The famed 2,186-mile-long Appalachian Trail winds through 14 states, starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia and reaching its terminus at Mount Katahdin in Maine. Its total elevation change is 464,464 feet—the equivalent of hiking up Mt. Everest 16 times. Attempting to complete the trail continuously is known as a thru-hike, which several thousand people attempt each year. And each year, the completion rate stays the same: only 1 in 4 people who attempt to thru-hike will complete the trail in its entirety.

Five years ago, I set out to hike the Appalachian Trail. It was a strenuous journey, and every day brought new challenges: finding water; eating and carrying enough food; persevering through the extreme weather; and pushing up and climbing down mountain after mountain. My expectations of having a unique adventure, physical challenges, and new experiences actually resulted in so much more: I realized that I learned and improved skills that have set me up for success in many aspects of life. I still draw from my experiences today as I navigate new challenges, jobs, responsibilities, and relationships in my life.

Remarkably, one does not need to fully live in the woods and carve out months of their time in order to gain these skills. As a trip leader at Adventure Treks, I see our students building the same skills I’ve learned—perhaps even more powerfully because of their age. Backpacking at Adventure Treks is a profound experience and one that impacts our students many years beyond their trip. I believe the following four life skills illustrate what students learn on a backpack trip and how they translate to life outside the trail.

You are capable of more than you realize

The inkling of doubt that emerges from reading the statistics of the Appalachian Trail is no different than the doubt students have at the start of their first (or even fifth) Adventure Treks backpack. The weight of the food and gear in your pack, the difficult and varied terrain ahead, uncertainty in their abilities both physically and mentally—they wonder if they can actually do this for four, five, or six days.

We see it all the time: Teenagers are capable of so much more than they know. It’s not unusual for us to hear about students joining a new club, applying for a job, reading several new books, signing up for a new sport—going out on a limb and trying something completely new—after arriving home from Adventure Treks. Remember: You are stronger and more capable than you give yourself credit for. When in doubt, go backpacking to see what you can accomplish.

Nothing teaches you the importance of adaptability better than spending a week backpacking with your friends. So much time, thought, and effort goes into planning the logistics of a backpacking trip—but maps, itineraries, and first aid kits can’t predict the weather, trail conditions, broken gear, or wildlife… nor can proper planning account for the people in your group (like unexpected illness, blisters, or attitude).

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire—a notoriously rugged, steep, and most difficult 100-mile stretch of the trail—sits Mt. Washington. This 6,288-foot mountain has the most erratic and dangerous weather in the world. As I hiked through the Whites, drawing closer to Mt. Washington, I was filled with both anxiousness and excitement. I had packed extra food in case the days were harder or the weather was bad and I needed to camp extra nights. I had also planned to pick up my winter clothes at a post office in a nearby town; but though I had mailed the box prior to starting my thru-hike, it hadn’t arrived. Instead, I was stuck with my summer clothes in late September—on the coldest section of the entire trail. On those 35-degree nights, I wore every single one of my layers, and my hunger had spiked while the temps plummeted… meaning my food supply wouldn’t last as long as I’d thought.

Adaptability is essential

Mt. Washington was a day away, and I had enough food to get me to a town on the other side where I could resupply. However, temps were dropping even more and a big snow was expected. If I didn’t push it hard, I would have no food or warm clothes to sustain myself. The morning I needed to summit I woke up extra early to get a head start on the storm. The clouds were dark and ominous, and the skies opened during the one-mile hike to the summit. The rain started turning to ice, and visibility was near zero. The rocks were so slippery that I moved more slowly than I wanted… I needed to get over this mountain to avoid the gathering storm. I put my head down and walked into the strongest winds I’d ever felt; you’d pick up your leg to take a step, and the winds would turn my entire body. Pushing through that cold, hunger, and physical and mental exhaustion is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, and summiting Mt. Washington was a truly epic feeling.

Can you imagine wearing only a T-shirt, capris, and lightweight rain jacket, with rime ice building on your hood and hair and temperatures in the 20s (but howling wind dropping it near zero)?! Neither could I, until it happened—because my planning had gone awry. I often reflect on this when I am doubting my capabilities to continue something. Backpacking teaches you that you can only control your thoughts and actions. And only you can control how you respond to often challenging situations. There is freedom to be found if focus on adapting to different situations, and a positive attitude goes hand-in-hand with this release of control. You can apply this to any aspect of life for greater adaptability and resilience. Life is not always comfortable, and it will throw challenges our way. When this happens, you have the power to make a choice on how you’ll react: sometimes we have to shoulder the burden, or stay positive, or accept the situation as it is. Backpacking teaches us to learn from things in your life that don’t go as planned, and it’s a skill that will serve you in many situations.

