

Current Course Offerings
Below is a current list of workshops being offered by Molly Murfee. Check back often for updates on courses to be offered in the various seasons as the year progresses.
A course offering with the
Clark Family School of Environment & Sustainability at Western Colorado University
Nature Writing Immersion
August 21 - September 29, 2023
3 credits, ENVS 397
Course Description
This expedition-based, experiential course combines wilderness immersion; close analysis of nature and environmental writers; and skillfully written personal essays weaving these experiences together. Through a series of multi-day backpacking and river expeditions, explore the definitions of wildness and wilderness, and our personal relationships with these endangered spaces. Using connection to place as a writing tool, experiment with the multi-disciplinary Nature Writing Portfolio for in-the-field freewriting incorporating your observations and learnings about the natural history and ecology of the land. Through campside readings and discussions of the nature writers, uncover their influences on how our culture defines and interacts with nature. When the field portion of the course concludes, we’ll gather together for a sidecountry writing workshop, and frontcountry peer review, editing and rewriting your backcountry freewrites. With the technical guidance of our writing mentors, we’ll translate these profound experiences into personal essays aimed to educate, inform, inspire, and activate readers towards an ethic of connection and stewardship toward our natural world.
About the Wilderness Expeditions
The two courses, Nature Writing Immersion and Mountains & Rivers are designed in an expedition style, synergistically working together through a variety of wilderness immersions. Taking learning outside the four walls of a traditional classroom to connect with the land, each component of the Wilderness Expeditions is mandatory. Field dates are offered now so arrangements can be made in your schedule to accommodate them. Additionally, because we will be in wilderness field environments for multiple days at a time, with no access to communications, it will not be possible for you to participate in other courses or have other obligations during this five-week session.
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Contact Molly directly for more information at mmurfee@western.edu
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For more information on the Clark Family School of Environment & Sustainability of Western Colorado University click HERE.
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Crested Butte Wildflower Festival
Come hike with me in the wildflowers July 7 - 16!
Wildflower hikes are one of my absolute most favorite things. I love the natural history, folklore, medicinal uses, and role in the ecosystem these bright blooms play. And you can learn all of these things too on a hike with me through the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. I'm leading half days, full days, easier saunters, and more difficult hikes to mountain passes. Click on the links below to find out more on individual hikes. You'll be taken to the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival website where you can register.
Splendor on Snodgrass: Friday, July 7. 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. 5 spots left!
Poverty Gulch & Daisy Pass: Saturday, July 8. 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. FULL (but there's a waitlist)
Rustler Gulch: Monday, July 10. 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. 1 spot left!
Wildflowers & Waterfalls of the Oh-Be-Joyful Valley: Tuesday, July 11. 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. FULL (but there's a waitlist)
Scarp Ridge: Friday, July 14. 7:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lily Lake Wildflowers: Saturday, July 15. 8:3o a.m. - 1 p.m. FULL (but there's a waitlist)
Trail 403 to Viewpoint: Sunday, July 16. 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. FULL (but there's a waitlist)
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Writing & Wildflowers
Sunday, July 9
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
With Western Colorado University's
Center for Learning & Innovation
This wildflower saunter stops to appreciate the flowers and views through creative writing, personal journaling and mindfulness exercises. Get the creative juices flowing with inspiring poetry readings and natural history information. Learn writing techniques for capturing the inherent metaphor of nature. Writers, dabblers and the just plain curious all welcome.
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This is an all day outdoor saunter! Bring water, snacks, layers (include a warm layer and rain jacket), water, a sun hat or visor, sunscreen, lip balm, sunglasses, and be prepared to sit on the ground ( you can bring something to sit on such as a camp chair if you like). Also bring a journal and writing utensil. Drawing tools such as colored pencils are welcome. Wear comfortable hiking clothes and closed toed shoes (tennis shoes / low-top hikers are fine!)
Register at HERE , or by calling 970-943-2885, or emailing extendedstudies@western.edu
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Outdoor Citizenry: Engagement, Skills, Connection & LNT
Thursday, June 8 - Saturday, June 10
8 a.m. – 6 p.m. each day
Offered through Western Colorado University's Teacher Institute: A graduate level, accredited course designed for all levels and types of educators seeking their continuing education credits. 2 credits available. ENVS 510
Become an engaged, connected steward of nature and teach others to be the same! Through daily hiking excursions, acquire outdoor skills for safe and ethical backcountry travel, including Leave No Trace (LNT) principles. Additionally nurture a relationship to place by learning natural history and plant and animal identification, and relaxing into connection to nature activities on the trail. Any participant looking to: connect to nature for self-rejuvenation; learn outdoor skills for personal fulfillment; or teach these same to students, find inspiration here. Outdoor skills include: learning the perfect equipment to bring in a daypack; what a first aid kit should contain; confidence in navigation and reading maps, and more. Additionally tucked inside this course is a Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop. Here, participants learn to reduce physical impacts on the landscape through: proper trail etiquette; choosing the best lunch sites; preserving flora and fauna; “toilet” practices; dealing with trash; preserving water quality, and more. Throughout the course, participants actively work with field guides to identify flora and fauna, as well as engage in meditation, journaling, and creative writing activities for connecting to nature. Each day includes hiking, journaling and meditation, practice teaching activities in the four focus areas (LNT, outdoor skills, natural history, and nature connection), and independent research. At the end of this field-based course participants receive a “Leave No Trace Outdoor Awareness Certificate,” as well as a treasure chest full of LNT, outdoor skills, and connecting to nature activities to subsequently share with students.

