Each year eight to 12 students strap on aluminum-frame backpacks and follow Gina Berquist, a Multnomah student-aid adviser, and Kelsey Underhill, a Multnomah alumna, through the wilderness. The women teach the backpackers the essentials of wilderness backpacking and form relationships along the way.

In 1996, Multnomah first offered a backpacking class along with a

mountaineering class for P.E. credit. The response from students has been consistently positive. The spaces in the class usually fill up within the first two hours of registration.

An injury to Ms. Berquist's Achilles tendon prevented Multnomah from offering the mountaineering class this year. Ms. Berquist hopes to lead the class next year.

The requirements for participating in the mountaineering class are more rigorous than for the backpacking class. Ms. Berquist recommends that students participating in the backpacking class be able to run at least three miles. To participate in the mountaineering class, students must pass a fitness test.

Multnomah offers the classes both fall and spring semesters, and the women usually take the students to Mill Creek Wilderness near Prineville, Ore., or to Mt. Adams in Washington.

This year the backpacking class will leave on April 7 to hike through the Mill Creek Wilderness. The hike will last three days, with the group leaving on a Friday and returning on Sunday.

The women will instruct the students on wilderness techniques including water filtration, no-trace camping, food preparation and fire building.

The instructors also try to help students prepare by giving them advice on buying equipment. Ms. Berquist and Ms. Underhill teach the students how to pick out proper boots, sleeping bags and packs.

The class costs $60, which includes food for the hike and maintenance on borrowed equipment. During the hike, the backpackers eat dehydrated foods. Ms. Berquist and Ms. Underhill provide students with tents and cooking gear. Students must provide their own packs, boots and sleeping bags.

The college doesn't pay Ms. Berquist and Ms. Underhill for instructing the class, so they retain a nominal fee from the cost to each student, as compensation for their time.

"The fun part," Ms. Berquist said, "is being able to see other people develop a love for the outdoors. That gets my engines revving up."

For Ms. Berquist, the time spent hiking isn't only a class but also a hobby. She loves the outdoors and building relationships with the students in her class as they hike.