Resilience and managing failure

Perhaps most obviously, backpacking teaches resilience. It’s essential to plan and prepare for a backpacking trip, just as we would for a vacation or school project. However, you can almost guarantee that even with the best-laid plans, something will go awry. That’s inevitable with the outdoors (and in life in general).

For example: One week during my thru-hike, the weather forecast looked pleasant and called for sun and mild temperatures. It was completely wrong—it rained almost the entire week. I slogged along the trail underneath a rain jacket and in waterproof boots, not exactly having a blast, but I persevered. I arrived at my campsite and found it completely flooded—there was no place to pitch my tent or set up a kitchen. With the continued rain, it was more dangerous to stay than it was to turn around and make a new plan.

I didn’t meet my intended goal of miles that day—did I consider that a failure? I might have thought so at that moment, but time taught me that I responded well to the situation: I formulated a new plan on the fly and had to hike extra miles in another direction, without having eaten dinner. But I did it, and I felt strong when I reflected on this “failure” a few days later.

This happens at AT all the time. Perhaps an unexpected front blows in, bringing rain or chilly temperatures with it. Perhaps the mosquitoes were much worse than the previous year. Perhaps we miss a turn and hike a mile uphill in the wrong direction. Perhaps someone lost a boot overnight (trust us, this has happened). This teaches us to ask questions, like “Could we have brought additional gear?” “Did we look at the right map?” We learn from mistakes or unexpected situations (the “failures”), and we move on. There aren’t many skills in life better to have than resilience.

Be present

One of the biggest surprise outcomes of backpacking is the liberation that comes with being unplugged—away from cell phones, laptops, “likes and snaps streaks,” Netflix, and the instant gratification that comes with all media. The mind fog lifts, making way for clarity and the ability to observe and appreciate small details. The drama of the world around you seems to vanish as you notice the shape of a leaf, the sound of running water, the taste of warm mac and cheese, and the deep belly laughs induced during a game of cards around a campfire. You understand what Ralph Waldo Emerson meant when he wrote, “To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.”

Each step you take, each relationship you build, each experience you have—these moments teach you to slow down and stay present. There’s no need to always rush, even when the world moves at a breakneck speed around you. As Adventure Treks instructors, we try to model appreciating every moment we’re in, for whatever it’s worth, without expectation or impatience. This skill is truly valuable at any moment in life.

As I summited Mt. Katahdin, reaching the apex of my five and a half months on the AT, I felt a release of emotions: proud, relief, joy, scared of the future, ready for a real bed and running water, and a feeling that I could absolutely do anything I set out to do. Completing my thru-hike is, to this day, one of the best feelings of true accomplishment I’ve had. Unfortunately, that level of confidence fades over time as we are exposed to the pressures and reality of society. But when that feeling of confidence and accomplishment comes back, it’s always when I’m outside: When I’m hiking in the Talkeetnas in Alaska with fourth-year AT students, or when I’m playing mafia or camouflage with first-year AT students in Rocky Mountain National Park. The best part? I’m not the only one celebrating triumphs. So are our students.

At Adventure Treks, each backpacking experience is unique to each student. However, each of these lessons we learn from are easily transferable to everyone’s daily lives. I regularly reflect on the struggles, fatigue, goofiness, and beauty of my time thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. I’ve hiked the wrong direction, was lost, under-packed my food, and missed a water source a time or two. I danced and puddle-jumped in the rain. I made lifelong friends. These experiences are continually revealed throughout my life in profound ways. I hope your experience with Adventure Treks is just as impactful.

Sincerely,
Dairy Queen (aka Rachel O’Neil)

Thomas (far right) and friends crossing the Eagle River in the Chugach Mountains in Alaska in 2018.

College application season is in full swing, and we always enjoy hearing from Adventure Treks graduates, either requesting letters of reference or sharing their college essays. The latter often include a poignant story or two from their Adventure Treks experiences.

Determining a first-choice school out of the 4,000 universities available in the United States can be a pretty random process, but talk to any senior in the fall and you will know that there is undue pressure students feel to get into a “top” college. In the middle of a busy year, the college application process can feel overwhelming: Students must write multiple essays; take AP exams, SATs, and ACTs; and demonstrate that they are both uniquely talented in one thing while being well-rounded in everything else!

