YOUR GUIDES:                 Al & Megan
                      

                             ***Wilderness First Aid Certified
                                       ***CPR and First Aid Certified

Al Whitted is a native of Durham, North Carolina who now resides in Hillsborough, NC. He graduated from Elon University with a degree in Environmental Philosophy. His studies focused on Henry David Thoreau and Wendell Berry. 

Upon his graduation, Al hiked over 1,700 miles from Virginia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail, beginning his path as a naturalist, studying plants, astronomy, birds along the way. After his journey, Al participated in a nine-month apprenticeship with Will Endres, studying the medicinal and edible properties of plants and trees. During the summers, Al taught swimming and archery at Camp Riverlea.

In 1994, he moved to an environmental preserve, lived in a cabin, and worked at Camp Thunderbird, teaching forest ecology, fishing, astronomy, ornithology, ropes courses, organic gardening, and canoeing to 5-18 year olds. There he honed his naturalist skills while beginning workshops in wilderness skills. After receiving a certification from Tom Brown's Wilderness School, Al became the lead nature counselor at Camp Riverlea, and created a skills program for children around shelter, water, fire, food, awareness, and philosophy. Later, he returned to Tom Brown's school as a volunteer instructor.                                                        

Al moved to the mountains of southern California in 1996 to study survival skills with Christopher Nyerges. There in the Topanga Mountains, Al started a young naturalist course for an after school program, meeting in a large Navaho teepee to begin their classes. After returning to Durham in 1998, Al worked as a carpenter with Art Scherer, building treehouses and outdoor play equipment. 

In 2000, he married Megan Druesedow and decided to return to teaching. Al taught science, social studies, and math at Woodlawn Middle School, emphasizing environmental science in his classroom, and conducting nature walks. Al also worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in the Research Triangle Park in customer relations and providing security for the building. He continued to return to Riverlea for the summers to teach nature, and 

he and Megan began to serve as the Program Directors at Camp Riverlea in 2005.

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Megan Whitted is a musician and a stay-at-home mom. She works at home teaching private piano lessons and at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Hillsborough as the organist.

Recently, she worked at McDougle Elementary as the music teacher, teaching classes to kindergarten through fifth grade. She received a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 after completing internships at East Chapel Hill High School, McDougle Middle and McDougle Elementary School.

She has worked at the Duke School for Children as the Spanish teacher for an independent program for first and second graders and as the after school teacher for third and fourth grade. She also worked for the Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools program, developing a Spanish program for kindergarten and first graders in Davidson, North Carolina where she went to college. Megan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College in 1999, with a major in music, concentration in organ performance.

Megan has been working at summer camps since 1994, assisting with programs for the Center for Peace Education and most recently at Camp Riverlea.  Megan serves as an administrator at Riverlea after two summers experience as the assistant to the Program Director, two years as a general counselor, and five years as the music counselor.  

As a fan of the J.R.R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings books, Megan brings “Ring-lore” to the Walk Your Path Well adventures. She has transcribed several songs from the movie soundtrack for voices and instrumental accompaniment for children. She has collected poems from Tolkien for dramatic readings and written skits for dramatic performance based on scenes from the books. With a love of storytelling and adventure tales, she brings the stories to life for children. Megan also teaches songs and drumming, recorder-playing and campfire cooking for Walk Your Path Well adventures.