Come see me at the
Mountain Words Literary Festival!
Thursday, May 25 - Sunday, May 28
THURSDAY, MAY 25
5:30 – 7 p.m. Crested Butte Magazine Summer Release Party + Reception
A fun happy hour celebration of the writers of the Crested Butte Magazine – of which I’m one! (Check out my article “In the Time of the Melting Side” in the Winter ’22-’23 edition). Free - just pop in!
FRIDAY, MAY 26
5 – 6 p.m. Festival Reception
Come happy hour with me with Montanya Rum cocktails and nibbles by Crested Butte Personal Chefs. Meet the other Writers-in-Residence – they’re awesome, by the way. Free – just pop in!
6 – 7:30 p.m. Writers-in-Residence Readings
I’ll be reading an excerpt of what I wrote during the Residency, along with other Writers-in-Residence Alessandra Bautze, Claire Boyles, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher and Jenny Qi. Free – just pop in!
SATURDAY, MAY 27
5 – 7 p.m. Forest Woodward Gallery Opening & Readings
The Writers-in-Residence, plus local writers Marcie Telander, Leath Tonino and Cosmo Langsfeld, used images from Forest’s exhibition to inspire short creative written works, which were hand-bound into a beautiful booklet. Along with the others I’ll be reading my piece. Free – just pop in!
SUNDAY, MAY 28
12 – 2 p.m. Writing the Wastelands Workshop
Working with concepts of the collective unconscious and animate earth, settle in to the damaged lands of our modern times to reveal your relationship and responsibility to them. Open to writers, dabblers and the just plain curious! $50 or included in festival pass. Register HERE!
For more info on the Mountain Words Literary Festival visit: www.mtnwords.org
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Writing the Wastelands
Sunday, May 28. 12 - 2 p.m.
$50
with the Mountain Words Literary Festival
Our Wastelands are destroyed, dismembered, and disemboweled places. Here, all is not right. Carl Jung’s theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes combine with storytelling, poems and mythology, leading the way into a mystical world of sacred and animate nature. Connecting to the earth through meditations, actively listen to the wounded and forgotten places of the Wastelands. Learn to speak the land’s language, then enter into a conversation with it. What is the land trying to communicate? What does it need? Explore through generative freewriting what has historically, culturally and philosophically paved the way for the Wastelands, as well as what your relationship and responsibility is to them. How can you lend your voice to the Wastelands? What is your calling or purpose here? This inspirational workshop lends the tools to process and intentionally interact with the grave issues of climate change and environmental destruction with a sense of empowerment rather than despair. Any focused writer—from fiction to poetry to creative nonfiction and beyond—is welcome, as well as participants simply seeking ways to creatively interact with the grave issues of our times.
Logistics: Please meet in the lobby of the Center so we can carpool to our workshop location.
This is an outdoor workshop with a small amount of easy walking, and sitting on the ground. Wear comfortable walking shoes, and bring a small backpack with water, a warm layer, a rain jacket, a sun hat or visor, sunscreen, lip balm, sunglasses and a portable camp chair if you have one. Also bring a journal and writing utensil (instead of a laptop, tablet, or cell phone). Drawing tools such as colored pencils are welcome.
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Weaving the Web:
Myth, Metaphor, Meaning & the Muse
Friday, May 27. 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
$45
with the Mountain Words Literary Festival
Writing is a lifestyle, a physical practice in mindfulness and awareness, ending in a story. As authors, it is up to us to find the seemingly disparate thematic threads floating in the air, and weave them into a cohesive web of metaphor and meaning. Work with your core beliefs, translating them into a defined theme in your story, and iterating them through writing devices such as characters, conversations, symbolism, and landscape. This interactive, immersive, experientially-based workshop first taps into the muse through a sensory conversation with physical nature, and what Greek philosopher Plato called the anima mundi, or World Soul. What inherent metaphors exist in the red-tailed hawk spiraling overhead, the wind in the trees? How do these players of an animate nature spur memories of mythology, folklore, fairy tales, or natural history from your past knowledge? We’ll bring in Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes to tap into the universal themes and characters in relationship with your own. How might they be showing up through synchronistic conversations you hear on the street, or serendipitous encounters giving you just the piece of information you were missing? Bring in your own emotions around your theme, as well as identify what stands in opposition to it. In the end you’ll weave the web, pulling together all the threads into a cohesive story shimmering with layering, depth, and meaning.