Thomas (far left) and friends leading a backpack on the Olympic Peninsula during Leadership Summit in 2019.

We hear the same story repeated by Adventure Treks parents all over the country: They feel that in order to “get accepted,” they have to pack their school year and summer break with as many different activities as possible to achieve the golden “well-rounded” status. I want to posit that more important than demonstrating a well-rounded student who has traveled the globe or mastered the checklist to build the winning resume is showing an authentic, thoughtful, passionate, independent, and capable teenager.

As research for this blog, I had the opportunity to speak with a high school guidance counselor and the owner of a college admissions advising company about what colleges look for in a prospective undergraduate student. Both were extremely helpful and gave us some behind-the-scenes info, including how Adventure Treks fits into the competitive world of college admissions.

I have a senior in high school. Thomas is a well-rounded young man who has done quite well academically. But as we are all learning, simply having a 4.0 GPA or higher is pretty standard these days. Thomas and I are fresh off the trail from touring five campuses in four days, participating in information sessions. The pace felt like an AT trip!

Thomas (toward middle, red shirt) and friends finding joy during a California Challenge backpack in the Shasta Trinity Alps in 2017.

I found one common thread throughout all of our tours: Each institution claims they want a “holistic” student. Their descriptions are similar: They’re looking at the entire student, including but not limited to grades, test scores, affiliations, extracurricular activities, and history of volunteerism. Admissions officers are looking for diversity in race, religion, artistry, athletics… plus students who are the first in their family to attend college, those who excelled in student government, teenagers who’ve held part-time jobs, students in band—you get it. SAT and ACT test scores do matter, but most colleges make it clear that they’ll accept students both above and below their “acceptable ranges.” The guidance counselor and admissions advisor stressed that, far and above, the aggregate of a student’s four years in high school carry much more weight.

The other big takeaway is that each student’s authenticity truly matters. Admissions officers want to see that authenticity jump off the page in the essays—they want students to paint a vibrant picture of who they really are. That’s not very easy for many teenagers, is it?

Thomas (far right) and friends celebrating during a summit on a British Columbia backpack in 2016.

Take a step back, and think about your child upon returning home from his or her last Adventure Treks trip. You see an exhausted (and perhaps stinky) child, but someone who is happy, talkative, confident, open, charismatic… someone floating on cloud nine and a kid we’d love to see every single day. Now think of your child after taking the SAT or ACT—how does it compare?

According to guidance counselors, college admissions officers are looking for genuine students with original ideas and thoughts—and not only high-achieving students, but also those who spend significant time doing what they love. If a kid loves animals, they should be volunteering at an animal shelter or zoo; if they love mountain biking, they should be racing on a team, working at a shop, or helping teach others how to ride. If the participation has to be forced or is merely used for padding a resume, it’s not worth doing.

Consistency also pulls a lot of weight with college applications. Working the same part-time job for three years, for example, shows an admissions officer one’s dependability and commitment, unlike bouncing around from activity to activity or job to job, which might come off as unreliable and irresponsible. This consistency truly shines with community service and extracurriculars; volunteering locally throughout middle and/or high school provides a much more meaningful experience for a student than dabbling in different service projects around the country or world.

Thomas (third from left) and friends taking in views during a Rocky Mountain National Park summit in 2015.

So, how does Adventure Treks fit into this? Our students have these life-changing experiences, spending two to four weeks working side-by-side as a team supporting each other through highs and lows. (Thomas has told me stories about kids quietly and anonymously taking weight out of other struggling students’ backpacks just to help them out… How many teenagers do you know who care that much?) The moments they experience cannot be planned—they happen organically and authentically as students are given the space to open up and find the best versions of themselves.

Obviously, not every admissions officer will recognize the name Adventure Treks, so the onus is on our kids to share through their essays the impact, insights, feelings, and growth they’ve experienced at Adventure Treks, and how it’s affected them and shaped their outlook on life. I can’t tell you how many students have sent us their college essays, featuring their Mt. Shasta summit, or how they learned to make and value true friendships, or the meaning of volunteerism, or an epiphany they had in nature about whom they want to be as a person. When the material is personal and authentic, the words flow much more easily, and the excitement and passion shines through more clearly.

Thomas has featured Adventure Treks in his essays. His multiple summers show consistency—that he has found a passion and has pursued it. I hope he will be able to articulate his ability to live deeply in a community, his resilience, the strengths he’s found, and everything else he’s gained from his six years of AT trips.

