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).
Renee Lavin: An awesome addition to the WAEL family who left her office job to come play outside again. Unfortunately for her she is too good at organizing stuff so we stuck her back in the office, but we let her out every now and again to kayak, rock climb, mountain bike, and backpack. Otherwise she and her crazy dog Riley are known to go stir crazy! She has started out strong and is already officially the Assistant Program Director, specializing in our family and small groups program as well as special events such as the WAEL wine & dine and Adult Skill Clinics.
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.
Chris Heslin: Our lovable bike barn manager in is charge of maintaining and repairing our fleet of Trek and Jamis mountain bikes and keeping all those little tiny parts organized. Chris is also one of our head leaders and facilitators for the year round group program and loves dirty jobs. If you thought Mike Rowe had an iron stomach, he’s got nothing on this guy. In 2009 he was the head leader and coordinator for our elite month long Wilderness Leadership Course, and continues to this day to be many of our groups’ favorite leader. He’s just so little and cute and Irish, can you blame them?
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!
Koko Radford: Our new Hospitality & Kitchen Manager has added a whole lot of zen to our world. This do it all yogi, massage therapist and chef extraordinaire in one amazes us all daily with her unique array of talents. Come visit her and her pretty (although lazy) pup Luna, and you can do downward dog, get your glutes massaged, and eat a delicious homemade meal at the same time! Now that’s service! To view rates for massage therapy time blocks check out our Bed & Breakfast page.