Any genre—fiction to poetry to creative nonfiction and beyond—is welcome. Generate new material or apply the activities to a current project (consider bringing a copy). This is an outdoor workshop with a small amount of easy walking, and sitting on the ground. Wear comfortable walking shoes, and bring a small backpack with water, warm layers, and a portable camp chair if you have one. We will work visually with the material, bring colored pencils if you have them. Otherwise, they will be provided. A journal or blank paper and pen or pencil is strongly recommended for the generative freewrites and other activities (instead of a laptop, tablet, or cell phone).
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Writing the Wild
Saturday, July 6
8 a.m. – 3 p.m
Do you feel overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscape and wildflowers but aren’t quite sure how to express it? Do you have something to say about nature but nothing you put on paper seems to quite hit the heart of your feelings? Let the wild writer inside of you free! In this full day backcountry hike seize the opportunity to experiment with a variety of writing exercises to describe what you’re seeing or find the words to communicate with others about your passion. Find inspiration from contemporary nature writers and learn from their techniques on how to capture emotion. With the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival.
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Regenerations - Art, Writing & Mindfulness in Nature
Saturday, July 13
8 a.m. – 3 p.m
To regenerate means to bring into renewed existence. This day-long “mini-retreat” from the modern world is a technology-free experience allowing you to sink deeply into just being in nature and re-establishing your connection to it. Through a backcountry hike into the wildflower-clad wilderness, slow down, tap in, take a deep look around you, and notice. Uncover your creative expression through a variety of landscape art, creative writing and mindfulness exercises designed to establish a relationship to place. Hear inspirational readings form nature writers and philosophers and engage in nature-oriented meditations. Instructors: Ivy Walker & Molly Murfee. With the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival.
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Gunnison Valley Literary Festival:
Friday, August 9 – Sunday, August 11
Rooting Into Place
Friday, August 9
8 – 10 a.m.
Begin the weekend from an inspired and relaxed, open and connected place! Register and pick up your nametag, to-go pastries and coffee, then set out for the woods. We’ll initiate the day with a slow saunter in nature, sipping in the place we are, heightening our awareness and loosening up our creativity through readings of dreamy poetry and exploratory writing prompts. Root down in the forests and fields to discover this mountain environment’s both flagrant and nuanced personas. What is it trying to communicate? To teach? What metaphors lurk in its elements? Bring your reusable to go coffee mug and small backpack to carry a journal, writing utensil, water, breakfast pastries and a warm jacket (as mornings are cool). This is a saunter, so only flat soled footwear is required – flip flops are fine (just leave the stilettos at home)! With the Gunnison Valley Literary Festival.
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Creative Writing Taster Series – Nature Writing:
Saturday, September 7 & Saturday, October 5
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Connect with nature and your own personal creative expression by wandering blissfully through words in this half day outdoor immersion writing workshop. Tucked into a “backcountry classroom” readings from established nature writers inspire and inform your own style and demonstrate the world of possibilities while the surrounding forests, fields and streams stimulate the imagination and provide the content. Specially designed freewriting exercises help uncover your unique language for expressing your sentiments about nature. While experimenting with metaphor, word choice and descriptive techniques, you simultaneously hone your skills of observation and awareness. Explore your relationship with nature, and what the wild means to you. Participants may take one or both classes as topics and exercises will change. With the Literary Arts Department of the Center for the Arts Crested Butte.
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Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
This is a fall course offering. Specific dates to be announced soon!
A field-based, graduate level immersive writing course for non-MFA degree seeking students. 3 credits available. CRWR 696
Writers from E.O. Wilson and Michael Pollan to Terry Tempest Williams and Robin Wall Kimmerer inspire how our culture defines and interacts with nature. This course introduces authors such as these, as well as the creative nonfiction genre. Examine major works of the genre and consider the history, culture, philosophies, and policies shaping them, as well as their real-world impacts. Through intensive freewriting, creative storytelling, workshopping, editing, and rewriting, learn effective techniques in descriptive, narrative, analytical, and persuasive writing. Strong emphasis is placed on developing a professional writing practice that supports scientific and other professional work. Designed for graduate students outside of the MFA Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Note: This course includes a field component in addition to "regular" class time.
