workshops, clinics, leader bios below in the Calendar of Events, the heart and soul of what's going on for the ten day Tracker Gathering.  Clicking the link of the name of the workshop will bring you to information about the workshop, the presenter, and payment information if there is any. 

Workshop, Clinic and Presentation Calendar 

Tuesday and Wednesday, September 1 & 2 (no events)

Early check-ins for Leaders scouting for best workshop locations 

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Thursday, September 3

Tracker arrival day.  Terry and Kim will be available to greet you and show you around all day Thursday.

PS: You may check in on ANY day – Thursday is simply the "kickoff".

No activities scheduled until 5:00pm.

4-7pm  Evening meal prep, mixer, hilarious social time.... all leading to a presentation by Kim. - The Lodge

4:30 - 5:45pm  GRAND OPENING at The Lodge: Track & Sign Brain Teaser & Mixer  Shake off the travel cobwebs and get into the track & sign mindset.  Dive into track casts, feathers, skulls, bones and mandibles displayed on the table. Tackle 20 fun track & sign identification questions with real tracks (casts), feathers, skulls, scat.  No sharing answers or scoring required. This fun, low-pressure warm-up sharpens your tracking eyes, boosts critical thinking, and gets you attuned to the wildlife stories you'll spot in the Redwood forest, trails, sandbars and meadows over the next week. And you will instantly begin making new friends. 

5:45pm  The Lodge: WELCOME!   --  Terry Hunefeld  & Kim Cabrera

6:00pm  Free Clinic:  The Secret Life of Camp Ravencliff:  Tracks, Trails & Things that go Bump in the Night  - Kim Cabrera

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Friday, September 4

9am  - 1pm  Discover Bear Bites, Beds & Stomp Trails  - SOLD OUT  -  Kim Cabrera and Terry Hunefeld

9am  - 1pm  Tracking The Wild: Learning to Read Tracks and SignAlexis Burnett

9am - 4pm    Transform Your Tracking: Critical Observation Skills for Trackers & Trailers  - SOLD OUT  -  Jonathan Shapiro

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6-7pm Free Presentation:  My Mountain Lion Adventures presented by TCNA evaluator Matt Nelson

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Saturday, September 5

9am - noon  See Like Never Before - Connecting With Animals By Recognizing Their Tracks & Sign  -  Mike Cox

9am - 4pm  A "Mock Eval" (An "Eval" With No Stress) Accelerated Learning - 2 spots left - Jonathan Shapiro

9am - 4pm What's Going On?  Reading the Wild in Tracks, Trees, and Time- Sam Giovanetti   -- Sam's Book

1pm - 5pm  The Art of Writing about Nature & Wildlife Mallory Clarke

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm  Free Clinic Trail Camera Placement Strategies presented by Janet Pesaturo, founder
of Winterberry Wildlife Cams (18,000 followers) and 
the popular Facebook groupTrail Camera Photos and Videos” with 114,000 followers.

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Sunday, September 6     

8am - 6pm   Tracker Certification Day 1  -   Evaluator Matt Nelson  

9am - Noon  Eel River Sand Canvas: Decode Animal Stories with Tracking Icon with Kim Cabrera

9am - 4pm What's Going On?  Reading Animal Sign in Tracks, Trees, and Time - Sam Giovanetti  Sam's Book

9am - 4pm  Learn How To Identify Obscure Wildlife Tracks and Track Patterns –  Leah Olivotti and Nate Young 

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

5 - 6pm  The Lodge: Humboldt Track & Sign Brain Teaser & Mixer  Same engaging mind-warmup as Thursday’s Mixer — but with all-new tracks, feathers, skulls, and questions. Expect more fun, fresh challenges, new people to connect with, and plenty of “aha!” moments that lock in your skills for real-world tracking.

6pm  Free Clinic: Tech Secrets for Trail Camera Success  --  Bob Zak co-author of the series Trail Camera & Custom Camera Traps and an admin for the popular Facebook group Trail Camera Photos and Videos with 114,000 followers.

