Tom Shelstad, Outdoor Leadership & Community Building

Tom Shelstad has been working with the Siskiyou School for ten years, bringing our students outdoor leadership experiences, leading fall trips, organizing challenge courses, and doing team building with our middle schoolers. Each September he leads our 6th, 7th and 8th graders on successive week-long fall camping and backpacking expeditions to the Marble Mountains, Lassen National Park, the Wild and Scenic – you name it!

Tom grew up in Minnesota. He moved to Ashland in 2000, and in 2014 created Inner Guide Expeditions and The Guide Council with Kelly, his wife at the time. Tom continues to run Inner Guide which supports youth through transformational wilderness trips, mentoring and circle work. Tom has safely and successfully led hundreds of people on backcountry and mountaineering trips over the last 18 years.