photo: Molly Steele
The wilderness pilgrim's step-by-step breath-by-breath walk up a trail... carrying all on the back, is so ancient a set of gestures as to bring a profound sense of body-mind joy. – Gary Snyder
photo: Brandon Scott Herrell
In the mountains east of Esalen, an enchanting, ecologically diverse, and psycho-spiritually fertile wilderness awaits. Over four nights and five days, we will engage in a contemporary form of pilgrimage, backpacking as reverent seekers through these ancestral lands of the Esselen Tribe, now known as the Big Sur backcountry. Our journey will conclude at the coastal grounds of Esalen Institute with a weekend of reflection and integration.
Since time immemorial, people have taken time away from the patterns and demands of daily life to walk with intention on sacred trails — pursuing embodied spiritual wisdom, expansion, and community. In our modern era of profound ecological degradation and severance from place-based ways of life, wilderness pilgrimage is a powerful practice for restoring relationship with the Earth and the depths of our shared humanity.
Each day of our wild pilgrimage, we will rise with the sun, carry only what we need, and walk with presence and curiosity to meaningfully encounter our inner and outer landscapes. As we hike and camp, we will learn foundational wilderness ethics and skills to feel at home in the wild. When night falls, we will share stories and meals by the fire and sleep beneath a blanket of stars.
Inspired by Esalen’s co-founder Dick Price, who found healing in the Big Sur wild and the Esalen community, our intimate and intergenerational cohort will embrace mutual support — engaging relational practices from Price’s Gestalt lineage to authentically connect with ourselves and one another.
Our pilgrimage community will include the more-than-human world: ancient redwoods, sandstone boulders, surging springs, playful jays, and all the countless beings of Big Sur. Through guided mythopoetic, ecological, and somatic inquiry, we will expand our literacy of wild nature, awaken our senses, and cultivate embodied awareness of our interconnection.
May the ardor and intentionality of our trek, across 30 miles of rugged terrain, wash away calcified layers from our essential selves to reveal bright resilience and aliveness. When we arrive at Esalen, we will turn our attention toward integration and service. In accord with the ancient spirit of pilgrimage, how will we carry what we’ve gathered on this journey into our lives, communities, and lands back home?
Please Note: Experience with backpacking or Esalen/Gestalt is not required. Please see eligibility criteria below, and let us know if you have questions about your ability to participate.
Photos from past Pilgrimages
all photos by Molly Steele
Meet your guides
Group 1
Fletcher Tucker
Wildtender Co-Founder Fletcher was raised by the foggy redwood ravines and fragrant chaparral bluffs of the Esselen tribal territory now known as Big Sur, California. Fletcher is a lifelong student of natural history, an ancestral skills practitioner, devotee of trail-craft and minimalist backpacking, an experienced teacher of adults and children, and a multidisciplinary artist.
Fletcher’s inner work includes ongoing exploration in Zen and Taoist practices/philosophy; over a decade of study in the Gestalt lineage of Esalen Institute co-founder Dick Price; and engagement with the Earth-reverent, spiritual practices of his own Celtic and Nordic ancestors.
Fletcher is a NOLS certified Wilderness First Responder.
Rachel Goldberger
Rachel Goldberger has called Big Sur home since 2017, and has been guiding with Wildtender since 2022. A devoted creek-jumper and ocean-dipper, she finds daily inspiration in the rhythms of the Big Sur wild and the resilience of the people who live here. Through her work with the Community Association of Big Sur, a local nonprofit, she advocates for community wellbeing, land stewardship, and sustainable tourism. Rachel has a background in marine science, which laid the foundation for her ongoing study of Big Sur’s native plants and their culinary and healing properties. Her home garden and love for cooking inspire a deep sense of connection, both of which she shares through her involvement with the local food pantry, The Big Share. Rachel is a certified Wilderness First Responder.
Tom Strickland
Tom grew up in the oak and granite foothills of Northern California and was a student and steward of the Central Coast between 2007-2015. With experience as a farmer, arborist, educator, and wilderness guide, Tom integrates his love for Earth and community in his work as a licensed professional counselor. He is driven by an insatiable and playful curiosity for life and our authentic relationships with ourselves, each other, and place.
Tom lives on the Eastern slope of the Cascades in Central Oregon where he practices as a Gestalt therapist in community mental health. He has been working in Gestalt process groups since 2012 when he apprenticed in the Esalen Farm and Garden. A lifelong student of awareness, dialogue, and somatic-emotional process, Tom guest lectures on Gestalt therapy for masters level counseling students at Oregon State University-Cascades.
