ESALEN Live Site

Private Guided Hike with Wildtender

$325 / $430

for Workshop Guests

$452 / $684

for Day Pass Visitors

150 minutes

One or Two People

Location

You will meet your practitioner outside the bookstore 5 minutes early to be guided to the location for your session.

Based in Big Sur, Wildtender offers immersive wilderness programs that cultivate kinship with the natural world, explore earth-based wisdom, and nurture wholeness. Informed by Esalen’s Gestalt tradition, guided hikes with Wildtender invite presence and meaningful connection with the wild. Immersed in the beauty of the Esselen tribal lands now known as Big Sur, we walk the trails to learn about — and directly from — the plants, animals, and landscape.

Hikes are available by request; please email massage@esalen.org to inquire.

This session supports:‍

Sensory awakening
Grounding and vitality
Nature-based insight
Renewed sense of belonging

Mileage: 1.5–3 miles (depending on pace and preference), out & back

Difficulty: Gentle to Moderate (well-graded but steep trails)

Timeframe includes a 10-min drive to/from Esalen. Guest(s) must have their own vehicle to caravan with guide to the trailhead. Waiver and brief medical intake are required. Please see FAQ for packing list, eligibility criteria, and more. In the event a trail is closed for weather-related or other reasons, alternate trails are available.

Practitioners

Noël Vietor

Noël Vietor is a co-founder of Wildtender and faculty at Esalen. While an educator in the Esalen Farm & Garden for five years, Noël became foundationally rooted in Esalen’s Gestalt tradition. Having found healing and meaning in the Big Sur wild, Noël is honored to create this opportunity for others through Wildtender’s immersive wilderness programs.

Fletcher Tucker

Fletcher Tucker is a co-founder of Wildtender and faculty at Esalen. A curious explorer of inner and outer landscapes, Fletcher’s background includes a lifelong passion for California’s natural history, a decade of practice in the Gestalt lineage of Esalen, study in Taoism and Zen, and engagement with the Earth-reverent spirituality of his Nordic ancestors.

Ali Goodman

Bio pending