About us
beckwith-bear basin experiential education
Put a "BEE" in your bonnet!
buzz your brain with new ideas
We are excited to launch our newest AIPA state funded homeschool enrichment program with our partners at BEE
(Beckwith-Bear Basin Experiential Ed).
Beckwith and Bear Basin Ranches have collaborated to provide two unique venues for our Program. Experiential Learning combines some classroom preparation with hands-on or feet-on-the-ground outdoor experiences that instill the core meaning of the subject. It’s one thing to listen to a lecture and another to get out, experience, and practice what you have learned. The BEE staff has an extensive background in Experiential Learning from guiding Outward Bound to teaching outdoor oriented programs for several Universities and Colorado College.
Beckwith and Bear Basin Ranches are steeped in history you can see and experience.Designed for middle schoolers (ages 11-15) who are ready to tackle more advanced disciplines along with fun outdoor skills, we bring in Experts in their fields each week as Guest Instructors In combination with our trained staff. Our topics include: Archaeology, Geology, Astronomy, History, Ecology, Tracking and Wildlife behavior, Conversational Spanish, Blacksmithing, Firefighting, Wilderness skills, and Search and Rescue.
BArb and linda
Barb (right) and Linda (left) are musicians we know them well having worked many years as wilderness horse pack trip guides for Bear Basin Ranch. They are part of a Bear Basin Staff committee helping to form the new BEE curriculum.
Barbara Saint-Amour grew up in Minnesota, with a love of the outdoors, horses, and music. She was a Colorado College graduate in 1974 and taught elementary school in Canon City for 30 years. But her childhood dreams came true working for Bear Basin Ranch fourteen years, from 1998 to 2012 as a wrangler and a pack trip guide in the Sangres. She plays music with several groups in town as well as playing for Community United Methodist Church and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church every Sunday.
Linda Loraine is a certified aromatherapist, horse woman, an avid gardener, and has significant knowledge of edible and medicinal plants and herbs. She hails from Kansas and moved to Colorado in 1995. In 2000 she came to work for Bear Basin Ranch as cook and pack trip food supply buyer. The next two summers she returned as a pack trip guide. In 2003 she worked for the Mountain Park Environmental Center in Beulah as an environmental educator with Pueblo District 60 fifth grade elementary students. Summer camps provided an opportunity for her to integrate experiences with the Mountain Park and Bear Basin Ranch in the Pathways for Young Women program which featured hiking, horseback riding and challenge course experiences.
Sheila bean
Sheila Bean, is a midwestern gaI having grown up on a beef and hog farm in south Kansas until she got married and moved to Edmond Oklahoma where she got her high school diploma. After her husband, Kevin graduated from college they moved to Bartlesville Oklahoma where they grew 3 daughters and lived in the country. They worked together at growing a large garden, berry patch, and orchard. Then added on bees, chickens, and the ever present dogs and cats. They moved to Colorado 4 years ago starting a very different garden and enjoying outdoor life.
Sheila has 9 grandchildren ages 7-21 that she sees often. She is very familiar with managing a boisterous group of smart, curious kids.
hal walter
Hal Walter is a mountain athlete, writer and coach. Hal will be one of our Experts teaching about the professional world of running.
Hal has won the World Championship Pack-Burro Race seven times and also the Leadville Boom Days Pack-Burro Race five times, as well as other smaller burro races. He also qualified for the Boston Marathon twice, finished the Leadville Trail 100, and the Leadville Loppet cross-country ski marathon.
Hal has coached cross-country and track at Custer County Schools, including many state qualifiers and one state champion. Hal has also been a licensed substitute teacher in K-12.
Hal has a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Colorado. He worked in publishing for many years, and taught as an adjunct professor at CSU-Pueblo. He has written four books, and is co-author of a forthcoming book about his son Harrison’s experience as an autistic student and athlete at Colorado Mountain College.