Thomas (center, blue shirt with lei) and friends celebrating their summit of Mt. St. Helens on their very first AT trip in 2014.

Colleges want to accept students who can graduate in four years and are concerned about today’s record high drop-out rate. This is partly because in the digital age, fewer kids are prepared with the independence or life skills needed to thrive away from home. Experience on an extended wilderness trip demonstrates an ability to thrive in difficult and often uncertain situations and a level of independence few kids possess. I have also heard, in this age of “snowplow” parenting, an extended wilderness trip shows that parents have confidence both in their children and in the organizations that work with children. This marks a family as “easy to work with,” a subtle plus in the eyes of an admission officer.

My son took his first trip with Adventure Treks at age 12, and his six adventures culminated this past summer with Leadership Summit at the ripe old age of 17. He departed his final AT community with a wilderness first aid certification; the confidence and skills needed to lead his peers on the trail (through food preparation, risk management analysis, and logistics planning); and, most important, the ability to make and maintain friendships that I truly believe will last him a lifetime. I strongly believe that AT has played a large role in his high school success, and regardless of where he gets accepted and attends, I know his outdoor experiences will help him thrive in college and beyond.

Adventure Treks 2019 instructor orientation is in full swing just outside Portland, OR. I’m proud to be a part of the group of mentors who train our new instructors. The energy is fantastic, and every single instructor brings significant experience and genuine passion to the table.

After a five-day retreat for our senior staff near Mt. Hood, 60 of our instructors have gathered at our Washington basecamp for our seven-day all-staff orientation. This will be followed by another week where our instructor teams explore their specific regions, build their staff community, and prepare for their students’ arrival.

What do we cover during staff orientation? Besides strengthening our instructor community, we apply leadership theory, current child psychology, and even neuroscience to Adventure Treks’ philosophy. We review safety, first aid, and the policies and procedures that lead to successful trips. We discuss tips and tricks to make backpacking more fun, discover new and creative ways to add the “wow,” and go over the many small details that make our trips unique. We talk about parent expectations, community-building, the effects of technology on kids, and the high standards to which we hold our staff. With such a tremendous brain trust of returning instructors, we share our previous experiences as our more experienced instructors mentor our newer staff to help us provide consistent experiences across the map. Together, all of this helps make every trip exceptional.

We thought you might like to meet some of our senior staff in the video below. (You can read more about this group here.)

We are so excited to introduce the 2019 instructor teams! Each spring, our directors spend hours poring over returning and new instructors’ resumes to create the most balanced teams possible, carefully considering everyone’s experience, skills, personalities, and backgrounds. Each trip will have both new and returning instructors, always led by a returning trip leader who has been with Adventure Treks for at least three seasons (read more about our trip leader team here).

Quick facts about the 2019 Adventure Treks instructors:

• Average age: 26
• Average Adventure Treks tenure: 3.6 seasons
• Return rate: 65 percent

To find your child’s instructors, please select your child’s trip below and scroll down to the instructor section:

• Colorado Explorer 1, 2, & 3
• Pacific Northwest Explorer
• Pacific Northwest Adventure 1 & 2
• California Adventure
• British Columbia Adventure 1 & 2
• Yellowstone Teton Adventure 1, 2, & 3
• California Challenge 1, 2, & 3
• Ultimate Northwest 1 & 2
• Alaska Experience 1 & 2
• Alaska Expedition 1 & 2
• Leadership Summit

The Adventure Treks summer season starts this Saturday, June 1, as our regional directors will fly out to Portland for several days of summer prep work and putting the final touches on trainings. On June 3, our regional directors and trip leaders will begin a five-day senior staff retreat near Mt. Hood in Oregon. Trip leaders will talk about managing a staff team, each trip’s logistics, begin learning about their students. Our leadership team has an important role in facilitating the success of our trips, so we use this period to get everybody on the same page and go over many of the intricate details of the summer ahead. On June 9, our instructors will gather in southern Washington for their two-week orientation; the first week will be spent as a big group as we go over the big picture of Adventure Treks, including risk management and how to create the most incredible student experience ever. The second week, each trip team of five or six instructors will head out for another week to scout the logistics of their specific itineraries, bond as a community, and prepare for their students to arrive!

Please note that while these staff teams are as finalized as possible, we anticipate a few changes will happen between now and the start of each trip. Each change in staffing will be reflected on the specific trip pages; as always, please call us at 888-954-5555 with any questions.