Group 2
Mike Smith
Mike is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. He lived in the Ventana Wilderness as a monk at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery and served as the Director of San Francisco Zen Center’s City Center temple. He’s a devout backpacker and brings to these pilgrimages a love of the untamed that stretches back to his time as a young waterman growing up in coastal Connecticut. He’s been lucky enough to explore on foot the islands of Hawai’i, the Inca Trail, the Cascades and the Oregon coast, and many National Parks. You can find him walking about Big Sur, the Sierras, and as part of an intentional living community in San Francisco called Agape House.
Ali Goodman
Raised among the mountains and waters of Northern California, Ali has always felt profoundly at home in the outdoors. While living at the Esalen Institute as a work scholar with Wildtender in 2022, she began nurturing reciprocal relationship with the more-than-human world and found a deep sense of both inner and outer belonging.
Informed by her own experience living with chronic pain and illness, Ali is dedicated to creating accessible, inclusive spaces. She is a breathwork facilitator, a forest therapy guide, and a co-creator of a community space that offers movement and mindfulness gatherings centered on connection, creativity, healing, and play. She now calls Big Sur home and is often found heel-clicking her way toward a nearby body of water.
BRYAN GOLDBERGER
A lifelong wilderness seeker, Bryan has worked as a professional hiking guide in Big Sur since 2018, and with Wildtender since 2021, honing his passion for reconnecting people with the wild. With a background in Biology, Bryan combines scientifically-based thinking with barely-constrained awe at the wonders of the natural world. Believing that the land is our greatest teacher, Bryan is an avid naturalist and student of the ecology and natural history of California’s Central Coast. He works within his community to advocate for environmental stewardship, maintain trails, and increase wildfire mitigation awareness. Bryan is an Eagle Scout, a Wilderness First Responder, and an enthusiastic nerd about minimalist backpacking skills and philosophy.
Sliding Scale Program Tuition
Registration will begin soon.
$1,550 – Supported Rate (covers a portion of the cost of your program)
$1,950 – Sustainer Rate (covers the cost of your program)
$2,350 – Helper Rate (covers the cost of your program and contributes some financial support for another)
$2,750 – Benefactor Rate (covers the cost of your program, contributes generously to the financial support of another, and supports Wildtender’s ongoing organizational capacity and stability)
For more transparency into our pricing, and some guidance for how to decide where you fall on the sliding scale, please see our registration page.
Further scholarship funds are available for Wildtender tuition; if interested, please see more details and apply here.
Payment plans are also available; please email us to inquire.
photo: Molly Steele
TUITION INCLUDES
Four-night / five-day guided wilderness pilgrimage
Guide fees – supporting facilitation in Gestalt practice, Big Sur natural history & ecology, eco-philosophy, environmental stewardship, wilderness ethics and best practices, and backpacking essentials. (All lead guides are Wilderness First Responder Certified)
Camp meals and beverages (breakfast & dinner each day)
Shuttling costs
Shared wilderness & safety supplies (maps, satellite communication device, water filters, cooking supplies, first aid, etc.)
Resource list & preparation packet
Preliminary phone call to address any questions or concerns
TUITION EXCLUDES
Esalen accommodations for the weekend must be booked separately. After registering through Wildtender, you will receive instructions on how to book at Esalen. Esalen’s all-inclusive pricing for the weekend (including meals, lodging, on-campus classes, and access to the hot spring baths) ranges per person from:
$430 for a sleeping bag space (shared with up to 5 other participants of all genders)
$610 for bunk bed space (shared with up to 5 other people of all genders)
$805 for a shared room (in a room with 3 beds, shared with up to 2 people of the same gender)
$1,090 for a standard queen room (for one person; 2nd guest can be added for $400)
to $1,570+ for a premium queen or king room (for one person; 2nd guest can be added for $400)
Please note: Esalen accommodation types are subject to availability. Please email us to inquire what remains available.
Travel to and from program
Lunches and snacks on trail
Personal backpacking equipment. A full packing list will be supplied upon registration, but here are the essential items you will definitely need to buy, borrow or rent: hiking boots, backpacking backpack, lightweight tent, lightweight sleeping bag, lightweight sleeping pad and headlamp.
Travel insurance is strongly recommended. Please read more details here.
Other Information
Terms & Conditions (including registration and cancellation terms, and program requirements)
Schedule a Call With Us
Interested in this program but have a few questions? Please use the calendar below to schedule a complimentary 20 minute exploratory call with us. We look forward to hearing from you!