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Monday, September 7  

9am  - 1pm  Tracking The Wild: Learning to Read Tracks and SignAlexis Burnett

8am - 4pm   Tracker Certification: Day 2 - - Evaluator Matt Nelson

9am - 4pm What's Going On?  Reading Animal Sign in Tracks, Trees, and Time - Sam Giovanetti  -- Sam's Book

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm  Presentation:  How I Ended Up Writing a Tracking Book... and What I Learned Along the Way - (A Timber Press Field Guide  - Wildlife Of The Southeast - due in bookstores September 29, 2026)  Sam Giovanetti

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Tuesday, September 8 

9am - 1pm  Taking The Animal Home With You - the Magic of Casting  -Terry Hunefeld

9am - 4pm  Seeing The Animal - Real-world Trailing Training - SOLD OUT  - Jonathan Shapiro

9am - 4pm  Track Identification Workshop: Learn To Read Tracks With Clarity And Purpose  –  Leah Olivotti and Nate Young 

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm    Free Presentation:  On the Trail of the Canada Lynx: The Story of our Week Tracking These Animals and Other Wildlife of the North Woods. Alexis Burnett

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Wednesday, September 9  

8am - 5pm  Track & Sign Certification Day 1 -  - Evaluator Matt Nelson  

9am - Noon  How Dusty Back‑Country Roads Become Nature’s Chalkboard - Kim Cabrera

9am - Noon  Camp Ravencliff Safari: Looking at Tracks and Sign Without Pressure - Terry Hunefeld

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

5 - 6pm  The Lodge: Track & Sign Brain Teaser  -- Back for another round of the popular Track & Sign Brain Teaser (see last Thursday’s Mixer for the full vibe) — this time with completely different specimens and questions. You’ll have a blast, meet more trackers, learn even more, and head back into the field with sharper eyes and deeper confidence.

6pm    Free Clinic: The Keys To Identifying Bird Tracks (you must know what to look for)  -  Jonathan Shapiro,  Kim Cabrera and Terry Hunefeld

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Thursday, September 10 

8am - 4pm    Tracker Certification Day 2  - - Evaluator Matt Nelson

9am- 4pm  Making Fire From Nothing - Real Life Primitive Skills- Zander Balthaser

9am - Noon  Identifying Tracks and Sign Without Pressure - Terry Hunefeld

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm  Free Clinic:  Track Identification Skills Used By Specialists - Jonathan Shapiro

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Friday, September 11 

9am - 4pm  "Mock" Eval   A Certification With No Stress  - SOLD OUT -  Jonathan Shapiro

8:30am - 1pm  Discover Bear Bites, Beds & Stomp Trails  - Kim Cabrera and Terry Hunefeld

9am- 4pm  Making Fire From Nothing - Real Life Primitive Skills Workshop - Zander Balthasar

5-7pm Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm Free Presentation:  Five Free Internet Websites Essential For Trackers - Terry Hunefeld

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Saturday, September 12  

9am - noon  Tracking With Terry at his Fave Ravencliff sites  --  Terry Hunefeld

9am - 4pm  Find Wildlife With Your Phone: Digital Tools To Locate Wildlife --  Leah Olivotti and Nate Young 

5-7:30pm  Evening meal prep, meal and social time.  The Lodge

6pm  Closing Comments by Everyone:  Sharing What We Learned

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Sunday, September 13

6am - 10am  Final Good-byes -  Homeward Bound


Navigating the TrackerGathering website

Roadmap: TrackerGathering website directory

Calendar of Events:  Workshops, clinics, presentations, certifications... the Calendar is the Heart of the Event. 

Reserve & Register to attend the Tracker Gathering

TCNA 2-Day Certifications  with Matt Nelson

FAQs - Things you don't know – but need to know!

 

Matt Nelson and Leah Olivotti
at a TCNA certification in Wisconsin


Oh, What Fun We'll Have!

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE COVER STORY:  The TCNA Track & Sign Certification was the cover story in SMTHSONIAN MAGAZINE.  If you've never participated in a Track & Sign certification, we recommend you read the fascinating Smithsonian story written by an actual participant.  Also, to get a feel for the Certification process, check out the TCNA Certification page - also an excellent glimpse into The TCNA Certification Process.  



A Few Southern Humboldt County Mammals Recorded and Reported to iNaturalist.org