We want to be among the first to say a huge congratulations to our graduating class of 2019, soon to be the class of 2023!

You all have worked extremely hard and are excited (and probably a bit nervous) about the opportunities ahead. We know how challenging it can be to navigate the seemingly unending admissions process, where students with impeccable credentials are routinely rejected or waitlisted by elite colleges. It’s not because they aren’t qualified to attend; rather, with limited space and the desire to create a well-rounded class, potential students have to match a very specific “bucket” and even demonstrate “the appropriate level of interest” in order to be admitted. This year’s admission scandal highlighted that for the kids who followed all the rules, the playing field isn’t always level or fair.

We are always impressed—but never surprised—at the remarkable colleges Adventure Treks students will soon be attending. We also want to celebrate and thank those who have chosen to enter the military and serve our country. We feel privileged and grateful to have been a topic of many of your college essays. We believe admissions officers are very sympathetic to well-described Adventure Treks experiences because it reflects on your excellent character, passion, community-minded nature, and resilience!

I would expect that despite your success, you have almost certainly faced some rejection through the process. I hope you have not taken it personally; rather, I imagine you used your resilience to keep everything in perspective. If you are not attending your first-choice school, please understand that you will thrive at any great school. As Frank Brunei says, “Where you go is not who you will be!” You already have the drive, creativity, and communication and collaboration skills necessary to succeed in life. Moving forward, it will be all about what you do to college, rather than what college does to you! Your challenge will be to take full advantage of the myriad opportunities available.

More than reputation, we noticed that you have chosen schools that are a good fit for your personalities, abilities, and interests. We’d like to emphasize again that what you will take away from your college experience has little to do with the prestige or rank of a given university, and everything to do with the mindset and attitude with which you approach your collegiate career. Success in college is about the effort poured into the experience, your desire to fuel your passions, the relationships formed with new friends and faculty, and your ability to thrive in new and sometimes ambiguous situations.

At a time when only 58 percent of students at four-year colleges graduate within six years and with more than a doubling over the past 10 years of freshmen who need psychological counseling during their first year, we’re proud that the graduation rate of Adventure Treks students exceeds 98 percent! Your previous success in community-minded outdoor challenges have provided a toolset that will help you embrace the challenges ahead.

2019 graduates: If we missed you below, please tell us where you are heading so we can add you to this list and put you in touch with other Adventure Treks students already at your new school!

Congratulations again from Dmac, Amanda, and the whole AT team.

• Magdalena Arias, Williams College
• Matthew Bishop, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Cece Bowe, Colby College
• Jacob Brenner, Tufts University
• Jameson Brooksher, Georgia Southern University
• Haley Covington, Elon University
• Hannah Culler, Clemson University
• Andrew DeFerrari, University of Southern California
• Lee DiLena, Indiana University
• Keenan Fiorillo, The University of Scranton
• Jillian Fuss, University of Washington
• Sarah Garelick, Washington University in St. Louis
• Izzy Heart, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Zell Hoole, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Pace Hurst, Eastern Carolina University
• Michael Ikon, Team Academy – International School for Entrepreneurship (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Sophie Inkster, Dartmouth College
• Avery Johnston, Fordham University
• Jack Kelly, Colorado College
• Sydney Leifermann, University of Florida
• Brendan Li, York College
• Owen Louis, Cornell University College of Engineering
• Hope Matthews, United States Military Academy West Point
• Abby McConnell, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Alberts Scholars honors program)
• Bella McDonald, New York University Shanghai
• Megan McGivern, University of Florida
• Chelsea Merten, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Josh Pontell, Pennsylvania State University (Schreyer Honors College)
• Sam Pope, U.S. Navy, Charleston, S.C.
• Charlie Quill, Colgate University
• Aidan Reisman, Boston College
• Will Riechers, Villanova University
• Jacob Rogow, University of Vermont (the Honors College)
• Bennett Rosen, University of Colorado Boulder
• Gracelyn Ross, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Wyatt Ross, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Chase Sanders, U.S. Army, Fort Jackson, S.C.
• Jillian Schwartz, Rice University
• Mason Sklar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Cole Smith, Muhlenberg College (RJ Fellows honors community)
• Liz Speiser, Tufts University
• Emma Stout, Tufts University
• Jessie Sullivan, Massachusetts School of Art and Design
• Emily Tagaris, Northeastern University
• Nina Welp, San Diego City College
• Ryan Wolff, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Stefan Woolley, University of Colorado Boulder (Arts and Sciences Honors Program)