Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing is proud of its long standing and excellent safety record. We are especially proud of our dedicated, highly trained staff for making this record possible, year after year.
All leaders and activity specialists must successfully complete a rigorous training and certification program, which is one of the longest in the industry. The average age of the staff is approximately 26, which is significantly above average for most summer program
Our Current Staff:
Gene Nervo: The owner and founder of Wilderness Adventure, retired Marine Colonel Gene Nervo is the heart and soul of this operation. As he regularly likes to remind his young staff he has the wisdom and the vision that is needed to bring life to a program as unique as Wilderness Adventure. We may all give him a hard time but he is the best bald boss anyone could ever ask for.
Patrick Boas: Our fearless leader and the Director of Operations was passed the torch in December of 2008, after working at WAEL for 2 1/2 years. Ever since he has kept all these crazy characters in order and made great progress developing the program and the company as a whole. When he’s not toiling away in the office he enjoys biking with his single speed, “gym” kayaking at the National Whitewater Center, and reorganizing all of his closets. Thank you for all your hard work, we love you Patrick!
Steve Allen: The notorious Director of Activities gets their title by being the best at every activity we offer. Steve is our rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and all other extreme sports expert. It’s hard being the best at everything, unless of course your Steve. Oh yeah and he also makes sure that all of our guests are safe on the zip line, high ropes, and low ropes elements. You can thank him after you get home safely.
Dan Lucas: Our Director of Base Camp is the hardest working guy on the payroll. Dan is in charge of all our building projects, maintaining our 500 acre property, and overseeing the care of our beautiful lawn and gardens. He is also a bike part connoisseur and mountain biking fanatic. Although he isn’t the first bald guy at Wilderness Adventure he’s certainly the friendliest. Right Colonel? When he’s not working or building bikes he works on his beautiful historic home where he lives with his wife Ashley and his baby Izze.
Julia Bradford Boas: By far the most beautiful, important, and productive employee at Wilderness Adventure. Did I mention that she does all the content for the website? In charge of most marketing endeavors, group reservations, and making sure Colonel stays focused. These days she doesn’t get out of the office much. But when she does she takes part in her favorite sports snowboarding, rock climbing, trail running, and eating out (which is a sport when your this good at it).
Eric Albitz: Our Base Camp Store Manager and Summer youth program coordinator stays busy stocking our awesome camp store and organizing map packets and trips for our Summer Youth Program. He is a kayaking and canoeing enthusiast whose passion for the sport is contagious to those around him. Don’t let him fool you, he is surprisingly agile and can throw a frisbee like nobody’s business. Eric spends his winter vacations traveling the globe to places like Japan, Costa Rica and his self created American National Park’s Roadtrip. Come to our base camp store and you can actually buy amazing pictures from his world travels.
John Nervo: John Nervo fighting pirates with a Samurai sword! Just ask any camper that’s come through the program in the last 3 years about John Nervo and his amazing feats and you will get an earful. Our own outdoor living skills guru can catch a fish, build a fire, and cook it without a lighter, a fishing rod, or any other modern materials. He is handy to have around in a true wilderness scenario.
Sean Bryant: Sean joined the WAEL team in the Spring of 2009 and quickly became our most entertaining employee. His two passions rock climbing and spending money go well together, especially for the gear companies. He worked his way up through the ranks and earned the Assistant Director of Activities position in Fall 2010. This position entails maintaining our high & low ropes course, climbing equipment, zip line maintenance, and singlehandedly saving the company one Sean-day at a time.
Katie Herrington: If you were worried that you might pull a hamstring during your trip to Wilderness Adventure, have no fear! We have our very own in-house sports therapist, all the way from the great state of Michigan. Don’t let her shy facade fool you, she is maniac ready to run, bike, dance and play at a moments notice. After working as a backpacking trip leader 2 summers in a row during college, she joined us year-round in Fall 2011 and quickly became one of our top trips leaders and certainly one of the hardest working employees we have. When you come to WAEL you can give her a pat on the back in person….and then tell her to get back to work!
BJ York: Big and beautiful, having BJ around is like having the Jolly Green Giant, Johnny Appleseed and Colossus all mixed together; but this is no fairy tale ladies & gentleman. BJ is real and in flesh as a new member of our base camp department, cook staff and beloved trip leader. His optimism and good spirits keep everyone smiling and you can taste the love he puts into his food. For fun BJ enjoys playing the guitar, cooking cheesy double western diesels for staff and combing his beard with a handcrafted boar’s hair brush.
Molly Hagan: This young, Irish lass has been a bright spot in the world of Wilderness Adventure since the moment she stepped onto the property. In less than a month we decided we needed to keep this one around and she became a year round staff member as well one of the members of our amazing new Group Program Coordination team! We’ll have to keep you posted on her dreams & aspirations as we get to know her better, but one things for sure this one has a bright WA future. You can follow her thoughts for yourself, as she has be rocking out on our facebook page and on twitter discussing everything from bunny cages to onion growth.
Mark Pedigo: Its hard to remember exactly when Mark began his employment with Wilderness Adventure. As far as I know he has always been here, and probably always will be. He’s basically a mythical creature that lives in the woods, that has always been around whether you realized it or not…..like a Sasquatch. The only thing stronger than his devotion to WAEL is his love for America and his right to bear arms. A “shooting sports” enthusiast, Mark ensures that if we were ever to encounter a zombie apocalypse that Wilderness Adventure may be the safest place to repopulate the human species.
