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Guide vs wilderness guide

The differences between guides and wilderness guides can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a guide and a wilderness guide. Additionally, a wilderness guide has an average salary of $63,944, which is higher than the $34,479 average annual salary of a guide.

The top three skills for a guide include brand awareness, product knowledge and safety rules. The most important skills for a wilderness guide are CPR, responder, and canoe.

Guide vs wilderness guide overview

GuideWilderness Guide
Yearly salary$34,479$63,944
Hourly rate$16.58$30.74
Growth rate28%-
Number of jobs1,195851
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Average age3434
Years of experience22

Guide vs wilderness guide salary

Guides and wilderness guides have different pay scales, as shown below.

GuideWilderness Guide
Average salary$34,479$63,944
Salary rangeBetween $17,000 And $68,000Between $17,000 And $228,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CA-
Highest paying stateAlaska-
Best paying companySalesforce-
Best paying industryTechnology-

Differences between guide and wilderness guide education

There are a few differences between a guide and a wilderness guide in terms of educational background:

GuideWilderness Guide
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 79%
Most common majorBusinessPsychology
Most common collegeStanford UniversityJohns Hopkins University

Guide vs wilderness guide demographics

Here are the differences between guides' and wilderness guides' demographics:

GuideWilderness Guide
Average age3434
Gender ratioMale, 49.3% Female, 50.7%Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 9.9% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 9.0% White, 69.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage9%9%

Differences between guide and wilderness guide duties and responsibilities

Guide example responsibilities.

  • Manage kayaks, guest and guide gear and repaired/ordered as needed.
  • Lead VIP guests on guide tours of the property and facilitate their involvement in special events, productions, and conventions.
  • Manage payroll - specifically manage overtime.
  • Provide hands on experience in stream exploration, plant identification, and survival classes.
  • Wrangle horses, clean fish, and elk.
  • Generate high quality reports in the form of listing, HTML, XML, RTF and PDF formats using SAS ODS.
  • Show more

Wilderness guide example responsibilities.

  • Manage payroll - specifically manage overtime.
  • Reside on-site in remote Alaskan wilderness setting.
  • Drive full size off-road buses to transport clients back to canoe launch site.
  • canoe rental agent and driver for delivery and pick up of clients on the local rivers.
  • Facilitate daily leadership lessons and debriefings.
  • Ensure participant's safety and well-being, practicing responsibility and leadership.
  • Show more

Guide vs wilderness guide skills

Common guide skills
  • Brand Awareness, 26%
  • Product Knowledge, 12%
  • Safety Rules, 12%
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Safety Procedures, 5%
  • CPR, 5%
Common wilderness guide skills
  • CPR, 22%
  • Responder, 15%
  • Canoe, 9%
  • Alaskan, 9%
  • Substance Abuse, 8%
  • Trip Planning, 6%

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