Offered through the Graduate Program in Creative Writing, Nature Writing Concentration at Western Colorado University
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Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
An elective for non-Graduate Program in Creative Writing students who want to develop writing skills. An intensive genre-based survey of major approaches to Creative Nonfiction. Considers the subgenres of memoir, lyric essay, meditative essay, literary and cultural criticism and journalism, social, historical and political writing, travel writing, writing about science and technology, and other forms. Students read, analyze and imitate major works in each genre. CRWR 696 (3 credits). With the Graduate Program in Creative Writing: Nature Writing / Earth StoryCraft with Western Colorado University.
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Craft Your Bio
Wednesdays, April 7 & 14
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Get ready for the summer season and the increased web traffic of the times by crafting a compelling bio for use with websites, brochures, publications and other venues. Through instruction, guidance, exploratory creative exercises and research on existing effective and inspirational biographies, participants workshop aspects of their career into a cohesive and effective bio expressing their personal and professional endeavors. Supportive peer review from instructor and fellow participants provides valuable feedback. Additionally, learn basic requirements for choosing quality and size-appropriate photos for both digital and print outlets. Participants leave the workshop with a completed bio. Course takes place on Zoom.
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Creative Writing, Alternative Education & the Field Experience
Wednesday, June 23 - Friday, June 25
8 a.m. – 6 p.m. each day
A graduate level, accredited course designed for secondary educators seeking their continuing education credits. 3 credits available. ENG 510
Get creative out in nature in this stimulating and active field-based writing course! Experiment with creative writing and the field experience as inspiring tools for gathering information, processing emotions, and finding a constructive, energizing and motivating outlet for interacting with the complex environmental and social issues of our time. Connect to the natural world through the combined use of a Creative Writing Portfolio and field experiences. Incorporate experiential education, student-centered learning and interdisciplinary studies into a traditional classroom. Explore the effective writing techniques of creative non-fiction focused on nature and the environment. Each day sends students out into nature to complete inspiring guided freewriting prompts and conduct independent research; then return in the afternoon for synchronous Zoom classroom time for sharing the writing experience, and thought-provoking author and teaching strategy discussions.
This is a fun, yet intensive, three-day course and it is not advisable to take other courses in the June 23 – 25 window. Students should block out Wednesday, June 23, Thursday, June 24 and Friday, June 25 for planned course activities from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. each day, and an expectation of completing readings in the evenings. Synchronous Zoom class time meetings will specifically take place from 2 – 6 p.m. each of these three days. Participants will participate in pre and post course work (predominately reading) approximately a week before and a week after the course with all assignments completed by July 3. While perfect for English, composition and the natural sciences, techniques can be applied to most any subject.
Offered through Western Colorado University's Teacher Institute.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing:
Nature Writing Concentration
I am a faculty in Western Colorado University's Graduate Program in Creative Writing (GPCW) in the Nature Writing Concentration. The GPCW offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees with concentrations not only in Nature Writing, but in Publishing, Genre Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting, and Ecopoetics. This low-residency program offers an ethically alert, cutting-edge program in an incomparable natural setting in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The program is established on the core belief that art can be an agent of change, that writing can change the way we live, our policies, and our values. Our practical focus on publication, professional development and partnerships with relevant nonprofits, newspapers, and think tanks underscores our belief that writers can participate in this field immediately and with gusto. Through extensive reading, intellectual inquiry, and rigorous professional and creative writing, students will engage with diverse voices, challenging questions and critical issues facing our world today.
You begin the program with a Summer Residency in Gunnison, Colorado on Western Colorado University's campus meeting with your specific cohort as well as other cohorts and students in the Graduate Program in Creative Writing.
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Crested Butte Wildflower Festival
Come hike with me in the wildflowers July 8 - 17!
Wildflower hikes are one of my absolute most favorite things. I love the natural history, folklore, medicinal uses, and role in the ecosystem these bright blooms play. And you can learn all of these things too on a hike with me through the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. I'm leading half days, full days, easier saunters, and more difficult hikes to mountain passes. Click on the links below to find out more on individual hikes. You'll be taken to the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival website where you can register.
Lily Lake Wildflowers: Friday, July 8. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. FULL
Splendor on Snodgrass: Saturday, July 9. 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. FULL
Wildflowers & Waterfalls of the Oh-Be-Joyful Valley: Sunday, July 10. 7:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. FULL
Lily Lake Wildflowers: Monday, July 11. 8:3o a.m. - 1 p.m. 1 SPOT LEFT!
Poverty Gulch & Daisy Pass: Thursday, July 14. 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 1 SPOT LEFT!
Trail 403 to Viewpoint: Friday, July 15. 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. FULL
Scarp Ridge: Saturday, July 16. 7:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 5 SPOTS LEFT!
Lily Lake Wildflowers: Sunday, July 17. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1 SPOT LEFT!
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